{"id":53315,"date":"2025-03-09T09:30:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T09:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/china-africa-cooperation-energizes-joint-pursuit-of-modernization\/"},"modified":"2025-03-09T09:35:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T09:35:28","slug":"china-africa-cooperation-energizes-joint-pursuit-of-modernization","status":"publish","type":"opinion","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/opinion\/china-africa-cooperation-energizes-joint-pursuit-of-modernization\/","title":{"rendered":"China-Africa cooperation energizes joint pursuit of modernization"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This gateway to West Africa highlights Beijing&#8217;s deepening economic engagement with the continent, a dynamic partnership that is reshaping Africa&#8217;s trade and logistics landscape.<\/p>\n<p>Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Africa&#8217;s infrastructure has taken on a new look, allowing the continent to connect ever closer with the arteries of global commerce.<\/p>\n<p>At the heart of the BRI are five pillars: policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people exchanges. <\/p>\n<p>These principles align with Africa&#8217;s own modernization aspirations. The vision has of late been reaffirmed at China&#8217;s annual &#8220;two sessions,&#8221; where Foreign Minister Wang Yi reiterated Beijing&#8217;s commitment to supporting Africa&#8217;s self-reliance and economic empowerment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;China and Africa are always good friends, good partners, and good brothers with a shared future,&#8221; Wang stressed at a press conference. &#8220;There will be no global modernization without African modernization, and Africa&#8217;s stability and development are vital to the future of humanity.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>China has backed its words with action. Since 2000, Chinese financing and expertise have driven a remarkable infrastructure boom across Africa: more than 10,000 km of railway, 100,000 km of roads and 100 ports, in addition to bridges, power plants and industrial zones.<\/p>\n<p>The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation last September reaffirmed both sides&#8217; commitment to modernization, offering African nations new pathways to economic transformation.<\/p>\n<p>This partnership is rooted in a long history of diplomatic and economic collaboration. From China&#8217;s tradition of making Africa the first overseas visit of its foreign minister each year to its advocacy for the African Union&#8217;s inclusion in the G20, Beijing has consistently treated Africa as an equal stakeholder in global affairs. <\/p>\n<p>Initiatives such as the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative have further reinforced this engagement.<\/p>\n<p>As cooperation deepens, it is rewriting traditional development paradigms. When China launched Algeria&#8217;s first satellite, it empowered the country&#8217;s remote education network. <\/p>\n<p>Chinese photovoltaic technology is helping Africa construct a green energy corridor. These projects signal a shift from the traditional North-South development model to one that emphasizes South-South knowledge exchange.<\/p>\n<p>The partnership is mutually enriching. China&#8217;s increasing demand for agricultural imports has spurred Kenyan flower growers to adopt advanced cultivation techniques, while African ecological wisdom has influenced China&#8217;s rural revitalization efforts. <\/p>\n<p>This two-way exchange highlights the dynamism of China-Africa cooperation and its potential to redefine modernization across the Global South.<\/p>\n<p>Western critics have accused Beijing of debt-trap diplomacy and neocolonial motives, but numerous African policymakers beg to differ. As one local media outlet put it, &#8220;We do not have to choose between the West and China. We use the tools China offers to craft Africa&#8217;s own solutions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Standing at Abidjan&#8217;s newly constructed container terminal, one can see Chinese-built cranes hoist Africa-grown cocoa beans onto ships bound for global markets. This is not a scene of dependence but of mutual progress, a story of two partners advancing together in a shared pursuit of prosperity.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-83342\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/png\/okay.jpg.png\" alt=\"At the bustling Port of Abidjan in Cote d\u2019Ivoire, cargo ships glide in and out as towering cranes hum with ceaseless activity. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the bustling Port of Abidjan in Cote d&#8217;Ivoire, cargo ships glide in and out as towering cranes hum with ceaseless activity. Once a bottleneck for trade, the port now stands as a symbol of transformation thanks to its recent expansion fueled by Chinese investment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000083341,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[75],"byline":[3185],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-53315","opinion","type-opinion","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","tag-homenews","byline-zhang-jian"],"bylines":[{"id":3185,"name":"Zhang Jian","slug":"zhang-jian","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":3185,"name":"Zhang Jian","slug":"zhang-jian","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":{"id":2000083341,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/okay.jpg.png","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/png","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/okay.jpg.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/okay.jpg.png","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/okay.jpg.png","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/okay.jpg.png","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/okay.jpg.png","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion\/53315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/opinion"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/opinion\/53315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000083341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53315"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=53315"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=53315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}