China-Africa summit expected to bring mutual benefits: analysts

With one day until the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, South African analysts say the event is expected to bring more benefits to both sides.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in South Africa. He will join African leaders for the summit due on Friday and Saturday.

Ralph Mathekga, the head of political economy at Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a South African think tank, said he expected the summit would build closer ties and boost trade between China and Africa.

China could support African countries in various areas, particularly education, innovation, skills transfer and capacity building, he said.

He noted that China's assistance and support to Africa could be in a way different from the West.

"Africa has been for a long time been getting unfavourable conditions from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. These include tariffs which have been passed on through Western aid which is not in the interest of Africa and we expect China to do it differently, actually it is in China's interest to do so," he said.

"China has surplus capital, cash and experience in infrastructure and finance to liberate Africa from the Western financial institutions," Mathekga said.

He suggested African nations act as a whole when cooperating with China.

"I expect strong multi-lateral and bilateral pledges from the summit and trade partnerships. Africa is not a country, not monolithic and has diverse interests with China being an economic giant. I expect an African Agenda,"Mathekga told Xinhua.

He said Africa should come up with proposals to make a "meaningful" relationship, not a blindfolded one with China.

He added that the cooperation between the two sides was based on mutual respect and benefits.

This view is echoed by some South African government officials who have on several occasions stated that Africa and China are equal partners with the same bargaining power.

South African Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Nomaindiya Mfeketo, said on Tuesday that African countries wanted China to help African companies to enter the Chinese markets.

Gideon Chitanga, a researcher at the Center for Study of Democracy at the University of Johannesburg, said the FOCAC summit offered important opportunities for both business and politics.

"For the first time the FOCAC Summit is being held in Africa and Africans are keen to maximize on the proceedings to snatch mutually beneficial deals," he said.

China has historical ties with liberation political parties dating back to the struggle for independence in Africa and now is the ripe moment to cultivate mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation between the two sides, Chitanga said.

He said there was still huge potential for trade between China and Africa.

The more than one billion population in Africa whose demographics boast a generally younger population, who are increasingly becoming a dynamic consuming middle class, provides long term markets which are still to be well appreciated and exploited, he said.

Besides that, he expected China to facilitate a process of political and institutional leadership renewal in Africa to fight corruption and enhance economic efficiency and make it the basis for mutually beneficial cooperation.

He also advised China to engage more deeply with civil societies and communities in Africa in order to ensure ordinary Africans understand what China stands for. Enditem