Politics
China Says Premier’s Africa Visit About More Than Just Oil Deals
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is to visit four African countries, including oil-rich Angola and Nigeria, but will not be going simply for energy deals as China increasingly aims to boost African living standards, officials said on Wednesday. Trips by Chinese leaders to Africa are often marked by big natural resource deals, triggering criticism from some that China is only interested in the continent’s mineral and energy wealth.
Africans broadly see China as a healthy counterbalance to Western influence but, as ties mature, there are growing calls from policymakers and economists for more balanced trade relations. China is also keen not to be perceived as an imperial master. Li’s May 4-11 trip will also take in Ethiopia and Kenya and Assistant Minister of Commerce Zhang Xiangchen told reporters there would be more than just oil agreements.
Zhang advised, “During Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to the four African countries, all the relevant countries will sign some cooperation agreements between financial organizations and between companies, which are quite large in scope, not just on oil and natural resources.” Zhang also said, “There are also many on agriculture, manufacturing, people’s livelihood and basic infrastructure,” he added, declining to provide details or financial figures.
Angola is China’s second-largest source of crude oil after Saudi Arabia. Li’s delegation will sign agreements in the four countries which “will provide a solid foundation for future China-Africa trade and economic development”, Zhang said. He declined to say which company executives would accompany Li.
‘Friendly, cooperative’
It will be Li’s first visit to Africa since he became premier last year, and follows on from a trip to the continent by President Xi Jinping in March 2013, when he renewed an offer of $20 billion in loans to Africa between 2013 and 2015. Neither Zhang, nor Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming who was at the same news conference, would say if any new loans were in the offing.
“Aid to Africa is just one part of China and Africa’s friendly cooperative relationship. It includes politics, trade and the economy, culture, society, peace and security,” Zhang Ming said, areas Li would discuss on his trip. China has a relationship with Africa which pre-dates its current resource-hungry economic boom. In previous decades, China’s Communist leaders supported national liberation movements and newly independent states across the continent.
