China in Africa: November 2024

Vying for a Future at COP29: African negotiators entered this year’s climate change talks in Baku with lofty ambitions. With a target of $1.3 trillion in climate finance annually by 2030, African representatives called for “equitable climate finance, stronger global partnerships, and urgent action to address the climate crisis” through several means, including the operationalization of the UN Loss and Damage Fund, protection of Africa’s vast natural resources, proper valuation of carbon credits from Africa, utilization of at-home renewable energy potential, and initiation of nature-based solutions that simultaneously capture carbon and preserve biodiversity.

With more than thirty African heads of state taking the stage in Baku, the continent’s collective effort was clear. However, their lofty ambitions masked realistic expectations: despite coming to the negotiating table requesting $1.3 trillion per year for the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG)—the amount developed countries will be required to provide climate-vulnerable countries to assist with adaptation efforts—some African negotiators acknowledged their limited “power to play,” with one noting, “the context is not in our favor.”

Here enters China. Chinese and African negotiators in Baku had to manage a tricky balancing act. On one hand, African representatives did not want to alienate China by aligning with other developing countries in lobbying to include China and other “new polluters” in the base of contributing countries. On the other, China entered the talks hoping to avoid the subject of debt repayment and instead focus on its existing climate-centric projects in Africa, opportunities to expand its climate mitigation efforts across the continent, and ways to remove “unilateral and protectionist measures—mainly from the United States and Europe—that obstruct global cooperation on climate change.”

As such, Chinese and African parties instead opted to focus on areas of cooperation. On November 12, Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang announced that since 2016, China has mobilized approximately $24.5 billion to help address climate change in developing countries, and called on developed countries to increase financial support and technology transfer for developing countries. Accordingly, on the sidelines of the climate change talks at the COP29 High-Level Forum on South-South Cooperation on Climate Change, China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nigeria to “accelerate climate action through innovative solutions, mutual cooperation, and shared expertise in tackling environmental challenges.” Later, Ethiopia joined China at an event focused on the climate mitigation and adaptation efforts of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to discuss innovative solutions for a sustainable future.

Xi Backs Africa on the Global Stage: In Rio de Janeiro, all nineteen member countries of the G20, in addition to the European Union and the newest permanent member, the African Union (AU), met from November 18 to 19. Of the eight actions for global development outlined by Chinese President Xi Jinping, support for African development ranked third. He restated the ten partnership actions announced at the September 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing, which are aimed at African modernization over the next three years and a corresponding commitment of $49.7 billion. Xi also announced the launch of the Open Science International Cooperation Initiative, a joint effort spearheaded by China, Brazil, South Africa, and the AU to “ensure that technological advances benefit less developed, underdeveloped, and developing nations.”

Full Steam Ahead: Chinese state- and business-led investments in infrastructure continued throughout Africa in November. North Africa, in particular, was the hotspot for infrastructure investments. In Morocco, China Overseas Engineering Corporation beat the French consortium NGE Contracting/Guintoli with a $135 million bid to construct part of the Kenitra-Marrakesh high-speed rail project in Casablanca. On November 13, Chinese manufacturer Gotion High-Tech Company Limited signed an MOU with Morocco’s largest public financial investment body, Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion (CDG). With a $316.4 million investment from CDG, Gotion will construct Morocco’s first super-sized factory for electric car batteries, working to establish it as a “benchmark project of local energy transition.” Neighboring Algeria launched the largest standalone Chinese project in the country undertaken in recent years: with the opening of a new Chinese railway sleeper factory in the western city of Tindouf, China Railway Construction Corporation began its construction of the Western Algeria Railway Mining Line, a 575-kilometer heavy-haul railway linking the Bechar and Tindouf provinces. Algerian state-owned transport company Anesrif awarded a $262 million construction contract for the 121-kilometer Bouchegouf-Souk Ahras-Drea railway section to a consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation, which also includes China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

At the southern end of the continent, China’s Zhongmei Engineering Group won a World Bank–funded $15 million contract to renovate part of a national road between Antananarivo and Toliara in Madagascar. On November 10, the $3.8 billion Chinese-built Dr. Antonio Agostinho Neto International Airport commenced operations in Luanda, Angola, with aims to become a critical aviation hub in the region.

Localized Green Innovation: China initiated several bilateral and multilateral sustainable development initiatives in Africa, with particular focus on the Horn of Africa. Together with Ethiopia and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), China launched the China-Africa-UNIDO Center of Excellence, which will streamline technology and skills transfer to advance Africa’s development. The Ethio Green Mobility Expo 2024 is currently underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from November 22 to 30. The exposition’s aim is to showcase innovations in sustainable mobility, including electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies, which a recent agreement between Chinese state-owned Guangdong GuangWu Holdings Group Co., Ltd., and Ethiopian O’clock General Motors seeks to further develop. In partnership with the UN Environment Program and International Ecosystem Management Partnership, China has funded a bamboo agroforestry initiative in Kenya, which will train more than two hundred farmers in sustainable bamboo cultivation. Similarly, China and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization will assist Namibia in bolstering its agriculture, fisheries, and rural livelihoods by delivering important information and resources to local communities through a South-South and Triangular Cooperation project.

The Allure of Chinese Soft Power: Chinese diplomatic engagement with African countries remains robust. China continues to propagate its benevolence through a combination of rhetoric and partnership actions. On November 14, officials from Jiangsu, a high-performing industrial province in eastern China, held a conference in Addis Ababa to promote the province’s economic cooperation with Africa. To date, Jiangsu has established 551 enterprises in Africa, with a cumulative contracted investment of nearly $6 billion, and 2,238 African enterprises have set up camp in Jiangsu. High-level Chinese diplomats continue to discuss bilateral multisectoral cooperation with African politicians, including leaders from Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Sierra Leone.

China’s growing influence on the continent can be seen in the burgeoning prevalence of Chinese language study among African youth. Yang Jianxing, director of the China Cultural Center in Nigeria, spoke of the many Chinese language learning centers that have been established across the country. In Djibouti, the Confucius Institute has promoted Chinese language learning and cultural exchange, having trained 2,361 students since its inception in 2023. A similar situation can be seen in Algeria, where readers are increasingly interested in books on the BRI, Chinese culture and history, contemporary China, and Chinese language learning. This cultural exchange has been formalized in Kenya, where a recent China-Kenya MOU outlines the provision of scholarships and training programs for Kenyan students, teachers, and university professors to learn Chinese in China and to introduce Chinese as a subject in primary and secondary schools.

Multifaceted Service Delivery: China and Ethiopia signed a handover certificate for China’s demining assistance to Ethiopia, which will bolster the country’s demining capacity, support minefield surveys, and promote mine-risk education. China donated thirty-three metric tons of maize flour to food-insecure families in the Malawian capital Lilongwe, and later donated food and nonfood items to the Monrovia Consolidated School System in Liberia, which serves twenty-five thousand students across twenty-five public schools in the capital. Elsewhere on the continent, Peace Ark, a floating medical facility operated by the Chinese navy, is visiting thirteen countries, including Angola, Cameroon, Djibouti, Madagascar, Mauritania, Seychelles, South Africa, and Tanzania, among others. Peace Ark completed its visit to Mauritania on November 7 after treating 8,208 patients, conducting 2,725 auxiliary examinations and tests, performing 117 operations, and deploying teams to provide medical services and emergency skills training at Mauritanian public health sites.

Outlier Significance: Throughout the month, several developments fell out of the ordinary. On November 12, BFI Group, a major investor in the Aluminum Smelter Company of Nigeria, signed a $1.2 billion deal with the state-owned China National Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd., to revitalize a gas-processing facility, which could greatly enhance Nigeria’s aluminum production. In the Talensi district of Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo commissioned Ghana’s largest single gold stream mine to Cardinal Namdini Gold Limited, a subsidiary of Chinese mining firm Shandong Gold Limited. The open-cast gold mine has an initial lifespan of fifteen years and is expected to generate 150 million tons of ore. Mali signed an agreement with Beijing Auxin Chemical Technology Limited to build a plant to manufacture explosives for civilian use, with Beijing Auxin providing financing and expertise.

On a closing note, the reelection of Donald Trump has called into question the durability of the United Kingdom’s decision to cede the Chagos Islands to China-friendly Mauritius. One of the islands, Diego Garcia, is home to a joint U.S.-UK military base. President-Elect Trump, in sync with those he has appointed to his second-term cabinet and with his international allies, is concerned that ceding the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will allow China to gain intelligence on the U.S.-UK naval support facility, threatening critical U.S. military posture in the Indian Ocean.