Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

A TOP African diplomat pointed to China’s economic rise and the tech hub of Shenzhen as critical models for understanding the country’s global role while outlining digital and green energy investment as the future of Africa-China ties at the 2025 Understanding China Conference.

The three-day conference, focused on China’s modernization path and global governance, concluded in Guangzhou yesterday.

During an interview with Shenzhen Daily, Erastus Mwencha, former deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, said comprehending China requires a focus on its unprecedented economic scale and strategic shift.

“China has managed to develop very fast, lifting almost 1 billion people out of poverty using infrastructure, housing, and manufacturing as a base,” Mwencha said. He noted the country is now pivoting to “high-quality growth” in green technology, digitalization, and artificial intelligence.

According to Mwencha, also a member of the advisory council for the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, trade between China and Africa has grown from US$10 billion in 2000 to more than US$300 billion today, with China as the continent’s largest investor.

The partnership now extends beyond infrastructure to thousands of scholarships for African students and institutional support, including the construction of the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Asked which Chinese initiatives had the greatest impact, Mwencha, a Kenyan, cited infrastructure like his country’s Standard Gauge Railway, renewable energy projects helping countries transition from coal, and agricultural technology boosting food security.

For the coming decade, he singled out the digital economy as the most promising field. “Africa risks being left behind,” Mwencha said, emphasizing the need for fiber-optic infrastructure and skills development for the continent’s young population.

He said future cooperation must help meet Africa’s core challenges: creating jobs for its youth and building climate resilience through green development pathways.

Additionally, Mwencha praised Shenzhen as a benchmark. Having visited Shenzhen, he described its evolution from a fishing village to a global Fortune 500 hub as “one of the gifts to China for opening up.”

“The ‘Shenzhen Model’ of globalization that attracts investment for transformation at ‘Shenzhen speed’ offers many lessons,” Mwencha said. “That is exactly what Africa needs for developing its own economic zones.”