Sunday News Correspondent
RECENTLY, a Zimbabwe delegation of young political leaders visited China in what signifies the future of the country’s political relations with China.
China and Zimbabwe enjoy historical relations established during the latter’s liberation struggle which led to Independence in 1980; and there have been concerns that there could be tenous contacts as the older generation passes.
This could be construed as an Africa-wide phenomenon, where some commentators have asserted that China has had more influence with “elites”.
However, this is misleading.
China’s relations with African countries including Zimbabwe, are likely to enjoy continuity and subsistence into the future, because the two sides have taken steps to ensure that young generation of Africans and Chinese will nurture new friendships on the basis of people-to-people exchanges, while various opportunities and programmes that the two sides will deepen rather than weaken existing relations.
China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries; and the latter has the unique characteristic of being the continent with the youngest population.
This has led to the true assertion that Africa is the continent of the future.
As this article will demonstrate, China’s current relations with Africa already benefit young people, which explains why the majority of young people in Africa view China most favourably compared to other powers, including the United States of America, as a major survey in 2022 found out.
In Zimbabwe, the future of relations with China is on a good stead.
The recent visit by young political leaders comprised 13 members and included Kudakwashe Mupamhanga, Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, two Members of Parliament (Tawanda Titus Mudowo and Mutsawashe Carl Ziyambi), two officials from Zanu-PF Youth League, four officers from the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, a Junior Councillor, a Junior Senator, Junior Minister and a Junior Mayor.
Organisers said the tour served the “purpose of implementing relevant measures regarding the partnership initiative for people-to-people exchanges put forward at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac), and fostering amicable exchanges between China and Zimbabwe, particularly among the youth”.
Among other activities, the young leaders visited the China Youth University of Political Studies, learnt about the History of the Chinese Youth Movement, met with leaders of the All-China Youth Federation, learned about the history of the Communist Party of China as well as technology and e-commerce.
At the Focac Summit held in Beijing in September, China and Africa recognised the importance of young people in fostering closer relations, and building a global community with a shared future for mankind.
The Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027), which was the outcome of the summit stated that the two sides acknowledged that young people as well as the future generations represent the hope of China-Africa relationship and that women make up an integral part in the big, warm family of China and Africa.
It said: “The two sides will strengthen exchanges and cooperation of youth and women to cement the social foundation for building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future and establish a Focac mechanism that belongs to the Chinese and African people.
“In line with the priorities of Agenda 2063 and the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment 2018-2028, we agree to strengthen China-Africa cooperation for the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment while respecting different traditions and cultures, particularly in the areas of employment, leadership, decent work, entrepreneurship, education and learning, agriculture, health, access to financing, prevention and response to gender-based violence.”
There are other specific youth interface programmes designed to strengthen relations between the two sides.
China pledged that it would continue to hold the China-Africa Youth Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the China-Africa Youth Festival, continue to develop mechanism such as the China-Africa Young Leaders Forum, and promote exchanges and co-operation among Chinese and African youths through the International Chinese Language Teachers Scholarship, the “Chinese Bridge” competition, visiting delegations, etc.
According to the Beijing Action Plan, China and Africa will foster new projects on capacity building in poverty reduction, rural revitalisation, ICT, fin-tech, mobile payments, digital economy, e-commerce, cloud computing, big data and cyberspace security in order to leverage relevant impact on the high potential growth of these sectors in Africa, with a special emphasis on women’s participation.
A pragmatic future
It can be acknowledged that previously, Western countries — particularly America — enjoyed more positive image, or soft power, among Africans because of economic might and cultural influences.
Now that China has risen to become the world’s second largest economy soon potentially overtaking the US; while issues such as racism, gun violence, America’s wars abroad and interventionism have eroded its standing, perspectives have shifted significantly.
China has also done more to impact positively on the daily lives of African people including young people in unprecedented and pragmatic ways.
The Global Times publication explained in an article two years ago that the favorable views China has had among young Africans could be attributed to several factors.
“First, China has been involved in a variety of infrastructure projects across the African continent and is keen to help build land passages such as railway lines, roads, ports, bridges, as well as dams, skyscrapers, and power stations that greatly helped African countries improve their economy and the people’s living standards.
“In recent years, China has increasingly invested in the continent through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The initiative has assisted many African nations improve their infrastructure that laid the foundation for achieving broader common prosperity in the continent. This could be easily felt by young Africans.
“Second, vast inexpensive made-in-China products have emerged as popular items embraced by young Africans. China’s exports to Africa rose an impressive 13.4 percent year-on-year in the first five months of this year. Young Africans are increasingly willing to spend more to buy Chinese-made products of good quality, such as electric bicycles, smartphones and game consoles.
“Third, China’s investments on the continent have no political strings attached. China succeeds because it offers developing countries what they actually want, and China respects the choices of the development paths and social systems of the African countries. In contrast, the US has overly focused on political intervention while providing investment or economic assistance there. It is often the case that investment is used as a tool to advertise American values to Africans.”
Meanwhile, the 10 Partnership Actions that Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined at Focac, covering areas of mutual learning among civilisations, trade prosperity, industrial chain co-operation, connectivity, development co-operation, health, agriculture and livelihoods, people-to-people and cultural exchanges, green development and common security, will benefit young people directly and indirectly as a key demographic.
This pragmatic co-operation, along with political education and sharing of views will shape the future of China-Africa relations, particularly Zimbabwe, even in more strategic ways than what the older generation could achieve.
The future is pragmatic.
