Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday told African leaders that China’s investments on the continent have “no political strings attached,” pledging US$60 billion in new development financing, even as Beijing is increasingly criticized over its debt-heavy projects abroad.
Xi offered the funding at the start of a two-day China-Africa summit that focused on his cherished Belt and Road Initiative.
The money — to be spent over the next three years — comes on top of US$60 billion Beijing offered in 2015.
Photo: EPA
The massive scheme is aimed at improving China’s access to foreign markets and resources, and boosting Beijing’s influence abroad.
It has already seen China loan billions of dollars to countries in Asia and Africa for roads, railways, ports and other major infrastructure projects.
However, critics say the Chinese leader’s pet project is burying some countries under massive debt.
“China’s investment in Africa comes with no political strings attached,” Xi told a high-level dialogue with African leaders and business representatives hours before the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
“China does not interfere in Africa’s internal affairs and does not impose its own will on Africa,” he said.
“China’s cooperation with Africa is clearly targeted at the major bottlenecks to development. Resources for our cooperation are not to be spent on any vanity projects, but in places where they count the most,” he said.
However, he admitted that there was a need to look at the commercial viability of projects and make sure preparations are made to lower investments risks and make cooperation “more sustainable.”
Belt and Road “is not a scheme to form an exclusive club or bloc against others. Rather it is about greater openness, sharing and mutual benefit,” he said.
Later, at the start of the forum, Xi announced US$60 billion in funds for eight initiatives over the next three years, in areas ranging from industrial promotion, infrastructure construction and scholarships for young Africans.
He added that Africa’s least developed, heavily indebted and poor countries would be exempt from debt they have incurred in the form of interest-free Chinese loans due to mature by the end of this year.
A study by US think tank Center for Global Development found “serious concerns” about the sustainability of sovereign debt in eight Asian, European and African countries receiving Belt and Road funds.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa defended China’s involvement on the continent, saying FOCAC “refutes the view that a new colonialism is taking hold in Africa as our detractors would have us believe.”
During a visit to China last month, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed warned against “a new version of colonialism,” as he canceled a series of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects worth US$22 billion.
Ahead of FOCAC, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, currently the chair of the African Union, also dismissed the concerns, telling Xinhua news agency talk of “debt traps” were attempts to discourage African-Chinese interactions.
At the last three-yearly gathering in Johannesburg in 2015, Xi announced US$60 billion of assistance and loans for Africa.
Nations across Africa are hoping that China’s enthusiasm for infrastructure investment will help promote industrialization on the continent.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is to oversee the signing of a telecommunication infrastructure deal backed by a US$328 million loan facility from the Export-Import Bank of China during his visit, his office said.
Xi said that Belt and Road complies with international norms, and China “welcomes the participation of other capable and willing countries for mutually beneficial third-party cooperation.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the