BEIJING — Chinese president Xi Jinping announced $60 billion in aid and loans for Africa on Monday while hosting more than 40 of the continent’s leaders in Beijing, saying that the money came with no expectation of anything in return.
Beijing pushed back on criticism that it was shackling poorer countries with heavy debt burdens they will struggle to pay back, portraying the Chinese government as a magnanimous one motivated only to share its experience of rapid industrialization.
“China’s investment in Africa does not come with any political conditions attached, and will neither interfere in internal politics, nor make demands that people feel are difficult to fulfill,” Xi said during a keynote address to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
The money would be focused on infrastructure to help speed African countries’ development, not on “vanity projects,” Xi said.
Details were vague but the $60 billion included $15 billion in grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion in credit lines, and a $10 billion special fund for development financing. Chinese companies would also be encouraged to invest at least $10 billion in Africa over the next three years, state media reported.
The package outlined by Xi also includes medical aid, environmental protection, agricultural training and assistance, and government scholarships and vocational training for more than 100,000 young Africans.
At the last forum, held in Johannesburg three years ago, Xi had also pledged $60 billion in investment. He said Monday that this money had already been granted or earmarked, so the latest announcement represented a second round of $60 billion.
The program is part of Xi’s broader Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious $120-billion-plus project that aims to link 65 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa – together accounting for almost two-thirds of the world’s population – through infrastructure projects and trade.
At a time when President Trump is picking trade fights with the United States’ neighbors and allies, the Chinese leader has appeared to relish the opportunity to appear as a popular international statesman and champion of the liberal economic order.
For two days in a row, every headline on the front page of the state-run People’s Daily started with the words “Xi Jinping …” as the president met with the leaders of countries from Angola and Gabon to Mauritius and Senegal.
Over the last two decades, China has gone from being a relatively small investor in Africa to becoming the continent’s largest economic partner, with bilateral trade growing at about 20 percent annually, according to a report from McKinsey, the consultancy, last year.
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