How will the Belt and Road Initiative further advance the common development of China and Africa? The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held in Beijing from October 20 to 23, has shed more light.
The development blueprint outlined at this session not only embodies China’s strategic path toward modernization but also carries a firm commitment to sharing opportunities with other developing countries. As China’s historic achievements during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period and the grand goals of the “15th Five-Year Plan” (2026-2030) unfold, the African continent is gaining valuable experiences for independent development and broad prospects for win-win cooperation.
The Global Significance of China’s Development Achievements
Over the past five years, China has achieved steady and high-quality economic development amid a complex international environment. Its gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to reach 140 trillion yuan in 2025, surging past multiple trillion-yuan milestones in succession. With per capita GDP exceeding the global average, China remains a major engine of global economic growth.
Behind this achievement lies China’s development strategy of taking the real economy as the foundation and driving growth through scientific and technological innovation – the country’s total R&D investment has hit a record high, with over 500,000 high-tech enterprises and the largest number of top 100 global sci-tech innovation clusters worldwide. This provides Africa with an integrated “technology + industry” model for its industrialization drive.
In the field of people’s well-being, China has built the world’s largest systems for education, medical care and social security. The retention rate of nine-year compulsory education and the participation rate in basic medical insurance both exceed 95%, with over 12 million new urban jobs created each year.
This “people-centered” development philosophy is highly aligned with Africa’s urgent needs to improve livelihoods and eradicate poverty. China’s practices in green transition are even more exemplary: its forest coverage rate has risen to over 25%, contributing one-fourth of the world’s newly increased green area, and it has built the world’s largest clean energy supply system – all of which provide Africa with technological pathways and cooperation opportunities for achieving “green growth.”
The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030): A New Window of Opportunity for China-Africa Cooperation
The development goals for the “15th Five-Year Plan” put forward at the Plenary Session have opened up broader space for China-Africa cooperation. Guided by the principle of “promoting high-standard opening up,” China will continue to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, drive innovative trade development and expand two-way investment collaboration. In 2024, China-Africa trade volume reached 295.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 4.8% year-on-year, and China has remained Africa’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years – a momentum that will be further strengthened during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period.
Particularly in financial cooperation, China supports its financial institutions in establishing branches in Kenya and exploring Panda Bond cooperation, providing diversified financial support for China-Kenya Belt and Road projects. This embodies the cooperative wisdom of “combining an effective market with a capable government.”
Specifically, bilateral cooperation is evolving in three new directions: First, in-depth integration of industrial chains. Models like Egypt’s TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone and Kenya’s Mombasa-Nairobi Railway Economic Corridor have delivered remarkable results – the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has not only created 46,000 jobs for Kenya but also cut logistics costs between Nairobi and Mombasa by 30% and boosted trade along the route by 25%. More industrial clusters will be developed in digital economy, new energy and other fields in the future. Second, upgraded sci-tech cooperation.
China’s efforts to “accelerate high-level self-reliance and strength in science and technology” will drive the development of Africa’s digital infrastructure and the cultivation of technical talents. Kenya has joined the “Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity Building,” and China will help Africa bridge the “digital divide.” Third, cooperation on agricultural modernization. By integrating China’s rural revitalization experience with Africa’s agricultural development needs, the two sides will enhance Africa’s food security through technical demonstrations and industrial capacity cooperation.
Shared Destiny: Marching Toward a Bright Future of Modernization
China’s goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035 is highly compatible with the vision of Africa’s Agenda 2063. China-Africa cooperation is not merely project-based assistance but a development partnership rooted in the concept of “sincerity, real results, amity and good faith.” From the Tanzania-Zambia Railway built with Chinese assistance in the 1970s to today’s Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, from medical aid to technological empowerment, China has always adhered to the principle of “teaching people to fish” to help Africa build independent development capacity.
China and Kenya also plan to strengthen cooperation in higher education and vocational education, promote media exchanges and the construction of Chinese cultural centers, and consolidate the foundation of cooperation through people-to-people and cultural exchanges – a vivid practice of the concept of “stimulating the creative vitality of the whole nation’s culture” in international cooperation.
As emphasized at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, “China will share opportunities and pursue common development with countries around the world.” China’s new development blueprint brings Africa not only capital and technology but also a proven set of development methodologies. Against the backdrop of growing global economic uncertainty, China and Africa will join hands to advance industrial upgrading, sci-tech innovation and green transition – surely writing a more brilliant chapter in the history of South-South cooperation and jointly moving toward a prosperous modern future.
Zhao Qian is a journalist for CMG Africa based in Nairobi.
