Decoding FOCAC: More than just trade

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Strong economic links are typically the foundation for bonds that go far deeper.

The China-Africa partnership, known around the world for commercial ties, is such an example.

Beyond the headlines of booming trade and the building of new routes through mechanisms like the Belt and Road Initiative, lie thousands of stories of cooperation in small business, health and education — to name but three.

These partnerships are promoted by the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and at the ongoing 2018 summit, which has brought leaders from across Africa to Beijing, issues macro and micro are on the agenda — as well as a review of 10 major cooperation plans agreed upon in 2015.

In essence, the forum brings African countries and China together to build relationships, strike agreements and foster an environment in which 2.5 billion people have a chance to prosper.

Language training and sports and cultural exchange, for example, sit alongside attention-grabbing big-scale, high-cost projects.

While creating conditions to maximize China-Africa trade has helped create jobs, wealth and opportunities, China is also sharing lessons of its progress in areas such as poverty reduction.

“The fact that China has managed to lift millions of its citizens out of poverty in an unprecedented time frame using improved agricultural, scientific and technological approaches is a clear indication that there is room for close cooperation between China and Africa for the improvement of African lives,” said Gituru Robert Wahiti, co-director of the Sino-Africa Joint Research Center, told CGTN.

Innovation, science and technology are new areas of cooperation, building on the foundations set by decades of people-to-people exchanges and cultural diplomacy as well as existing partnership frameworks in security and cooperation in UN peacekeeping missions.

Student exchange and training are prime examples of building close bonds. China has helped provide training in a variety of areas to Africans on the continent, while welcoming students to study subjects such as medicine in China via a scholarship program put in place in 2006.

The results of that program have been striking. In 2003, there were fewer than 1,800 African students enrolled in Chinese universities — in 2016, there were more than 60,000.

The examples are endless — and one issue to watch in the future is the focus of Chinese investment, and the consequences of a change of emphasis.

According to the Chinese Chamber of International Commerce, there has been a shift towards supporting services industries— such as health, education and tourism — broadening China-Africa cooperation to new sectors and promoting economic diversification.

(Producer: Li Zhao, Videographer: Qi Jianqiang)