How China’s 75-year journey has transformed African development

Gideon Chitanga is a Post Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for Africa China Studies, University of Johannesburg. Picture: Supplied

Gideon Chitanga is a Post Doctoral Researcher at the Centre for Africa China Studies, University of Johannesburg. Picture: Supplied

Published Nov 4, 2024

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Across Africa, government officials, academics, local and international media, diplomats, and citizens joined various activities to celebrate the milestone 75 years of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The National Day of the People’s Republic of China is the largest civic holiday that is celebrated annually on October 1 across the People’s Republic of China.

China-Africa relations have gained traction and momentum, expanding the benefits of Chinese modernisation across Africa. Unsurprisingly, many Africans joined the Chinese people in commemorating 75 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China for a special reason.

Over the past seven-and-a-half decades, China has embarked on an arduous journey of national development and modernisation to usher policies which resulted in lifting over 800 million of its citizens from extreme and absolute poverty in 35 years.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has achieved the twin miracles of rapid economic growth and long-term stability – transforming from a poor developing country into the world’s second-largest economy.

China has successfully united its 56 ethnic groups to foster domestic stability, self-determination, and national sovereignty while embarking on effective people-centred development.

At the beginning of the founding of new China, 80% of the population were illiterate. By 2023, the average years of education for China’s new labour force was over 14 years, while each year, over 10 million students graduate from college in China.

During the seven-and-a-half decades of the rule of the CPC, China embarked on a journey of agricultural development and innovation, introducing crucial reforms enabling Beijing to feed one-fifth of the world’s entire population.

As expressed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, China ranks first in the world in terms of the production of cereals, cotton, fruits, vegetables, poultry, meat, eggs, and fishery products, which ensures food and nutrition security, not only in China but also for the entire world.

Furthermore, China has gone further to extend its agricultural and broader modernisation experience to countries in the global south, in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

China has signed agricultural and fishery cooperation agreements with more than 80 countries, initiated over 650 agricultural investment projects, while building close links with countries around the globe and allocating its resources to advance research and development (R&D), significantly contributing to agricultural development worldwide.

China is only second to the USA in terms of contribution to R&D, and stands at number 11 in the 2024 edition of the Global Innovation Index, an annual ranking of world economies based on their innovation capabilities, hence it has become one of the major drivers of global innovation.

From a per capita national income of only $27, China has risen to sit among great powers at $13 000 per capita national income. The Chinese national economic output rose from less than 5% to 17%of the world’s total output by 2023.

In the first half of 2024, China’s GDP grew by 5%, and foreign trade grew by 6.1%. While 70 years ago, China could not produce a single car, now Beijing is leading the production of a variety of highly mechanised vehicles, including electronic vehicles, pioneering high-tech industries, artificial intelligence(AI), and quantum computing.

By 2023, China’s automobile production and sales both exceeded 30 million vehicles, and China’s “new big three” products, namely electric vehicles, lithium batteries, and solar cells combined, surpassed the milestone of one trillion Yuan in total exports.

China is the biggest trading partner with the African continent after surpassing the USA in 2009. The world’s second-largest economy absorbs nearly one-quarter of the continent’s exports in minerals, fuels, and metals, among others.

It is also the biggest lender to African countries, pledging $191bn between 2006 and 2021. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that in the last 20 years, China became sub-Saharan Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner with around 20% of the region’s exports now going to China, and about 16% of Africa’s imports coming from China.

China has also emerged as the largest bilateral creditor to Africa, providing African countries with a new source of infrastructure, mining, and energy finance. Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased significantly over the last two decades from approximately $75 million in 2003, to $5 billion in 2022, representing about 4.4% of the region’s total FDI.

During the Summit of the Forum for Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC) in September 2024, China committed to provide African countries with $51bn in new financing, a major surge from the $10 billion promised in 2021.

China also committed to supporting 30 infrastructure projects to boost connectivity across the continent in the next three years.

The new financing commitment will be divided into $29.6bn which will be disbursed towards credit lines, while $9.9bn will be channelled into new investment by Chinese companies, with smaller amounts provided through military aid and other projects.

In 2023, trade between China and Africa reached a staggering $282 billion. China has invested billions in US dollars in such countries as South Africa, Angola, Nigeria, the DRC, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Liberia, and Algeria.

Leveraging closer long-term ties preceding the liberation struggles in Africa, which China immensely supported, both materially and politically, Beijing has massively invested in mining, manufacturing, agriculture, and infrastructure, working with African countries to build roads, railways, schools, hospitals, industrial parks, and special economic zones, projects which are changing the lives of ordinary people, stimulating development in Africa.

Infrastructure projects, particularly the construction of roads and railways in African subregions will render much-needed impetus to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which creates a single continental market for goods and services in Africa by enhancing the free movement of people, goods, and services within the African continent.

The emergence of China as a technology superpower willing to share its technologies with the African continent has fired up entrepreneurial skills among African youths by providing affordable access to new technologies and the internet. Increasingly, China has become the destination of choice for higher education among many young people.

The Chinese government has generously provided thousands of scholarships to young Africans and professionals as a way of sharing much-needed knowledge and skills, particularly in the fields of technological innovation which will be in demand in future economies.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global development strategy launched in 2013, the FOCAC and BRICS have become important multilateral platforms channelling South-South diplomacy, mutually beneficial economic and political cooperation, and more just and equitable global order.

Initiatives such as the Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the Global Development Initiative (GDI) are re-energising cooperation among African countries, with the broader Global South in tackling new challenges.

As China commemorated its national day, many African countries and their citizens joined in the spirit of both historical solidarity, and appreciation of the transformative impact of Chinese modernisation in the continent.

Gideon Chitanga, PhD is a Post Doctoral Research at the Centre for China Africa Studies, University of Johannesburg.

The Star