- China welcomed African leaders to a lavish summit in Beijing on Monday.
- It's a sign of China's influence on the continent, where it has extensive trade links
China's leader Xi Jinping playing the lavish host to leaders from Africa this week — burnishing its credentials as a world power.
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in Beijing, is the biggest diplomatic summit in China in recent years, with 53 African heads of state in town.
China declared the theme of the summit, the first since 2018, as "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future."
As they arrived, leaders were greeted by dancers, lines of Chinese troops, and cheering flag-waving children.
Xi himself hosted the delegations at an opening banquet and ceremony on Wednesday, before discussions begin in earnest.
Analysts say the event is about cementing Chinese influence on the continent, and chipping away at the US.
In recent decades China has struck trade, infrastructure, and security deals worth billions as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative.
But China's investment in Africa has dropped sharply in recent years amid domestic economic woes, while the US seeks to catch up amid in an intensifying race for global dominance.
"This summit occurs amid intensifying strategic frictions between China and the West, especially the United States," Ali Wye of the US think tank Crisis Group told Business Insider.
China fuels African growth, but not for free
For decades, China's rulers built alliances with African nations, portraying them as engaged in a common struggle against the legacy of Western colonialism.
As China's economy grew at a ferocious pace from the 1990s, it engaged in extensive infrastructure projects in Africa, securing deals for lucrative minerals vital for its growing tech and renewable-energy sectors.
In 2017, China opened its first overseas People's Liberation Army base in Djibouti, on the horn of Africa, adding a military dimension to its expansion.
China is now Africa's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $167.8 billion in the first half of this year, according to China's state media.
But its presence in Africa has also attracted criticism, with China's leaders accused of saddling African countries with vast debts in the form of loans to fund infrastructure projects.
The US, China's chief rival for overseas influence in Africa, has accused Beijing of seeking to exploit African countries and ensnare them.
Seeking Xi's favor
It hasn't stopped African leaders from lining up to do business with China, even as they take on the costs.
Some are likely to push this week for deals to lighten their debt burden and address concerns over global warming, said Wyne.
Among the leaders granted special one-to-one meetings with Xi are Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, and William Ruto, the president of Kenya. The economies are among Africa's biggest, though Kenya has, in recent months, been rocked by riots over economic instability caused by its debts.
China's economic downturn and the COVID-19 pandemic saw its investment in Africa dip sharply.
According to data from Boston University's Global Development Policy Center, China's loans to Africa rose to $4.6 billion in 2023, an increase from the $1 billion loaned in 2022, but a massive reduction of the nearly $30 billion in 2016.
Instead of the major projects it pitched around a decade ago, China will likely propose smaller deals to African leaders.
"Given the concerns of some African countries over the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on their indebtedness and environments, China will seek to pitch smaller, more sustainable investments across the continent," said Wyne.
China portrays itself as leader of the 'Global South'
Africa remains vital to China's strategy of portraying itself as the champion of the "global south" of non-Western nations.
Tensions between China and the West have increased in the wake of the Ukraine war, in which China has provided support to Russia. And leaders in Western countries are increasingly alarmed by China's growing global assertiveness.
The conference this week presents China with an opportunity to present itself as a global power broker.
"[China] will also aim to demonstrate that, even as advanced industrial democracies increasingly align to contest its influence, it is far from diplomatically isolated, especially in the developing world. In" said Wyne.