Marking a new era in China-Africa relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping presented a set of principles, called the "Five Nos" and eight major initiatives at the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) earlier this week. 

The "Five Nos" refers to: No interference in the way African countries pursue their development paths according to their national conditions; no interference in a country's internal affairs; no imposition of China's will on African countries; no attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa; and no seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation. 

Alongside the set of principles, Xi outlined eight initiatives to be implemented in the next three years, covering fields such as industrial promotion, infrastructure connectivity, trade facilitation, green development, capacity building, healthcare, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security matters.