South African president: China’s $50bn pledge 'great boon' for whole Africa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the $50 billion in financing that his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has committed to Africa over the next three years as a “great boon” for the whole continent.
Ramaphosa made the comment at a press conference in the capital Beijing on Thursday, during a state visit to the Asian country that included attending the ongoing 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
“I am very positively disposed to the amount of money Xi announced today. I think it will be a great boon to the African continent,” the South African leader told reporters on the sidelines of the three-day summit that wraps up Friday.
“As the most industrialized country on the African continent, South Africa stands to benefit immensely from this relationship,” Ramaphosa also told media.
Earlier, Xi told leaders from over 50 African countries that Beijing was prepared to offer financial assistance totaling 360 billion Chinese Yuan (approximately $50.7 billion) over the next three years.
The Chinese president, who has praised his country’s relationship with African nations as the “best in history,” noted that over half of the total amount will be provided as credit. He also mentioned that this includes $11 billion “in various types of assistance” and $10 billion aimed at promoting investment by Chinese companies.
“China-Africa relations are at their best in history,” Xi stressed, vowing to elevate China’s bilateral relations with all African countries with which it has formal ties to the level of “strategic relations.”
As the second-largest economy globally, China is Africa's largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent's vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.
The African continent, with a population of over 1.3 billion people and rich resources, has been oppressed by Western countries for decades.
In recent years, China, Russia, and India have increased their influence in Africa, which has upset Western colonial powers who consider the continent to be within their traditional sphere of influence.
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