Spotlight: African experts extol China's efforts to enhance ties with Africa

African experts spoke highly of China's long-term efforts to enhance China-Africa relations and to bolster development of the continent.

The experts were speaking in the context that Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, is visiting Africa.

AFRICA BENEFITS FROM CHINA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH

China's economic reforms, which have enabled it to become the world's second-largest economy, will lead to better economic and industrialization prospects in Africa, said Professor Munene Macharia, an international relations scholar at the Nairobi-based U.S. International University.

"China is still the economic engine although there are those who might want to overtake it," Macharia told Xinhua.

Charles Onunaiju, director of the Centre for China Studies in Nigeria, said this year's "two sessions" -- plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference -- are unique and very important because this year is the first year of China's 13th Five-Year Plan period.

For many African countries that take China as a development partner and see its development strategies as a template for their own development, the "two sessions" are an eye-opening opportunity, Onunaiju said.

Besides, the "two sessions" are always likely to review China's role in Africa and implications of the commitments made by China to Africa after the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit held last year in South Africa, said Gerishon Ikiara, an international economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

At the FOCAC summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that Beijing would provide assistance to African countries worth 60 billion U.S. dollars in the form of loans and grants for industrialization efforts, and would provide technical expertise to improve Africa's trade capacity.

Jeremy Stevens, economist with the Standard Advisory (China) Limited, said that while the Chinese economy may continue to slow down, Chinese firms are still likely to continue shaping the investment climate, especially in the infrastructure sector, where they have helped modernize Africa.

"The slowdown in China suits Africa's needs because there would be more Chinese firms willing to invest outside China in order to generate economic growth and create an investment climate that would suit their long-term economic growth potentials in the future. Africa will benefit," Stevens told Xinhua.

CHINA-AFRICA RELATIONS ADVANCE TO HIGHER LEVELS

The relationship between China and Africa goes beyond trade deals.

"The Confucius Institutes are meant to make people understand evolving China and for the Chinese to understand Africa," said David Monyae, co-director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Johannesburg.

Monyae said the Confucius Institutes also provide access to Chinese funding and boost political and economic growth for African countries.

He said Confucius Institutes tell the Chinese story not from Western discourse but give direct contact with the Chinese, removing misconceptions about China.

One of the resolutions adopted at last year's FOCAC summit is to strengthen people-to-people exchanges, said Monyae, who believed that Confucius Institutes will enhance such relations.

"In every relationship, there are differences. When tempers rise in trade misunderstanding, the understanding brought by these Confucius Institutes comes to the fore," he added.

China also helps Africa address illegal poaching.

China's role in promoting wildlife conservation in Africa has helped support economic growth in countries relying on tourism, Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udoto told Xinhua.

According to Udoto, China's unremitting efforts in protecting Africa's wildlife have led to a decline in poaching across Africa and a dramatic fall in the value of illegal raw ivory in the Asian country in the past two years, giving hopes that the wanton killing of African elephants may finally be curbed.

Beijing has made great efforts in encouraging its media and citizens to participate in wildlife conservation activities in Africa through digital platforms so as to raise people's awareness of the status and value of Africa's wildlife, said Charles Oluchina, director of Field Programs, Africa Region at The Nature Conservancy. Endi