VZCZCXRO5042
OO RUEHBZ RUEHCN RUEHDU RUEHGH RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA
RUEHRN RUEHTRO RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #3223/01 3361000
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021000Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7025
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 003223 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP, AF, EEB, S/P, INR 
STATE PASS USAID FOR KAREN TURNER 
STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD EFIN EINV EAID PREL
CH, XA 
SUBJECT: Read-out from Beijing on the 
China-Africa Forum 
 
REF: BEIJING 2447 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Qiu Bohua, China's Ambassador for the Forum 
on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held November 6- 
9 in Egypt, told Emboffs November 23 that China 
pledged USD 10 billion in new concessional loans to 
Africa, to be distributed via bilateral channels. 
For Africa's least developed countries (LDC), China 
offered debt relief on all loans maturing in 2009 
and said it would also start to phase in zero tariff 
treatment on 95 percent of African products, 60 
percent of which would take effect in 2010.  China 
also announced a China-Africa partnership on climate 
change, a partnership on science and technology and 
further cooperation on agriculture, health, 
education and cultural exchanges.  Chinese Foreign 
Minister Yang Jiechi presented a report on the 
implementation of the outcomes of the 2006 Beijing 
Summit.  Egypt will continue to serve as FOCAC's 
African co-chair to organize the next forum in China 
in 2012.  A proposal by some African countries to 
make the African Union (AU) the secretariat on the 
African side was not approved.  Separately, an 
international organization contact who attended the 
Forum as an observer told Emboffs that African 
countries took advantage of the meeting to express 
frustration with the large numbers of Chinese 
workers used by Chinese enterprises in Africa.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Attendees 
----------- 
 
¶2. (U) In addition to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, 
high-level attendees to the 2009 FOCAC meeting 
included 10 presidents, 3 vice-presidents, and 2 
prime ministers from the 49 African countries that 
have diplomatic relations with the PRC.  (Note: 
Burkina Faso, Swaziland, The Gambia and Sao Tome and 
Principe do not recognize Beijing and therefore do 
not participate in FOCAC.)  African heads of state 
present were Egyptian President and host Hosny 
Mobarak, Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, 
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Republic of 
Congo Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito, Liberian 
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Ethiopian Prime 
Minister Meles Zenawi and Central African Republic 
President Francois Bozize.  Many African foreign 
ministers and ministers of trade were also in 
attendance, as well as Chinese Foreign Minister Yang 
Jiechi and Minister of Commerce Chen Deming. 
 
¶3. (SBU) One participant, observing on behalf of an 
international organization, reported that at least 9 
international organizations had been invited to the 
Forum, but only at the last minute.  Representatives 
from the African Development Bank, West African 
Development Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization, 
World Bank, United Nations Development Program, and 
the World Food Program did attend the event as 
observers. Places for United Nations Educational, 
Scientific and Cultural Organization, World Health 
Organization, and World Trade Organization remained 
empty. No observers from non-African, non-Chinese 
governments participated. 
 
Eight New Measures 
------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) The highlight of FOCAC took place during the 
opening ceremony, when Premier Wen Jiabao announced 
the following eight new measures for China's 
engagement with Africa: 
-Establishing a China-Africa partnership in 
addressing climate change.  China said it would 
enhance cooperation on satellite weather monitoring, 
development and utilization of new energy sources, 
prevention and control of desertification and urban 
environmental protection.  China will build 100 
clean energy projects (solar, bio-gas, and small- 
 
BEIJING 00003223  002 OF 003 
 
 
scale hydropower) in Africa. 
-Launching a China-Africa science and technology 
partnership.  China said it would carry out 100 
joint demonstration research projects with Africa 
and receive 100 African postdoctoral fellows to 
conduct scientific research in China. 
-Helping finance African development. China pledged 
to provide USD 10 billion in concessional loans to 
African countries, and support Chinese financial 
institutions in setting up a special USD 1 billion 
fund for lending to small- and medium-sized African 
businesses.  For the heavily indebted and least 
developed countries in Africa that recognize Beijing, 
China said it would cancel their debts associated 
with interest-free government loans due to mature by 
the end of 2009. 
-Further opening its market to African products. 
China committed to phase in zero-tariff treatment 
for 95 percent of the products it imported from 
African LDCs that had diplomatic relations with 
Beijing, starting with 60 percent of such products 
in 2010. 
-Further enhancing agricultural cooperation. China 
said it would increase the number of its 
agricultural technology demonstration centers in 
Africa to 20, send 50 agricultural technology teams 
to Africa and train 2,000 agricultural technology 
personnel for Africa, in order to help boost the 
continent's food security. 
-Deepening cooperation on medical care and health. 
China vowed to provide medical equipment and anti- 
malaria materials worth 500 million yuan (USD 73.2 
million) to the 30 hospitals and 30 malaria 
prevention and treatment centers built by China in 
Africa and train 3,000 African doctors and nurses. 
-Enhancing cooperation in human resources 
development and education.  China said it would 
build 50 schools and train 1,500 African school 
principals and teachers.  By 2012, China would 
increase the number of Chinese government 
scholarships to Africa to 5,500, and would train 
20,000 African professionals over the next three 
years. 
-Expanding people-to-people and cultural exchanges. 
China proposed to launch a China-Africa joint 
research and exchange program to increase exchanges 
and cooperation, share development experience, and 
provide intellectual support for formulating better 
cooperation policies by the two sides. 
 
Follow-up from FOCAC 2006 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) After Premier Wen's announcement of what was 
in store for China's African friends going forward, 
PRC Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi presented a report 
on Chinese implementation of the commitments it had 
made at the 2006 Beijing FOCAC Summit, almost all of 
which he claimed had been met (see reftel for more 
on China's 2006 FOCAC commitments, and 
http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/zflt/eng/zxxx/t627504 .htm 
for the full text of FM Yang's report).  Yang's 
report highlighted the trade and investment numbers. 
Direct investment by Chinese businesses in Africa 
between 2006-2009 totaled USD 5.4 billion, and two- 
way trade topped USD 106.8 billion in 2008, 2 years 
ahead of the 2006 goal of reaching USD 100 billion 
by 2010. 
 
¶6. (U) Under the category of development assistance 
and debt relief, China reported that they had 
delivered USD 2.647 billion of concessional loans to 
support 54 projects in 28 countries and USD 2 
billion in preferential export buyer's credit to 
support 11 projects in 10 countries.  China also had 
signed protocols on debt cancellation with 33 
African LDCs to write off debts that matured at the 
end of 2005. 
 
¶7. (U) Since 2006, the Chinese Government had 
doubled the fellowship quota for African countries, 
with 4,000 African students now studying as fellows 
in China.  China had opened 23 Confucius Institutes 
 
BEIJING 00003223  003 OF 003 
 
 
or classrooms in 16 African countries; had started 
construction of 91 out of the 96 schools pledged; 
had started construction on 26 of the 28 hospitals 
pledged; and had opened 30 malaria prevention and 
treatment centers.  In addition, China had provided 
anti-malaria medicine to 36 African countries 
seriously affected by malaria for three consecutive 
years, had sent 1,200 medical workers to 42 African 
countries and regions and provided a large amount of 
medicine and medical devices. 
 
Details of China's new commitments 
------------------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) MFA FOCAC Ambassador Qiu BoHua explained to 
emboffs on November 23 that the USD 10 billion in 
concessional loans made available by China (see para 
4) would be made available on a first-come-first- 
serve basis.  African governments could submit 
proposals via the Chinese Embassies in their 
capitals.  These proposals would subsequently be 
evaluated by MOFCOM and China's EXIM Bank, which 
would then decide whether to provide the financing. 
Qiu said that China would be open to considering 
regional projects, but that it was up to the African 
countries themselves to design and forward such 
proposals.  He stressed that the implementation of 
FOCAC commitments would continue to be carried out 
bilaterally. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Ambassador Qiu told emboffs that the new 
partnerships on climate change and science and 
technology would focus on clean energy and 
technology transfer, with China's Ministry of 
Science and Technology taking the lead on plans to 
hold a separate S and T forum with African 
counterparts in the near future. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Ambassador Qiu said that China had doubled 
aid to Africa from 2006 to 2009, but would not share 
any hard numbers, saying that these were hard to 
calculate because China used different criteria to 
quantify development aid.  He said that China was 
open to U.S.-China cooperation on assistance to 
Africa. 
 
AU as African Secretariat? 
-------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Egypt, which served as the chair for the 
2009 FOCAC that it hosted, will remain co-chair 
(with China) through the next FOCAC to be held in 
China in 2012.  Ambassador Qiu explained that 
Egypt's role was simply to manage organizational 
details.  The Africans currently had no FOCAC 
secretariat, Qiu asserted, but during the November 
meeting, a group of African countries proposed 
making the African Union (AU) the secretariat for 
their side.  According to Qiu, this proposal was not 
accepted because Morocco, the only African country 
that is not a member of the AU, objected.  In a 
separate meeting with econoffs, however, an African 
diplomat who was in Sharm-el-Sheikh for the meeting 
offered a different explanation.  He said the PRC 
government was not "comfortable with this idea" and 
needed some time to consider it.  An observer from 
an international organization remarked that Egypt 
also opposed the AU proposal because it challenged 
Egypt's current role as African Chair. 
 
Other African Gripes 
-------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Our international organization contact who 
was an observer at FOCAC told emboffs that African 
countries took advantage of the meeting to express 
their frustration with the large numbers of Chinese 
workers used by Chinese enterprises in Africa.  In 
addition, some African countries also suggested a 
greater role for regional organizations in future 
FOCAC meetings.