PRETORIA: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on the international community to recognize the benefits of continued Chinese investment in Africa, during a speech in South Africa’s capital.
"I noticed that some scholars from developed countries, who have long studied China-Africa relations, have recognized… that China-Africa relations are win-win in nature," he said.
"They have called on the international community to perceive China’s role in Africa as it truly is."
Xi was in Pretoria to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which China organized in 2000 to expand its economic presence in Africa.
The inaugural summit launched in Beijing and takes place every three years.
At last year’s gathering in Egypt, the Chinese government pledged $10 billion dollars in loans to Africa, and cancelled or reduced the debts of more than 30 African countries.
Xi, who is expected to be China’s next president, is on a three-day tour of South Africa. The two countries signed a series trade agreements Wednesday as the Asian economic power sought to secure mineral rights needed to fuel its booming economy.
Beijing claims its bilateral trade with Africa will top $100 billion in 2010, as Chinese firms continue pouring investment into the continent’s oil, mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
China has been criticized by the West over its involvement with regimes in countries like Sudan and Zimbabwe that have been accused of human rights abuses.
But Chinese officials say they follow a policy of non-interference in African countries’ domestic affairs, and deny that Chinese loans come with strings attached.
Xi is next scheduled to travel to oil-rich Angola as well as to Botswana to shore up Chinese resource deals in those countries.
