China Pledges $60 Billion to Aid Africa’s Development
By NORIMITSU ONISHI

JOHANNESBURG — China pledged $60 billion in development assistance to Africa on Friday, promising to help nations industrialize and elevate its relationship with the continent beyond one centered on the extraction of raw materials.

Speaking before most of the continent’s leaders at a China-Africa summit meeting here, President Xi Jinping tripled the amount pledged at the last meeting three years ago, reassuring the audience of China’s commitment amid an economic downturn whose effects have reverberated across Africa this year.

Against longstanding accusations that China benefits from a lopsided relationship with Africa, contentions that have recently gained traction as China’s trade deficits with many African nations have widened, Mr. Xi said that “China has the strong political commitment to supporting Africa in achieving development and prosperity.”

China, he said, “now has the technology, equipment, professional and skilled personnel and capital needed to help Africa realize sustainable self-development.” Mr. Xi pledged many of these things as part of the $60 billion package, which includes $5 billion in grants and interest-free loans and $35 billion in loans and export credits.

Mr. Xi and leaders from across Africa, including more than 40 heads of state, gathered here for the latest Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a diplomatic summit meeting that has been held every three years since 2000.

Trade between China and Africa has soared since the first event 15 years ago, as China displaced the United States as Africa’s most important trading partner six years ago.

But Mr. Xi’s visit comes as high growth and optimism on the continent are waning. Many previously rapidly growing economies are now slumping because of China’s economic slowdown, its diminished appetite for Africa’s raw materials and plunging prices on everything from oil to copper and iron ore. Nigeria’s economy, the continent’s biggest, is growing at its slowest pace this century, and South Africa, the second largest, nearly slipped into a recession recently.

This forum’s slogan — “Africa-China Progressing Together: Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development” — seemed designed to deflect growing criticism that the benefits of the relationship have largely been in China’s favor.

But Mr. Xi found a receptive audience here, as political leaders and government officials from across the continent described his plans by using the expression “win-win.”

China’s interests in Africa are broadening — Beijing announced last month that it would open its first overseas military outpost in Djibouti in East Africa — but it remains focused on economic matters.

In the weeks preceding the summit meeting, the news media here focused on Africa’s economic expectations of China. By contrast, much of the attention paid to President Obama’s visit to Africa in July centered on his promotion of gay rights, with many Africans warning him against broaching the topic.

Mr. Xi tapped a few times into Africa’s deep-seated resentment of the West’s policies toward the continent, especially what many perceive as its meddling in domestic matters and its attempts to impose its values.

“China strongly believes that Africa belongs to the African people and that African affairs should be decided by the African people,” Mr. Xi said.

Underscoring Beijing’s longstanding policy of noninterference in Africa’s domestic affairs — which, both African and Western critics say, includes coddling the continent’s authoritarian rulers — Mr. Xi paid a two-day visit before this summit meeting to Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe, an adversary of the West.

Anti-imperialist sentiments suffused the auditorium here when Mr. Mugabe, the current chairman of the African Union, praised Mr. Xi.

“He is doing to us what we expected those who colonized us yesterday to do,” Mr. Mugabe said to loud applause.

Other delegates to the summit meeting later expressed similar sentiments, though in more temperate terms.

“The fundamental difference is that the two partners consider themselves equal, even though, in reality, that may not be the case,” said Biéké Benjamin, a diplomat from Ivory Coast. “But it’s a basic principle. There isn’t one partner dictating to the other, whereas Western nations come in saying, ‘You go left, you go right.’”

Still, experts say that Beijing will have to skillfully adapt to a changing relationship with Africa. China’s insatiable demand for raw materials, which has fueled much of the rapid growth in Africa, has cooled as the Chinese try to steer their own economy away from construction and exports to consumption and services.

As the price of commodities has also plummeted, the economies of former models of solid growth, like Zambia, Angola and Mozambique, have tumbled.

Zhong Jianhua, China’s special representative on African affairs, said the summit meeting signaled the start of a new stage in relations — one marked by a “new normal” of slower growth in China.

“Both sides need to review and look back to see what we have done, and also see what we can do more,” Mr. Zhong said.

Expectations from African nations are high.

President José Eduardo dos Santos of Angola had met Mr. Xi the night before to emphasize the need to broaden China’s involvement in Africa’s economy beyond raw materials, said Samuel Andrade da Cunha, director of Asia and Oceania in Angola’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.

“We would like technology and everything to be transferred from China to Angola,” Mr. da Cunha said. “We would like to make products in Angola by building factories or developing agriculture in Angola, which we can then export to other countries.”

大陸投資非洲 共榮？新殖民？

中國國家主席習近平5日結束訪問南非行程，此行承諾融資援助非洲600億美元（台幣1兆8600億元），促進合作與發展，進一步增加大陸在非洲的影響力。

這是習近平2013年上台以來第二次訪問非洲，本次〈中非合作論壇峰會〉4至5日在南非金融首都開普敦舉行，會中簽署峰會宣言和兩國的行動計畫，勾勒雙方未來合作方向；南非總統祖馬5日在閉幕演說盛讚，大陸與南非追求「共榮、雙贏」，雙方關係達到歷史最高點。

習近平承諾的融資，包括50億美元無息貸款，350億美元優惠融資、出口信貸，120億美元協助辛巴威蓋發電廠，以及65億美元協助南非基礎設施建設。

中國外長王毅5日在峰會結束時表示：「由於中國和非洲的經濟結構不同，雙方的貿易有些不平衡，我們可以增加在非洲投資，來尋求整體經濟平衡。」

中國商務部副部長錢克明5日表示，中國政府援非的用意是鼓勵企業協助非洲工業化，低廉的勞力是非洲一大競爭優勢。

中國是非洲最大的貿易夥伴，去年雙向貿易額超過2200億美元。非洲主要是出口商品 (即原料)，而進口製造品。中國是全球最大的原料買家，由於自身經濟減緩，2015上半年對非洲的投資降低逾40%，連帶影響非洲經濟成長。

兩天峰會上，貿易關係與發展計畫是主題，但議程中也談到安全合作，習近平承諾6,000萬美元支援「非洲常備軍」的成立與運作。

中國大方投資非洲，有人譏為剝削非洲的「新殖民主義」，圖的並不是非洲長遠之益，但出席峰會的非洲領袖，包括辛巴威總統穆加比與肯亞總統肯亞塔皆反駁此說。

肯亞塔在記者會表示，習近平在峰會上的承諾「明明白白顯示中國有誠意在雙贏的基礎上協助非洲發展，這個夥伴有心成就一些事情，和我們合作，拉拔我們的國家脫離貧窮」。

從迦納到尚比亞，非洲許多國家受到商品價格下跌與美國升息展望的打擊，投資者紛紛他去。不過，非洲經濟雖然走緩，根據國際貨幣基金（IMF）預測，明年全球十個成長最快的國家仍然會有四個在非洲。

專家說，非洲雖然大致上還屬於邊陲市場，但利潤相對而言仍然高一點，中國很清楚這一點。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/world/africa/china-pledges-60-billion-to-aid-africas-development.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/china/20151206/c06africa/zh-hant/

Video：President Xi Jinping of China presented proposals on strengthening economic cooperation between his country and Africa.
http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/asia/100000004075559/strenghtened-china-africa-cooperation.html

2015-12-06．聯合晚報．B3．國際財經．編譯彭淮棟