China pledges S$15 billion in aid to Africa

ADDIS ABABA (Ethiopia) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang yesterday unveiled extra aid for Africa totalling at least US$12 billion (S$15 billion) and offered to share advanced technology with the continent to help with its development of high-speed rail, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Mr Li, who is on a four-country tour of Africa, pledged the additional funding in a speech at the Organisation of African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

China will increase credit lines to Africa by US$10 billion and will boost the China-Africa Development Fund by US$2 billion, bringing it to a total of US$5 billion, Xinhua said. It provided no details of the timeframe.

Mr Li “depicted a dream that all African capitals are connected with high-speed rail, so as to boost pan-African communication and development”, the report said. As China has advanced technology in this area, Mr Li said his country was ready to work with Africa “to make this dream come true”. China will also offer US$100 million in aid for wildlife protection, he added.

Mr Li, who arrived in Addis Ababa on Sunday with his wife Cheng Hong, had earlier met Ethiopian Premier Hailemariam Desalegn and signed a number of trade agreements.

“China and Africa’s destiny is closely linked. We supported each other during the struggle for independence. And in the course of national development, we have always treated each other as equals,” Mr Li said following the meeting. “We have forged a relationship of mutual learning in our civilisations and cultures. We have respected each other’s choices in the path of development according to our national conditions, and we are learning from each other. For these reasons, we need to deepen our ties in pursuit of common development.”

Mr Li’s visit is his first to Africa since he became Premier last year, and follows a trip to the continent by President Xi Jinping in March last year, when he renewed an offer of US$20 billion in loans to Africa between 2013 and 2015.

Mr Li said the new US$10 billion credit line would be on top of the existing US$20 billion already offered, the China News Service reported.

Chinese officials said last week that Mr Li’s trip, which also includes Nigeria, Angola and Kenya, would not simply be for energy deals and Beijing will be seeking to help boost African living standards. Trips by Chinese leaders to Africa are often marked by big natural resource deals, triggering criticism from some quarters that China is only interested in the continent’s mineral and energy wealth.

Africans broadly see China as a healthy counterbalance to Western influence, but there are growing calls from policymakers and economists for more balanced trade relations.

Last year, China-Africa trade reached US$210 billion, with more than 2,500 Chinese firms operating on the continent, Xinhua said. But tensions exist around allegations of shoddy construction and a lack of respect for employment and other local laws. China has also faced allegations that its pervasive influence has more than a whiff of colonialism about it. Agencies