2025 saw more consolidation of China-Africa ties

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OPINION

By Joshua Kingdom

2025 was significant as far as China-Africa relations go. For one thing, a major reception was hosted in June in Huan Province to mark twenty-five years since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Now that we are in December, it is deserving that we take a moment to reflect on the different milestones that characterised the Beijing-Africa partnership throughout the year.

In executing the task ahead of me, I have divided the piece into three broad areas, and we will start with Trade. I elected to begin with economics because while development partners often talk about having good intentions in their dealings on the continent, following the money always provides clarity about who means what they say.

Whichever metric one looks at, it is clear that there has been tremendous growth in economic activity between China and Africa over the last twelve months. By May thus, trading between the two parties had already reached  $134.16 billion, an increase of 12% in comparison to 2024.

In part, this owed to the fact that Africa provided an alternative market to Beijing following Trump’s trade war. But performance also increased in terms of the quantity of exports from the African Union states. As Africanews reported in August, the said nations had shipped out over $18 billion worth of goods by then to different regions of the Communist Party (CCP) administered territory. That figure, as well, exceeds last year’s state of things.

What is more is that many of these endeavours were built on what came before them, while others ensured the smoothing of future collaborations. This helps frame the CCP-Africa workings as long-term, thereby showing just how either of the players values the other.

In regards to building on past commitments, Capital News reported in June that the Chinese government had continued to deliver on President Xi Jinping’s promise at the 2024 Beijing summit by elevating agriculture, healthcare, green growth, security, etc. and that more than 45,000 jobs had been created up to that point. As for the future, the Changsha Declaration, which removed tariffs on African exports to China for fifty-three countries, is perhaps the single-most overarching mark arrived at this year.

Again, in order to consolidate the progress realised thus far in Africa, Beijing continued with what has been one of its signature campaigns for the last decade or so, i.e. infrastructure development. By mid-2025, therefore, the Green Finance and Development Centre revealed that the Belt and Road Initiative had already seen projects worth $39 billion embarked on. As with trade, the Communist Party of China and its African allies sought to get involved in pursuits that cement their cooperation for years to come.

Among other ventures, this spirit was evidenced by the China-Africa Internet Development and Cooperation Forum hosted in Xiamen. The first of its kind, the Xiamen forum laid down the foundations for partnerships in cyberspace and telecommunication that will span decades. The other part of this specific development equation was the rehabilitation of existing constructions, as evidenced by the $1.4 billion agreement to revamp the Tazara railway.

2025 was also characterised by high-level delegations of leaders flying across the Indian Ocean, travelling in either direction. This too is a crucial signifier of countries taking each other seriously since high-ranking officials are busy people who only attend to matters of utmost priority to their agendas. In other words, this is another case of actions speaking far louder than words.

For China’s case, then, Foreign Minister Wang Yi kept up with the long tradition of his country in which officials occupying his current position travel to Africa for all their first visits each year. In this case, the FM paid courtesy calls to Namibia, Nigeria, Chad, and the Republic of Congo in January. And in November, the second most senior ranking member of the Communist Party, Premier Li Qiang, visited both Zambia and South Africa. Similarly, Presidents William Ruto, John Dramani, Hakainde Hichilema, and Emmerson Mnangagwa of Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, respectively, headed missions to China at different times this year.

There is more that I could say, including the dynamism showcased by the private sector (say Yadea’s showcasing of electric bikes purposefully designed for the African terrain), but that would require a lot more than I am able to fit in a single column. I hope, though, that you now have an idea of the trajectory that things followed this year.

The writer is a Lawyer and Research Fellow at the Development Watch Centre