Chinese and African leaders hold a summit on deepening cooperation in a divided world

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Dozens of African leaders have descended on Beijing for a summit that signals China's influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a U.S.-led global order.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to the assembled leaders Thursday that relations with all African countries that have diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the “strategic” level.

“We have always understood and supported each other, setting an example for a new type of international relations," he said at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

China has become a major player in Africa since the forum was founded in 2000. Its companies have invested heavily in mining for the resources Chinese industry needs and its development banks have made loans to build railways, roads and other infrastructure under Xi's Belt and Road program.

China has become sub-Saharan Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner but exports much more to the continent than it imports. In part to reduce its trade deficit, African leaders are seeking China's help to expand their agricultural exports and industrialize their economies.

Xi said China is willing to deepen cooperation in industry, agriculture, infrastructure and other areas and further open its market — in part by eliminating tariffs on products from most of the world's poorest countries, including 33 in Africa.

The relationship has moved beyond trade and investment to take on political overtones as China seeks allies in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world for its competition with the United States to define the norms governing the global economy and how countries interact with each other.