Chinese Premier Pledges Funds, Aid to Africa

Chinese Primer Wen Jiabao, left, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak chair the opening of the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Sino-African Forum in Egypt's Sharm el Sheik resort Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

(AP)

China's premier on Sunday pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African nations over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government debts of some of the poorest of those countries.

The announcement by Wen Jiabao looked to deflect criticism that China's investments in the continent were motivated purely by greed. China is one of the largest investors in Africa, along with the United States and Europe.

At a two-day China-Africa summit, Wen Jiabao also said China would build 100 new clean energy projects for Africa over the same period as part of an effort to help the continent deal with climate change issues.

"We will help Africa build up financing capacity," Wen said at the start of the two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit. "We will provide $10 billion in concessional loans to African countries."

Concessional loans are ones that offer generous terms — better than market rates — to poorer countries.

China's inroads into Africa have come at a price for Beijing. The country has been accused by some in the West of ignoring Africa's needs and the dismal rights records of some of its countries while looking only to sate its hunger for the fuel it needs to drive its bustling economy.

China has, for example, been a key force in developing Sudan's vital oil sector even as the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum is accused of atrocities in the Darfur region. More recently, a $7 billion mining deal was signed between a little known Chinese company and Guinea's government — an agreement that came weeks after soldiers there opened fire on demonstrators and raped women in the streets.

But Wen said while many in the world have only now begun to take note of China's role in Africa, it was a relationship that dates back five decades and included helping the countries throw off the yoke of colonialism.

"The Chinese people cherish sincere friendship toward the African people, and China's support to Africa's development is concrete and real," Wen said at a forum that attracted leaders such as Sudan's Omar el-Bashir and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe — heads of state out-of-favor with the West.