Twenty-five years after the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation first convened, Beijing now describes its relationship with the African continent as an 'all-weather community with a shared future', a phrase carrying the weight of a long diplomatic evolution from 'new type of partnership' onward. The account, carried by The Manila Times from a Global Times piece, is best understood as China's own story of itself, drawing on scholarly interviews and the writings of Xi Jinping to frame the bond as stable, mutually modernizing, and resistant to outside pressure. Like many anniversaries, it looks bac
Beijing Frames China-Africa Ties as an 'All-Weather' Partnership at FOCAC's 25th Anniversary
Africa, in Beijing's words, is the "foundation of the foundation"
Mark
Why does a 25th anniversary piece matter beyond the ceremony?
Mimi
Because it shows how Beijing wants the relationship described. The labels have escalated from "new type of partnership" to an "all-weather community with a shared future."
Mark
And the "all-weather" part means what, practically?
Mimi
Professor He says it means ties unshaken by temporary incidents or outside attempts to sow discord. It's a statement of intent about durability.
Luke
I'd flag that this is a sponsored Global Times piece. The voices are Chinese scholars and Xi's own writings. No African official is quoted in what we have.
Mark
What about the infrastructure numbers?
Mimi
Over 10,000 km of railway, nearly 100,000 km of roads, close to 100 ports, and aid to 53 countries benefiting over 10 million people.
Luke
Those come from a Chinese government report dated August 29, 2024, and aid figures to June 2024. They're attributed, not independently verified here.
Mark
He also says China doesn't see Africa as a sphere of influence.
Luke
That's an assertion by one scholar. The piece offers no evidence on how African governments see it.
Mimi
The strategic-relations proposal covers every African country with diplomatic ties to Beijing, which is the real test of how it lands.
Luke
And the text cuts off mid-answer, so we don't know the rest of his argument on global governance.
El Pulso
- A sponsored anniversary piece arrives claiming the strongest moment yet in a 25-year partnership, and its language is built to sound unshakable.
- Beijing's successive labels for Africa ties are stacked one upon another, each new phrase raising the stakes of what a 'strategic' bond must now mean.
- Infrastructure tallies of railways, roads, ports and power lines are presented as proof of partnership, yet the figures trace back to a single Chinese government report.
- The piece pushes a modernization model meant to rival Western paths, while insisting it is not a sphere of influence and not aimed at any third party.
- Implementation of the 2024 Beijing Summit outcomes is the next test, and whether African governments embrace the strategic framing remains open and unrecorded.
Twenty-five years after the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation first convened, Beijing now describes its relationship with the African continent as an 'all-weather community with a shared future', a phrase carrying the weight of a long diplomatic evolution from 'new type of partnership' onward. The account, carried by The Manila Times from a Global Times piece, is best understood as China's own story of itself, drawing on scholarly interviews and the writings of Xi Jinping to frame the bond as stable, mutually modernizing, and resistant to outside pressure. Like many anniversaries, it looks backward with pride and forward with intent, leaving unanswered how African governments themselves will weigh that framing against their own interests.
On December 2, 2025, a press release marking 25 years of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation reached readers through The Manila Times, having first been written by the Global Times, a Chinese state-aligned outlet. It reads less as an independent review than as Beijing speaking about itself, and it asks to be read with that in mind.
The story is told through a changing vocabulary. What began as a 'new type of partnership' at the first ministerial meeting has climbed through 'strategic' and 'comprehensive' labels to become an 'all-weather community with a shared future for the new era', which the article calls the finest period in the relationship's history. Much of the case rests on an interview with a senior scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who describes Africa as the 'foundation of the foundation' of Chinese diplomacy and says 'all-weather' means the bond cannot be shaken by passing storms or outside efforts to divide.
The article then turns to modernization. Xi Jinping's vision of joint China-Africa modernization is presented as just, open, people-first, inclusive, green and secure, and as a path that Africa should not copy from the West but may learn from China's forty years of reform. Concrete achievements follow: thousands of kilometers of railways and roads, hundreds of bridges and ports, and aid reaching over ten million people. These figures come from a Chinese government report, not from independent verification.
The piece closes by casting China and Africa as partners in the Global South, bound by shared histories of resisting colonialism and a common wish to reshape global governance. It ends mid-sentence. What remains to be seen is whether the commitments made at the Beijing Summit are carried out, and how African governments themselves answer this strategic framing, a response this account does not yet record.
On December 2, 2025, a press release distributed through GlobeNewswire and republished by The Manila Times marked the 25th anniversary of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC. The piece originates with the Global Times, a Chinese state-aligned outlet, and is best read as Beijing's own account of the relationship rather than an independent assessment.
The account traces how China has labeled its ties with Africa over a quarter century. The relationship began as a "new type of partnership" at the first ministerial meeting, became a "new type of strategic partnership," then a "comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership," and is now described as an "all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era." The article calls this the best period in the relationship's history. It also lists the successive cooperation packages: the "10 cooperation plans," the "eight major initiatives," the "nine programs," and the "10 partnership actions."
Much of the text is an interview with Professor He Wenping, a senior research fellow at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It is the 15th article in the "Scholars' Perspectives" column, part of a series the Global Times runs with the People's Daily Overseas Edition on Xi Jinping's book series, The Governance of China. Xi's keynote at the opening of the 2024 Beijing Summit of FOCAC appears in Volume V. In June 2025, Xi also sent a congratulatory letter to a ministerial meeting of coordinators on implementing FOCAC follow-up actions, urging both sides to carry out the summit's outcomes and plan the forum's future.
At the September 5, 2024 summit, Xi proposed raising China's bilateral relations with every African country that has diplomatic ties with Beijing to the level of strategic relations. He Wenping says this shows Africa's growing weight in Chinese diplomacy, calling the continent the "foundation of the foundation" of Chinese foreign policy. In his reading, "all-weather" means the relationship is stable and cannot be shaken by passing incidents, shifts in the international situation, or outside forces trying to sow discord. He also stresses the role of leader-level summits in setting long-term direction.
He traces the idea of a China-Africa community of shared future to March 2013, when Xi, soon after China's two sessions, visited South Africa, Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. In Tanzania, Xi set out four guiding principles: sincerity, real results, amity and good faith.
The article then turns to modernization. Xi's 2024 speech described six features of joint China-Africa modernization: just and equitable, open and win-win, people-first, diverse and inclusive, eco-friendly, and underpinned by peace and security. He argues these answer African aspirations and match Chinese modernization. He says the Western path cannot and should not be copied, and that China, after more than 40 years of reform and opening-up, is ready to share governance experience. He insists the cooperation is not exclusive, not aimed at any third party, and that China does not treat Africa as a sphere of influence.
The concrete figures come from a Chinese government report released August 29, 2024, on Belt and Road cooperation with African countries. According to it, Chinese enterprises have helped build or upgrade over 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, nearly 1,000 bridges, close to 100 ports, 66,000 kilometers of power transmission lines, and 150,000 kilometers of backbone communications networks. The article adds that, as of the end of June 2024, China had provided aid to 53 African countries for food security, water supply, maternal and child health and education, benefiting more than 10 million people.
The interview's final section frames China and Africa as natural members of the Global South, with shared anti-colonial histories and a common interest in reforming global governance. The text is cut off mid-sentence there. What to watch is how the Beijing Summit commitments are implemented, and how African governments themselves respond to the strategic-partnership framing, which this one-sided account does not record.
Citas Notables
The 'all-weather' label means China-Africa ties are stable and cannot be disrupted by temporary incidents or outside forces.— Professor He Wenping, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (paraphrased)
China has never regarded Africa as its sphere of influence.— Professor He Wenping, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (paraphrased)
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