MILESTONE: Vice President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at the seminar marking the 10th anniversary of FOCAC in Pretoria, South Africa (PANG XINGLEI)

The Chinese Government will help African countries to build 50 China-Africa friendship schools, admit 200 middle-and high-level African administrative personnel to MPA programs in China, and train 1,500 school headmasters and teachers for primary, secondary and vocational schools in Africa. The ambitious three-year plan is part of the follow-up action of the Fourth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) and aims to establish a new type of one-to-one inter-institutional cooperation model between 20 Chinese and 20 African universities (20+20).

Co-hosted by the China Agricultural University and Guinean Agronomic and Veterinary Sciences Institute of Faranah, a training program on rural energy technology in November 2010 marked the start of the 20+20 cooperation plan for Chinese and African universities. A pledge was also made to raise the number of Chinese government scholarships offered to Africa to 5,500 by the year 2012.

In mid-November, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping paid an official visit to three African countries - South Africa, Angola and Botswana - shortly after he was elected vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. On November 18, at the seminar marking the 10th anniversary of the FOCAC in Pretoria, South Africa, Xi delivered a speech entitled "Work Together to Create a Promising Future for China-Africa New Type of Strategic Partnership," proposing to strengthen the building of FOCAC in order to further promote bilateral relations. 

Common interests

As the largest developing country, China faces challenging tasks of developing the economy and improving the livelihoods of its people. Africa is in the same boat. As Chinese and African economies are highly complementary, there is great potential for cooperation that benefits both sides. Vice President Xi's official visit to Africa signaled the strong need for building a new type of comprehensive and substantive strategic partnership. 

Common interests are a solid foundation for China-Africa cooperation. In order to increase Africa's capacity for self-development, Pan-Africa organizations and many African countries are moving ambitiously to build the Africa North South Corridor program. Therefore, they are very concerned about the inflow of external funds. As for China, the guideline of its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) continuously emphasizes the strategy for a mutually beneficial and win-win result in its economic cooperation with other countries, while adopting new economic policies to spur domestic demand and accelerate the transformation of economic growth pattern. These will provide both sides much room for cooperation and common development.

"South-South cooperation has brighter prospects and greater development potential in the post-financial crisis era," said He Wenping, a research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

New trend

As China-Africa investment and trade structure becomes increasingly diversified, energy cooperation is no longer the centerpiece of the two sides' collaboration. Zhong Manying, Director General of the Department of Western Asian and African Affairs with the Ministry of Commerce, told media that the trade volume between China and Africa in 2010 is expected to exceed the record $106.8 billion in 2008. China and Africa are sharing broad prospects in investment and cooperation in the future, especially in manufacturing, mineral resources, financial services, trade, air transportation and renewable energy, Zhong said.

Founded in June 2007, the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) is the only one of its kind in China focusing on helping Chinese companies invest in Africa. According to Lu Qingcheng, CADFund Vice President, CADFund focuses on greenfield investment, which can directly lead to the increase in the relevant countries' productivity and employment. Until now, CADFund has invested in 35 projects in Africa, with paid-in capital totaling $800 million, spurring Chinese companies' investment in Africa to over $3 billion. Besides, Lu said another 40 projects have been established and due diligence investigation and value analysis are under way. In total, CADFund's investment is expected to reach $5 billion.

Investors in the continent have also become diverse. In the past, Chinese investors were mainly privately-owned, small- and medium-sized enterprises. In recent years, many large state-owned companies have joined, with their investment rising from below $1 million in 2006 to over $15 million now. In 2009, China's direct investment in Africa exceeded $1 billion, a nearly 20-fold increase compared to $50 million in 2001.

As China becomes one of the main sources of foreign direct investment in Africa, some problems have emerged. With more frequent interaction between Chinese companies and African local governments and people, frictions and disputes are on the rise, which greatly hampered bilateral trade and business cooperation.

The Chinese Government has attached great importance to this problem. During his visit in Africa, Vice President Xi held an informal discussion with Chinese companies in Angola, emphasizing that they should abide by local laws and increase their social responsibilities.