Proactively increasing imports of finished products from Africa

When speaking of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, on most occasions, people will think of gigantic infrastructure projects such as construction of railways, power plants and mines.

But the truth is, with the deepening of economic and trade ties between the Asian manufacturing powerhouse and African countries, both sides have seen their bilateral trade booming and transforming the lives of people.

China surpassed the United States in 2009 to become Africa's largest trading partner and has since remained in the position for 12 consecutive years.

Bilateral trade between China and Africa surged by 20 times in the last 20 years to $180 billion in 2020, accounting for about 21 percent of the continent's overall foreign trade that year, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

The value of trade between China and African countries increased by 40.5 percent year-on-year to reach a record $139.1 billion during the first seven months of the year despite COVID-19.

Private enterprises, rather than huge State-owned ones, have become the majority of Chinese enterprises to stimulate the rising momentum of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, said a recent report issued by the China-Africa Business Council.

According to a previous report in China Daily, through trade cooperation, China has contributed to better quality of life for Africans, with its exports of machines at affordable prices, which consequently increased production and hence generated income for workers, as well as created a massive number of jobs, said Gitahi Ngunyi, a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of Kenya.

Moreover, during the January-July period, China's imports from Africa grew by 46.3 percent year-on-year to $59.3 billion, while imports of agricultural products such as rubber, cotton, coffee all doubled on a yearly basis.

Qian Keming, China's vice-minister of commerce, said in a media briefing on the preparation for the second China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, which was later held in Changsha, Hunan province, from Sept 26 to 29, that China is proactively expanding imports of non-resource or finished products from Africa, especially higher value-added deep-processed products, as the continent is pushing for a more diversified economic structure through activities like deep processing of its resource and agricultural products.

China is trying hard to reduce the growing trade imbalance with Africa, by trying to source a more diversified range of products from Africa, said Jeremy Stevens, chief China economist at Standard Bank, an Africa-focused financial services organization headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.

He believes while Africa wants to industrialize to create jobs and diversify its economic structure, China wants to be a partner that helps African growth and development.

That, according to him, demonstrates what a true partnership is.

"If China just sells a significant amount of manufactured goods to all the African countries and buys a narrow range of raw materials from four or five African countries, it will undermine the spirit of the partnership," he said.

As COVID-19 is yet to be controlled worldwide, China and Africa have shown the world how a bilateral relationship can continue to thrive despite the pandemic.

When COVID-19 hit China, making Chinese people struggle to contain the disease from spreading, African countries offered their sincere sympathy and support to China.

After the country effectively controlled the disease within its borders, China also showed to the world how a reliable friend is supporting Africa to battle the pandemic.

The country offered a large amount of urgently needed medical supplies to the continent and also sent teams of medical experts.

Apart from providing COVID-19 vaccines to African countries, China also assisted Africa in producing COVID-19 vaccines, offering technology and expertise.

Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm said it has been providing anti-pandemic medical aids and goods supplies to 51 African countries. Shipments of its vaccines to African countries have exceeded 55.95 million doses.