The 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress is now water under the bridge. However, the once-in-a-decade political transition provides an opportunity to reflect on Sino-African relations and mull over what the future portends.

Many generations from today, historians will look back to the first decade of the 21st century as an epoch of rapprochement between Africa, a continent comprising the largest number of developing nations and China, the world's most populous developing nation.

With volume of trade between the two sides well over $160 billion, making China the most important economic partner of Africa, it's inarguable that the outgoing leadership headed by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao has presided over a very productive period. That the Sino-African embrace has ramped up on all fronts under the watch of Hu and Wen speaks to south-south solidarity, though that notion has been contested by other biased world powers.

It's no wonder that in some quarters, the self-effacing Hu has been called "the African" because of the impact of the 2006 China's African Policy that was rigorously executed through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Successors Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang are likely to follow suit in improving relations. Indeed, Xi, now the secretary general of the CPC and expected to take over the helm as president in March next year, has already had one-on-one consultations with African leaders. His first trip to Africa as the new Chinese leader will be closely anticipated on the continent.    

African people will take great interest in China's rise because this rise has affected Africa and lifted many countries economically. If nothing else, the fact that Sino-African relations have drawn global attention to Africa's potential to overcome debilitating economic woes is in itself a salutary consideration.

China has benefited Africa in may ways: It turned oilfields into sources of an unprecedented economic makeover, revamped cross-continental infrastructure, extended lines of credit for developmental projects, among others. Indeed, in the early 2000s Africa was labeled the failed continent. Today, like China, it's referred to as a rising continent and the outgoing CPC leadership holds much of credit for the current optimism.

As scholars such as Dambisa Moyo and Deborah Brautigam have rightly pointed out, Africa has been a beneficiary of China's practical focus on mutual benefits. This indeed mirrors China's own reform and opening up development model – in place since the Deng Xiaoping era - that foregrounds economic matters with a dash of a socialist philosophy and the socialist market system.

While China under the CPC has consistently offered development aid to African countries across various sectors, the new win-win approach means that Africa has begun to learn how to jettison the deleterious effects of "free things" and to embrace sound productive activities.

As developing regions, both China and Africa have economic, social, cultural and ecological challenges as they play catch up with developed nations. While the learning curve on how to tackle these challenges may cut both ways, there is no doubt that Africa has a lot more to learn from China, and China's pulling millions out of abject poverty should be a major motivation. 

African leaders would for instance do well to analyze the "reforms and opening" principles. For one, this means that the changes that have seen China emerge as a major geopolitical power will be in vogue going forward. For instance the anticipated recalibration of the economic model to allow for more privatization and plans to address the emerging wealth gap in the Chinese population are issues that Africa also faces. That the CPC focused on these and other issues demonstrates that party politics are not just about sterile ideological posturing but that ideology is brought to the service of prosperity for citizens.

A situation where African politics would equally be directed toward economic development than to ethnic contests is a key lesson that Africa can learn from China. Equally, the political discipline exhibited by the CPC over the past decade, though framed controversially, especially in the West, is something African countries can borrow in view of African countries' susceptibility to civil strife.

Going forward, it's expected that Sino-African relations will continue on a path of growth. Issues of friction in the relations have naturally revolved around matters of trade. However, during the July FOCAC conference, redress mechanisms were announced, including zero rating of tariffs on certain African goods and a clampdown on sub-standard and counterfeits entering African markets. As the new leadership warms up to the 2012-22 decade, there will be many more challenges to address, such as the issue of Chinese immigrants, in consolidating Sino-African relations.

(The writer is a Kenyan journalist and Ph.D candidate at the Communication University of China)