China’s President Xi Pledges Even Stronger Africa ties

China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged to strengthen economic ties with Africa… a continent already awash with cheap Chinese loans in exchange for minerals and huge construction projects.

Xi was speaking during a two-day visit to Senegal on Saturday, the first leg of an Africa tour that will also take him to Rwanda and South Africa, the latter for a summit of BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

China now does more trade with Africa than any other nation does, and its consistent overtures to the continent contrast sharply with the United States, whose President Donald Trump has shown little interest in it (at one point allegedly referring to African nations as “sh*thole countries”).

The visit is Xi’s fourth to Africa. At a press conference he said: “Every time I come to Africa, I have seen the dynamism of the continent and the aspirations of its people for development.”

Earlier, Xi was greeted by a brass band and hundreds of people waving Chinese and Senegalese flags and wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the two leaders’ faces.

LOADING UP ON CHINESE DEBT

Africa is in the midst of a boom in infrastructure projects, managed and cheaply financed by China, part of Xi’s “Belt and Road” initiative to build a transport network connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

China has pledged $126 billion for the plan, which has been praised by its supporters as a source of vital financing for the developing world.

While several African countries view China’s role in Africa positively as contributing to peace and stability, and financing budget, critics say Africa is loading itself up on Chinese debt that it may struggle to repay, with estimates ranging in the tens of billions of dollars.

That could leave African nations with no choice but to hand over controlling stakes in strategic assets to the Chinese state.

As well as trade and minerals, China has also seen Africa as a source of political support. Chinese diplomacy has, as of May this year, succeeded in getting every African country except Swaziland to break off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which China sees as a renegade province.

(Editing by Andrew Bolton, Daniel Wallis and Jenni Baxter)