Chinese and African leaders hold a summit on deepening cooperation in a divided world

BEIJING -- Dozens of African leaders gathered Thursday in Beijing for a summit that signals China's influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a U.S.-led global order.

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised the leaders billions of dollars in loans and private investment over the next three years and proposed that relations with all African countries that have diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the “strategic” level.

“We have always understood and supported each other, setting an example for a new type of international relations," he said at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

China has become a major player in Africa since the forum was founded in 2000. Its companies have invested heavily in mining for the resources Chinese industry needs and its development banks have made loans to build railways, roads and other infrastructure under Xi's Belt and Road program.

African leaders have welcomed China's assistance but are pushing for a closer alignment of aid with the continent's development goals. They are seeking to industrialize their economies and expand agricultural exports to reduce a trade deficit with China, which has become sub-Saharan Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner.

In a reflection of China's broadening relationship with Africa, Xi outlined 10 “partnership actions” that included training for African politicians and future leaders, a further opening of the Chinese market, agriculture demonstration areas, vocational and technical training, green energy projects and 1 billion yuan ($140 million) in grants for military assistance.

“While commending the overall progress so far achieved, we also appreciate the announcement of further areas of partnership actions,” said Tanzania's President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, speaking on behalf of eastern Africa. “We salute a new characterization of China-Africa relations.”

Xi said China would eliminate tariffs on products from most of the world's poorest countries, including 33 in Africa, in an expansion of existing tariff exemptions.

The relationship has moved beyond trade and investment to take on political overtones as China seeks allies in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world for its competition with the United States to define the norms governing the global economy and how countries interact with each other.

“Modernization is an inalienable right of all countries,” Xi said. “But the Western approach to it has inflicted immense sufferings on developing countries. Since the end of World War II, Third World nations, represented by China and African countries, have achieved independence … and have been endeavoring to redress the historical injustices of the modernization process.”