China’s newly announced Africa policy is more of the same, but with a lack of African consensus that is all that could be hoped for
In comparison to the festivities of 2006, the 8-9 November Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC IV) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, was a much less hyped-up affair. It was not a heads of state summit – ten came anyway, from Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt, Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe – and the aid pledges were expected to fit the lower stature of the summit. China invited each African participant country to send their Minister of Foreign Affairs and a Minister with an Economic or Finance portfolio. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao headed up the Chinese delegation, flanked by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Commerce Minister Chen Deming.
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