The FOCAC partnership platform between China and Africa has produced increasingly deep and complex relations between regions. Africa has benefited from significant investments and China has developed extensive soft power. In its 22nd year, Shirley Ze Yu looks at four stages in FOCAC’s evolution and how they shaped the China-Africa relationship today

Ze Yu, Shirley

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LSE Research Online

10/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 1/9Shirley Ze Yu February 3rd, 2022What is FOCAC? Three historic stages in the China-Africa relationship0 comments | 12 sharesEstimated reading time: 6 minutesThe FOCAC partnership platform between China and Africa hasproduced increasingly deep and complex relations between regions.Africa has bene ted from signi cant investments and China hasdeveloped extensive soft power. In its 22nd year, Shirley Ze Yu looksat four stages in FOCAC’s evolution and how they shaped the China-Africa relationship today.This is the  rst of two parts exploring the history and purpose of theFOCAC partnership between China and Africa, and part of the China-Africa Initiative series with the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa.The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was established in 2000as a uni-multilateral partnership platform between China and 53 African10/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 2/9states (all African states except Eswatini, which maintains diplomaticrelations with Taiwan). Of the many partnership platforms Africa has todaywith a single external actor, FOCAC remains the most strategicallyintertwined and far-reaching in its depth, scope and level of cooperation. Intheory, the Forum creates a form of multilateralism in which all countriesare equal partners, but the comparative weight of China’s state capacityeffectively dictates 53 pairs of bilateral relationships under a singlearchitecture.So why was FOCAC created and what was it meant to stand for?Contrary to the conventional belief that FOCAC was initiated by China, theForum was created in response to a proposal by the then-African leaderMadagascan Foreign Minister Lila Ratsifandrihamanana. The neworganisation would see China emulate other Western nations who weresteps ahead in partnering with Africa, most notably the CommonwealthHeads of Government Meeting, the Africa-France Summit, the US-AfricaBusiness Forum, the EU-Africa Summit, the Tokyo International Conferenceon Africa Development (TICAD) and others.Contrary to the ad hoc nature of the EU-Africa Summit or Japan’s TICAD,FOCAC has been institutionalised with a clear operating architecture sinceinception, following two years of initial incubation. FOCAC has evolvedfrom a forum of diplomatic exchange and development-centric body to acomprehensive economic-political-security-soft power nexus, whichadvances China’s long-term vision in Africa. It features triannualministerial-level meetings with core secretarial responsibilities housed inthe Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Finance.FOCAC’s evolutionThe inaugural FOCAC meeting was convened in 2000 during Chineseleader Jiang Zemin’s era. In 2006, FOCAC gathered over 40 heads of statesor governments from Africa for the  rst time, overseen by then ChinesePresident Hu Jintao. Its elevation during the Xi Jinping era from 2013 to an10/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 3/9all-encompassing strategic uni-multilateral framework spanned issues onhealth, the environment, trade,  nance, security, politics, ideology andhuman development.Among the eight FOCAC Forums held during this period, three wereelevated to a China-Africa Leaders’ Summit, attended by heads of stateand government: the 3rd FOCAC in 2006 in Beijing, the 6th FOCAC in 2015in Johannesburg and the 7th FOCAC in 2018 – again in Beijing. Notcoincidentally, each summit rede ned the form and scope of the uni-multilateral relationship.Today, FOCAC has grown far beyond a single development parameter. Ithas become the quintessential component of China’s grand strategy forthe global South. In Africa, in contrast to the continent’s old colonialpowers, China’s soft power has deepened alongside its hard power.Up until 2021, the Forum’s 21st year, FOCAC’s history can be divided intothree historic, incremental phases. A distinct fourth phase has just begun.The  rst phase of FOCAC: 2000-2006Until 1996, four years prior to FOCAC’s creation, China’s level of wealth asmeasured by per capita GDP trailed that of sub-Saharan Africa. China wasa marginal player on the world stage, with scant economic presence on thecontinent. FOCAC’s priority in 2000 was therefore deeper tradeengagement. A grander relationship was inconceivable given China’scapacity. At the time of FOCAC’s  rst ministerial meeting in late 2000,China was on the cusp of accession to the World Trade Organisation,which subsequently enabled it to become the world’s largest exporterwithin the next decade and assume the title of the ‘World’s Factory’.In contrast to Beijing’s global trade strategy at the time, which wasoverwhelmingly aimed at driving Chinese exports and a current accountsurplus, FOCAC’s trade agenda was always to attract more imports fromAfrica. At the second FOCAC meeting in 2003, China offered tariff-free10/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 4/9imports from Africa’s least developed countries (LDCs). By the 2006FOCAC Summit in Beijing, over 440 items from the LDCs could be exportedtariff-free to China. Two-way trade with Africa expanded 5.2 times duringthis period.The second phase of FOCAC: 2006-2015During this second phase, China advanced the partnership’s economiccooperation from trade-only to encompass foreign aid, direct investment,development  nance and, since 2013, continental-scale infrastructurebuilding under its Belt and Road Initiative.At the 2006 FOCAC Summit, then-Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged todouble China’s  nancial aid and offered $5 billion of preferential loans andcredit to Africa over the next three years. This debuted China’s ballooningpresence as Africa’s creditor.In 2007, the China-Africa Development Fund was established, boostingChina’s foreign direct investment (FDI) across Africa. Chinese companieswere led to develop special economic zones, free trade zones andindustrial parks on the continent; the next wave of trade growth needed ane cient supply chain and upgrades in production capacity. China’s FDI inAfrica grew 3.5 times between 2006-9 and by this point China becameAfrica’s largest trade partner.Upon the initiation of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Chinafurthered its role as a direct contributor to Africa’s infrastructure building,prioritising power grids, special trade zones, ports, transportation routesand other prestigious projects, in which China provided a full range ofcapabilities including  nance, construction, management and, often, equitypartnerships. The infrastructure programme fundamentally remainedphysical over this phase of FOCAC, only to pivot towards digital from 2015onwards.The third phase of FOCAC: 2015-202110/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 5/9Over the period from 2015-21, China asserted security and politicalpartnerships with Africa as core pillars of FOCAC and envisioned a ‘China-Africa Common Destiny’ – a China-posited ideational framework of analternative global destiny. Africa was the  rst global region that Chinaconceives as a quintessential sphere of its ‘China Vision’.The uni-multilateral partnership was raised to a new, comprehensive levelat the 2015 Summit, where Chinese President Xi Jinping strengthened thecommitment to mutual political trust and ‘mutual security assistance’.Over this period, China established multiple sub-categories of the China-Africa cooperation mechanisms. These include the China-Africa People-to-People Forum, China-Africa Youth Leaders Forum, China-Africa HealthMinisters Forum, China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum, China-AfricaPoverty Alleviation and Development Forum, China-Africa Legal Forum,China-Africa Local Government Cooperation Forum and China-Africa ThinkTank Forum. These civic engagements naturally score Chinese soft powerin Africa, in sectors ranging from education, media, law and politicalmentoring to rural development.At the 2018 Summit, where 50 African heads of state and government werepresent in Beijing to accelerate the FOCAC agenda, Xi Jinping furthernamed political cooperation an essential task for the partnership platform.Xi asserted China’s support for African countries to explore alternativedevelopment paths that suit their national characteristics, implying thatChina does not promote democracy as the only form of governmentleading to economic development.China’s political engagement with Africa instead strives to enlighten aChinese philosophical path to development: the ‘development-for-peace’narrative, contrasted with the West’s long-held ‘democracy-for-development’ consensus. By empowering the Communist Party in FOCACpolitical dialogues with African counterparts, an ideological front has beenadded to what had previously been predominantly government-bureaucracy exchanges. China offered to train African political leaders in10/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 6/9its country on elite university programmes, modelled on the leagues of theHarvard Kennedy School.Beyond politics, China’s infrastructure development in Africa during thisperiod evolved from the physical to include digital and technology spheres,intended to support Africa’s pursuit of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’. Overthis phase, China laid down submarine cable networks along the coast ofAfrica, providing large parts of the continent with high-speed and low-costbroadband access. China has since developed Africa’s  rst public cloud,built data storage centres and provided software systems for nationalgovernments. China’s technology infrastructure incorporates both hard andsoft elements.China has further ventured in joint space development, and promotedBeidou – a global satellite positioning system comparable to the GoogleGPS – to support satellite-based services on the continent. Data collectedfrom space has the potential to produce $2 billion a year in bene ts forAfrica, according to the World Economic Forum.Since China helped Ethiopia launch its  rst satellite in 2019, China haspartnered resolutely with more African countries in space exploration.Unlike Russia, which considers African countries only space launchcustomers, China has provided space launch services and  nancing forcountries to acquire satellites; $6 of the $8 billion cost of Ethiopia’ssatellite was  nanced by China. As outer space projects have increasinglybecome the ambition and pride of rising nations, China’s commitment toAfrica’s space missions supports the African dream for this sector.FOCAC has manifested the ‘China Vision’From Beijing’s humble de ning of FOCAC as a new form of partnership in2000, to the Forum’s strategic expansion beyond trade engagement in2006 and its all-encompassing relationship in 2015, China’s enormousgrowth on the continent has not been coincidental. The China-Africa10/05/2022, 15:04 What is FOCAC? Three stages in the new China-Africa relationship | Africa at LSEhttps://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2022/02/03/what-is-focac-three-stages-the-new-china-africa-relationship-trade-economics/ 7/9Common Destiny de ned at FOCAC in 2018 was China’s foreign policy holygrail.As China’s global economic and military prowess further grows, with thecountry aiming to gradually step into the centre of the world stage by 2049,China has elevated the African partnership to a height none can rival.But what does this mean for Africa? The continent could become aformidable exogenous force that prototypes Xi Jinping’s China Wisdom (中国智慧) with an alternative path to national prosperity, peace and security –a force without democracy or western political values.Read the second part in the series on the future of FOCAC.Photo: Opening ceremony of the FOCAC Summit | Beijing, 3 September2018. Credit: Paul Kagame. Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0About the authorPosted In: China-Africa Initiative | Economics | International Affairs |RecentLeave a Reply Enter your comment here...Shirley Ze Yu is Director of the China-Africa Initiative at the Firoz LaljiInstitute for Africa at LSE, and senior practitioner fellow at the AshCenter, Harvard Kennedy School.Shirley Ze Yu

What is FOCAC? Three historic stages in the China-Africa relationship

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What is FOCAC? Three historic stages in the China-Africa relationship

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