Fifty African experts — including university professors, directors of research institutes, and heads of think tanks — took part in the Xi’an seminar on “Chinese-style Modernization and Africa’s Development,” held from July 17 to 24, 2024, in Shaanxi Province, China. Upon returning to their respective countries, some agreed to share their experiences. Today, Alphonse Muleefu, Representative of Rwanda, offers his reflections on the seminar.
By Alphonse Muleefu As a Principal of the College of Arts and Social Sciences of the University of Rwanda, I recently travelled to China’s Shaanxi Province from July 17-25, 2025, to participate in the China – Africa Seminar on the ‘Chinese Modernization and Africa Development’. This event was a follow-up meeting to the Forum on China – Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that was held in Beijing, China in 2024, and the June 2025 Africa China Ministerial meeting in Changsha, Hunan Province. In the two previous high profile meetings, China and Africa agreed to jointly advance modernization, promote exchanges, economic cooperation and solidarity.
The July 2025 meeting that was hosted by the International Exchange Center, Yangling Demonstration Zone, in Shaanxi Province, attracted more than 50 African scholars, members of think tanks, government officials and journalists to discuss on the following themes: (i) Achievements in China’s Modern Agricultural Development, (ii) Modern Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation and Food Security, (iii) Shaanxi’s Practices in Advancing Chinese Modernization, (iv) Cross-Border Trade through International Policy Coordination, (v) Grassroots Community Management, (vi) Public Infrastructure Development and Urban Planning, (vi) Intelligent Manufacturing and Industrial Upgrading, and (vii) Green Energy Solutions for Sustainable Urbanization. The Seminar combined both lectures and field visits.
The field visits to different companies such as Shacman truck manufacturing plant, China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation, and LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. Ltd. demonstrated that it is possible to grow businesses that are capable of having an international footprint. The purpose of this article is to share a few observations that I noticed during this visit. I believe that China offers some insights that are worth sharing - if taken seriously – that would contribute to reimagining of development strategies in Africa. This is not to say that everything that works or that has worked in China, would necessarily be applicable in Africa or to Rwanda, every lesson and initiative would need to be adapted to every country’s realities and contexts, and this would be consistent with the fact that China’s economic development has been context specific. I would like to share at least three important lessons.
First is the relationship between citizens and the State. The Chinese government has been able to cultivate trust from its people/citizens to believe that leadership is for their best interests. This is related to fostering collaboration between local authorities and members of their communities: in defining development needs and finding solutions. This approach allowed plans to be collectively implemented both short and long term initiatives/targets, and assess how those targets are being achieved, and where necessary reform or restructure them, and sometimes abandon those that are not working, and scale up successful initiatives.
The second important aspect is the promotion of education. It was clear to participants that economic development needs people that are highly skilled in construction and engineering. Education in new technologies is an important component to achieve a knowledge based economy with an innovative population. In China, science is a compulsory subject from primary one. Production today involves new technologies and Artificial Intelligence (AI) – cutting edge technologies. China ranks second globally in STEM education. STEM education has strengthened mechanical and construction engineering which is important in infrastructure development projects. Every infrastructure involves some sort of construction – roads, railways, housing, factories and mechanical engineering – and the use concrete in construction need several skills. Technological developments in turn support other sectors.
The third most important lesson is on developing robust trading strategies. The increased production required strategies for marketization, finding both internal (domestic) markets, and international markets. The expansion of middle income required diversification of opportunities for sources of income to the benefit of many households. Shaanxi Province being an Inland province, without access to international waters, offers some lessons to landlocked countries such as Rwanda. For it to develop, it was important to focus on critical projects including building railway lines and inland ports (dry ports) connecting it to international waters and investing in other transportation networks reducing the cost of production and accessing external markets. Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province, is well-known for being the China’s largest dry port mainly because of its China-Europe Freight Train Network, and International Trade and Logistics Park.
In this context, it is worth reflecting on the topic of China-Africa cooperation in trade and development. Global uncertainties and trends will continue to evolve and influence cooperation among nations including the relationship between Africa and China. Africa-China cooperation will need to overcome these challenges to succeed. It is important that we reflect on the economic ordering and the perception about China. We cannot deny the fact that contemporary African societies ‘are shaped by structures and systems of knowledge and power inherited from the colonial era.’ This means that the already constructed narratives and representations, and economic ordering of the global powers that is understood in Africa favors the global west more than the rest of the world. For this to change, there is a need to increase Africa’s access to accurate information about China. Today, perception about China in most parts of Africa is through western media. The Chinese broadcasting and Confucius Institutes continue to expand but still, their reach is limited. Despite those limitations, a study conducted in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa between 2017 and 2021 revealed that ‘the minority of media users who reported getting news from Chinese media have better attitudes towards China than those who don’t.’ Another challenge is the fact that African economies and cultures including languages were oriented towards Europe sets Africa more attuned to Europe than to China, but current developments in tools of communication show that this can be easily changed, especially if we can have a more people to people linkages, academic and cultural exchanges.
However, I wish to submit that there is a better way to explain China-Africa relationship without comparing it to the Global West-Africa relationship. There is a need to develop a narrative that explains how China-Africa relationship is good in itself without comparing it to other relationships because there is a lot of potential in ChinaAfrica trade and economic cooperation. Africa is endowed with energy and other natural resources, vast arable land, which can satisfy investment interests from all parts of the world. This is in addition to a youthful population. This where China and Africa cooperation may consider finding innovative ways of collaboration beyond extractive investments. Investments that contribute to transformation of Africa, transfer of knowledge, technologies and skills to African youthful population.
China-Africa relationship has an advantage since it does not suffer from a similar colonial heavy weight of centuries that exist in the relationship between Europe and Africa. The absence of this legacy would be useful in building trust on which any genuine mutually beneficial relationship would aspire to thrive. The truth remains: Africans, especially young people, are looking for alternative approaches that can improve their wellbeing. One of the major areas of interest is to consider Africa as a single market. This might be seen as a farfetched dream today, because of the existing overlaps in regional policies and lack of a consolidated market, but the future is in Africa working together. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which is rooted in the long-held Pan-Africa ideal of collective development, is proposing a new approach that is more than a free trade area. It is about building a framework for much deeper African regional integration and cooperation, with a view to making the continent economically stronger and more resilient. It is about boosting the levels of industrialization, intraregional trade in both goods and services, and investment. Therefore, if the Belt and Road Initiative and China-Africa Economic, Trade, and Investment Cooperation is to make a visible impact on the African continent, we need to consider this framework. This understanding would help in providing a humane approach to development to African nations as well as ensuring that there is a fair distribution of the world resources.
To conclude: There is what China can do, but everything will depend on how Africa is prepared to learn from it, in particular on how to achieve inclusive growth and development. Rwanda in particular is striving to facilitate the promotion of inclusive, innovative, transparent and peaceful growth that ensures security, rule of law and rapid sustainable development.