China’s relationship with Africa has widened the continent’s development options and helped transfer knowledge to many African countries through people-to-people engagements, Zimbabwean economic analyst and political commentator Dereck Goto said Thursday.
HARARE, May 22 (Xinhua) — China’s relationship with Africa has widened the continent’s development options and helped transfer knowledge to many African countries through people-to-people engagements, Zimbabwean economic analyst and political commentator Dereck Goto said Thursday.
Responding to questions from Xinhua ahead of Africa Day, which falls on May 25 every year, Goto said China has introduced a development model that has assisted in the continent’s economic transformation.
“China’s role in Africa is often discussed through the lens of infrastructure, trade and finance. Those are important, but they are also the most obvious dimensions. The deeper story is that China is increasingly influencing how Africa thinks about development itself,” Goto said.
He noted that for decades, Africa’s engagement with the international system was largely shaped by a donor-recipient framework.
“China introduced a different proposition: development through production, infrastructure, industrialization and state-led long-term planning,” he said. “It has expanded Africa’s menu of developmental options.”
According to Goto, the first major contribution from China to Africa is economic transformation, where investments in roads, railways, power generation, industrial parks and digital infrastructure are not merely construction projects.
“They are attempts to lower the cost of doing business across Africa and create the conditions necessary for industrial growth,” he said.
Turning to the broader cooperation framework, China and the African Union (AU) launched the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges in January 2026 at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, aiming to pursue the shared dream of modernization.
The two sides will host a series of activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries, with the aim of promoting mutual learning among civilizations and strengthening people-to-people bonds, amity and cooperation.
In this regard, Goto emphasized that China’s second, often overlooked, contribution is knowledge transfer through people-to-people exchanges.
“The most valuable export China may ultimately provide is not capital, but developmental knowledge. This is where the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges becomes particularly significant,” he said.
Calling for a bidirectional approach to cultural exchanges that fosters mutual understanding and reduces stereotypes, Goto said the relationship represents a new chapter in Global South cooperation.
“China and Africa increasingly frame their engagement around shared development challenges, economic modernization and national rejuvenation,” he said. ■
