Relations between China and Africa can be dated back to the early 15th century when Zheng He(1371–1433), during the Min Dynasty, commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. Contemporary Sino-African relations began with the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt in 1956. Quite a number of analysts and scholars, those from the West in particular, think that the current China-Africa relationship mainly centers around economic cooperation. But it is noteworthy that the relationship has never been just about economic ties. In retrospect, this relationship has been moving steadily towards a phrase of comprehensive and sustainable development.

To begin with, China-Africa relations from 1956 to the mid 1990s moved forward, to a great extent, like a monocycle with great potential for sustainable growth. From 1956 to 1979, especially, when both sides were underdeveloped economically, the relations were characterized by strong emotional bonds, in particular, ideological and personal affinity between the leaderships. It was because of the ideological affinity and personal friendship between political leaders that China was carried into the UN by its African brothers. In return, China provided African countries with great volumes of assistance—the most remarkable program was the TAZARA Railway—when it still faced with great difficulties in materials, human resources, and foreign reserves. From 1970 to 1978, China had completed altogether 470 aid projects for 37 African countries, more than the aggregate number prior to that period, with total expenditures standing at the 159% of the total sum of foreign aid in 21 years since the founding of the PRC. This affinity is still felt by the Chinese and African people in their exchanges.

Then since the mid 1990s, a second wheel—economic cooperation—was added to turn the monocycle into a bicycle. Political cooperation developed in parallel with economic one, strengthening the sustainability of China-Africa relations. Politically, President Jiang Zemin and President Hu Jintao paid multiple visits to Africa during their respective tenure, followed by greater numbers of visits exchanged between different levels of government officials. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation instituted in 2000 provided extra impetus for Sino-Africa economic cooperation. Trade volumes between China and Africa had grown from 10 billion US dollars in 2000 to 200 billion US dollars in 2013. Exponential growth of China-African economic cooperation has been interpreted as the result of China’s exploitation of Africa by an overwhelming majority of western scholars and observers. But what had been overlooked, at that time, was the fact that the steadily improving political dimension of the China-Africa relationship, which had a more solid foundation, was well-developed compared with the economic dimension, which had weaker foundation but witnessed leapfrog development. It was not that the political dimension had overridden the economic one, but that the latter developed faster than the former. The China-Africa relationship is far from out of balance.

Finally, high levels of development in the political and economic dimension have dwarfed other dimensions of the bilateral relationship. Recognizing this shortcoming, China has made greater efforts since 2006 in strengthening the third and fourth wheels, i.e. peace and security cooperation, and non-governmental exchanges. In 2006, the Chinese government issued a white paper entitled China’s African Policy, thereby articulating the general principles and objectives of its policy toward Africa and identifying friendly cooperation in the economic, political, cultural, and social fields between China and African countries, representing a new chapter in Sino-African relations characterized by comprehensiveness and sustainability. In July 2012, President Hu Jintao announced an Initiative on China-Africa Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Security, setting up the pillar of peace and security in China-Africa relations. From August 2001 to July 2012, the China-Africa Civil Forum was held in Nairobi of Kenya and Hangzhou of China. This forum, together with the initiative of China-Africa People-to-People Friendship Action, the China-Africa Press Exchange, the China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Program, the China-Africa University 20 20 Cooperation Program, and the China-Africa Think-tank 10 10 Partnership, has set up the social and civil pillar for China-Africa cooperation.

Sino-African relations are far more than economic ties. Transforming from a monocycle to a bicycle and then to a four-wheeled vehicle, the China-Africa relationship is moving faster towards a comprehensive and sustainable pattern.

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