As the world’s most developed countries and emerging economies are locked in heated talks to cut emission, the trend of developing clean energy has crept into Africa, a continent that is yet to industrialize and has huge energy gaps.
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The summit is being held at a time when the Chinese economy is slowing dramatically.
“We should renew our commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, build a new type of global relations featuring win-win cooperation, and create a community of common destiny for mankind”, Xi told the audience. United States authorities have said they are not considering lifting the sanction on Zimbabwe till the administration spells out reforms. From Nigeria in the west to Zambia in the south, currencies have all fallen sharply to the USA dollar.
Besides urban infrastructure, China has also been offering help in areas such as education, health and stability.
“China is approaching Africa a little differently than it used to”, Shinn said. Recently, Xi pledged $100 million in aid to the African Union to support the building of a standby force – a sign of growing Chinese influence in the region. Three Chinese were among 20 people killed in an Islamic extremist assault on a hotel in Mali last week. Speaking Tuesday during the inaugural China-Africa Media Summit held in Cape Town, Radebe told delegates at the gathering that media leaders from both China and Africa have an opportunity to frame win-win solutions that would deepen the positive trajectory of co-operation and development.
They waved Zimbabwean and Chinese miniature flags in a public display of the friendship and solidarity that exists between the two countries traceable to the pre-independence era when China offered material and moral support to the freedom fighters waging a war against British colonial rule.
With mutually beneficial cooperation and mutual respects, significant results have been achieved in recent years. According to Chinese official source, annual bilateral trade between Zimbabwe and China has risen from 500 million US dollars in 2010 to 1.24 billion USA dollars in 2014, with Zimbabwe maintaining trade surplus with since 2011. Chinese enterprises have also aided African countries in developing their mining, forestry and service industries. The Mali attack showed that “China’s vast business interests in Africa face an uncertain future if security issues are not tackled”, said Mr Shu Yunguo, director of the Center for African Studies at Shanghai Normal University.
The country now has two major power plants, the hydro-electrical 750MW plant in Kariba, completed in 1977 and the thermal 920MW Hwange station commissioned between 1983 and 1987.
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Chris Alden and Yu-shan Wu of the SA Institute of International Affairs noted, in an article in The Star past year, that the joint agreement between the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and China’s Hebei Iron and Steel Group to open a steel mill in Phalaborwa, was an important sign of a possible shift in the nature of commerce between South Africa and China.
