Editor's note:
The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Beijing from September 4 to 6. Under this particular cooperation framework, China and African countries are expected to deepen exchanges in multiple major areas. In light of this special occasion, GDToday is conducting exclusive interviews with African delegates, shedding light on China-Africa relations, now and in the future.
"I think terms such as 'debt trap' and 'neocolonialism' in reference to China-Africa economic relations are highly misleading and a deliberate distortion of historical facts," said Fredrick Mutesa, secretary general of the Zambia-China Friendship Association, in a recent interview with GDToday.
Mutesa noted that cooperation mechanisms, such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), play an important role in tackling Africa's infrastructure deficit, helping the continent respond to challenges posed by climate change, and promoting peace and security, as well as digital transformation in Africa.
Manufacturing plants expected to be relocated to Africa as China upgrades the economy
The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will be held in Beijing from September 4 to 6, marking the 24th anniversary of the Forum since its inception in 2000.
"Consistency has sustained the momentum of policy dialogue and cooperation," Mutesa said. He expects the nine programs indicated in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024) to be reviewed and recalibrated, with some programs being expedited in light of current global challenges, such as the disruption of global supply chains caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
The nine programs include the medical and health program, the poverty reduction and agricultural development program, the trade promotion program, the investment promotion program, the digital innovation program, the green development program, the capacity building program, the cultural and people-to-people exchange program, and the peace and security program.
Mutesa also expects a strong emphasis on trade and investment during this year's FOCAC, particularly Africa's quest for value addition in the critical minerals sectors. "Equally important is the discussion about cooperation to deal with pandemics, such as the outbreak of mpox," Mutesa said.
As China strives to develop new quality productive forces, featuring high-tech, high efficiency, and high quality, and promote high-quality development, Mutesa anticipates that there will be a relocation of some manufacturing plants from China to Africa, thus facilitating industrialization on the continent.
"The onus is on African governments to attract manufacturing industries from China by putting in place supportive policies, particularly the ease of doing business, as well as safeguarding investments," he noted.
Building high-level China-Africa community with a shared future, a perfect example of Global South solidarity
This year's FOCAC is themed around joining hands to advance modernization and build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.
In Mutesa's view, the building of a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future is a perfect example of Global South solidarity. "It should be characterized by, among others, deepened trade and investment cooperation, mutual respect and equality, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, respect for independence and sovereignty, sustained commitment to multilateralism as a strategy for resolving conflicts and enhancing global peace and security, expanded people-to-people and cultural exchanges, mutual support for each other's core interests in multilateral platforms, and equity and justice," Mutesa elaborated.
He denounced the claims of "debt trap" and "neocolonialism" in reference to China-Africa cooperation, calling them highly misleading and deliberate distortions of historical facts. "China has never been a colonial power. Rather, itself, like African countries, has been a victim of imperialist invasion, oppression, and exploitation. This makes China a natural ally of African countries because it understands what it means to suffer at the hands of external forces," Mutesa said.
In terms of the influence of the tensions between China and the US on Africa, Mutesa held that the tensions have, to some degree, led to a kind of healthy competition, citing the example of the US' Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund.
"However, one must be wary of the US' renewed interest on the continent, given their propensity to interfere in African countries' internal affairs, especially the promotion of a regime change agenda," Mutesa noted.
China-Zambia cooperation increases jobs, government revenue, and people's income
The year 2024 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-Zambia diplomatic ties. "This is a momentous occasion, as the two governments elevated the bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in 2023," Mutesa said.
The enhancement of bilateral relations has yielded fruitful results. In the first half of 2024, the bilateral trade volume between China and Zambia reached nearly three billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 5.3 percent. Zambia's exports to China amounted to 2.45 billion USD, Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Han Jing said in an interview with the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.
In addition, Mutesa said that China and Zambia designated 2024 as the Year of Business Cooperation and the Year of Culture and Tourism, which have generated a number of cooperative projects.
He enumerated a few exemplary programs. In May 2024, the Zambia-China High-Quality Development Forum and Economic Exhibition was held in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, with 21 documents on practical cooperation signed between enterprises of the two nations, covering areas of energy, mining, infrastructure, and agriculture.
"In the broader context of the Belt and Road Initiative, we have had two new modern international airports opened and the great friendship rail, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, whose revamp is under discussion, with a vision to make it more commercial and sustainable," Mutesa said.
He also mentioned the revamp of the Mulungushi Textiles factory in Kabwe, Zambia's Central Province, which was the country's largest textile industry before ceasing operation in 2007.
"All those projects mean jobs, revenue for the government, and income for the people," Mutesa told GDToday.
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