China-Africa summit 2024 opens in Beijing with high expectations for both sides

Chinese girls waiting for African leaders at the Airport

Beijing September 4—African leaders are converging in China this week for an anticipated high-level meeting with President Xi Jinping as Beijing continues to befriend and expand its influence on the continent amid a silent face-off with Western countries.

The China-Africa summit, which will last from September 4 to 6, will see leaders of African countries meet and discuss policies and cooperation agreements with officials from the continent’s biggest lender and investor. Those agreements will set the tone for the two side’s burgeoning relations for the next few years.

At least 53 heads of state of African countries, or their representatives, as well as ministerial delegates, are expected to be at the summit. Uganda’s Prime Minister, Robina Nabbanja, is representing Uganda at the conference.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on arrival in Beijing for the summit

In a statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the conference is the “largest diplomatic event” the country has hosted in recent years with the highest attendance of foreign leaders, adding that it was a “grand reunion of the China-Africa big family”.

Agreements in past summits have unlocked unrivalled access to Africa’s raw material markets for Beijing, as well as investment dollars for African countries.

“China shall never waver in its determination to pursue greater solidarity and cooperation with Africa,” the statement added.

According to China’s foreign ministry, the official summit theme is “Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future”.

Beijing is expected to fete its high-level guests at a welcoming banquet, a separate opening ceremony, four general summits, and several bilateral meetings with China’s Xi and different African leaders.

The summit comes at a time when China is increasingly countering United States and European influence in Africa and other developing regions in its climb to global superpower status. Although the US, Japan, India and Russia also hold regular summits to woo the continent’s leaders, China is unmatched as the continent’s economic partner.

For Beijing, the summit presents a massive diplomatic opportunity to flaunt its prominence on the world stage, said Jana de Kluiver, a researcher with the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies. Having African leaders as allies means Beijing can wield diplomatic influence at the United Nations.

“Africa is important to China because of the strength of its votes at the United Nations General Assembly. Those photos with African leaders, those big headlines on the papers, will be very important for President Xi to get,” de Kluiver said.

On the business front, China is also expected to woo African leaders with more investment dollars and lobby for improved access to important minerals like lithium, copper and cobalt, which it currently mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zimbabwe, Botswana, and other countries.

Beijing will also likely push for more exports of its China-made products, particularly renewable energy products, and technologies it has recently invested heavily in.

African countries, which often make deals bilaterally, will on the other hand look to clarify plans for some unfulfilled pledges from past summits.

Eswatini, the 54th African nation, has no ties with China and is likely to be the only absent country. It is the only African country that has diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory.