A Community with a Shared Future: Beijing’s Vision of China-Africa Relations

Abstract

Beijing has elevated Africa’s position in its foreign policy planning and increasingly regards the continent as a proving ground for its vision of humanity as a community with a shared future. The Xi Jinping administration has laid out a number of principles, for example, sincerity, pragmatism, affinity, and good faith, as well as major economic and financial initiatives — the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank — to step up engagement with Africa in a more comprehensive and targeted manner. China’s development and governance model represents an alternative to the hitherto under-delivering Western approach that has been practiced by many African nations over the past decades. Beijing respects Africans’ political and economic choices, but also stands ready to help the continent try new development approaches and amplify its voices on the world stage. Fostering political convergence, building mutual trust, promoting local industrialization, increasing financial support for small and medium businesses, and ensuring infrastructure sustainability are the priorities for future China-African cooperation.

Keywords

• community with a shared future
• china-africa relations
• political consensus
• belt and road initiative