Browsing: Chinese President Xi Jinping

China scraps tariffs and steps up the charm offensive in Africa www.theexchange.africa

The new tariff policy, which took effect on September 1, is applicable to mineral and agricultural imports from Chad, Central African Republic (CAR), Eritrea, Djibouti, Mozambique, Guinea, Rwanda, Togo, and Sudan.

It comes on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s declaration at the China-Africa summit held in 2021 that measures would be taken to increase agricultural imports from Africa.

Xi stated at the time that the goal was to increase continental imports to US$300 billion (€302 billion) in the next three years, ultimately reaching US$300 billion per year by 2035.

Africa, which continues to export raw materials to China, accounts for a small portion of China’s imports.…

China's financial commitments to Africa are turning away from large-scale infrastructure projects. www.theexchange.africa

An action plan totalling US$40 billion in trade finance, commercial investments, and a share of Chinese SDRs was announced at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) in late November (SDR).

Despite the eye-catching headline, the actual amount pledged at the two most recent forums in 2015 and 2018 is far less than the US$60bn promised.

China has used concessional loans to fund a wide range of continent-wide infrastructure projects, including trains, airports, highways, and power plants.…

The Digital Silk Road is viewed by the Chinese Communist Party as a key sector to prevent global digital connections from being dominated by any Western countries. www.theexchange.africa

Huawei puts China in a data superiority position in its involvement in countries’ sensitive information. 

China is establishing dominance in digital models. In June, Nigeria banned and dumped Twitter in the country, and has drawn parallels with China in their censorship model development. 

According to Abishek, the data centre in Senegal is one of the many being built by Chinese firms to help Africa keep up with social and economic changes that are pressuring the infrastructure on the continent. …