“China’s $50 Billion Pledge to Africa: Potential Impacts”,China’s recent commitment of over $50 billion to Africa over the next three years is likely to exacerbate the trade imbalance between the two regions, experts warn. This substantial pledge further solidifies China’s position as a leading figure in the Global South, highlighting its growing influence on the continent.
Bates Gill, a senior fellow for Asian security at the National Bureau of Asian Research, noted that African nations, already heavily reliant on China for economic growth, will become even more dependent on their largest bilateral trade partner due to this new pledge.
“This is a classic example of what I would call a Sino-centric multilateral organisation where China takes the lead in setting the agenda … and individual nations have little choice but to go along in agreeing with this vision of China’s,” he told CNA’s East Asia Tonight on Thursday (Sep 5).
Over 50 African leaders are in Beijing for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which concludes on Friday. The funding pledged by China includes US$30 billion in credit lines, US$10 billion in investment by Chinese companies and military aid. Chinese President Xi Jinping also promised to provide at least 1 million jobs in Africa.
Around 20 per cent of Africa’s exports go to China while about 16 per cent of the continent’s imports come from China, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These amounted to a record US$282 billion in total trade volume in 2023.
While many Chinese goods flow into African countries, “very little” beyond minerals and metals exported by about 10 African nations are exported to China, noted Joshua Eisenman, professor of politics at University of Notre Dame in the United States.
