China-Africa cooperation can move toward a modern partnership built on joint planning, joint investment and shared benefits

China-Africa cooperation has seen substantial progress in the 10 partnership actions undertaken during China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. Bilateral relations between China and 53 African countries having diplomatic ties with China have now been elevated to the level of strategic relations. Overall, China-Africa relations have been elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

China has granted zero-tariff treatment on imports from all of these 53 African countries. Over the past two decades, China has participated in constructing more than 10,000 kilometers of railways and 100,000 km of roads across Africa. Cooperation has deepened steadily in areas such as agriculture, green innovation, digital development and capacity building in governance.

The Recommendations of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for National Economic and Social Development highlight the need to champion the common values of all humanity, promote the building of an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity, and deliver China’s contribution to building a community with a shared future for humanity.

Building on the remarkable achievements from the previous five-year plan period, the new blueprint is set to unlock new opportunities for China-Africa cooperation across a wide range of sectors. This will steer the partnership toward a more system-oriented, internally driven and sustainability-focused direction, helping African countries address persistent challenges such as slow industrialization, infrastructure gaps, uneven development, wide income disparities, insufficient internal drivers for growth and mounting external risks.

Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. China’s development experience offers valuable insights for Africa’s modernization, particularly in accelerating industrialization, advancing market reforms, and modernizing agriculture and rural economies. Several key lessons are particularly relevant.

First, it is essential to develop the real economy and build a modern industry system. For years, some African countries have followed Western models of modernization and prioritized the adoption of Western market economy systems over the cultivation of their own productive base. As a result, they have not only failed to build strong economies but also become heavily reliant on the West under the banner of neoliberalism.

A robust real economy is the foundation of modernization. This is a valuable lesson from China’s experience and should become one of the key principles guiding modernization in other Global South countries.

Second, continued investment in infrastructure is important for building up internal impetus for growth. In China’s modernization process, infrastructure development — in transport, energy and communications — has played a decisive enabling role. The 15th Five-Year Plan will continue to emphasize building new types of infrastructure, such as 5G networks, the internet of things and data centers.

With the world’s least developed infrastructure, Africa should prioritize the development of modern infrastructure as the bedrock for industrialization and productivity upgrading. Mechanisms such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative serve as key platforms for Africa to attract diversified investment, while avoiding misleading “debt trap” narratives.

The Tanzania-Zambia Railway exemplifies effective China-Africa collaboration. As a flagship project of China’s assistance to Africa in the 1970s, it was revitalized in 2025 and has entered a new phase of systematic renovation and joint operation.

Third, African countries should pursue inclusive growth and continue to step up poverty reduction efforts. Poverty alleviation is one of the most important shared priorities in China-Africa cooperation and one of the areas where African countries are most keen to learn from China. China has developed unique approaches to reduce poverty, through targeted policies and helping local communities build industries and businesses. Such experience has already been piloted in some African countries through South-South cooperation.

The 15th Five-Year Plan places strong emphasis on enhancing the overall production capacity, quality and performance of agriculture. These guiding principles also offer useful direction for Africa’s rural transformation and efforts to advance shared prosperity, particularly in larger countries. Drawing on China’s experience, African countries can promote job creation, expand rural e-commerce, and strengthen social security nets to narrow urban-rural divides and broaden access to development opportunity.

In countries such as Madagascar and Kenya, initiatives such as the “New Farms of African Mothers” are adapting China’s lessons to local realities to empower local communities to gain the necessary skills for long-term development, bringing hope to more African families.

Fourth, greater emphasis should be placed on technology-driven growth, particularly in digital and green economies. With technological innovation at its core, the recommendations for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan highlight the importance of strengthening the resilience and security of industry and supply chains, opening a broad new space for China-Africa cooperation.

China brings clear advantages in both the digital and green sectors and is set to further expand R&D and the application of emerging technologies. This creates significant opportunities for African countries to partner with China in building digital infrastructure, expanding renewable energy microgrids and developing smart agriculture. By doing so, Africa can bypass traditional development paths and leapfrog into the latest technological transformation.

Fifth, African countries should remain open to the world and deepen the internationalization of their industrial chains. In response to restructuring global supply chains, China is expected to encourage some industrial capacity to expand overseas during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Firmly committed to opening-up, China will continue to draw on international markets to advance its modernization, while injecting fresh momentum into globalization through its comprehensive and integrated industrial system.

Against this backdrop, Africa can capitalize on its labor force, free trade zone policies and strategic locations to attract the gradual relocation of Chinese manufacturing, particularly in sectors such as textiles, home appliances and automobile assembly. At the same time, China and Africa can work together to develop regional industrial parks to expand local processing capacity. Such cooperation would help African economies move beyond excessive dependence on raw material exports and curb the disruptive influence of resource nationalism or populist pressures that have slowed modernization in some countries.

The 15th Five-Year Plan will be more than an economic blueprint. It will be a comprehensive, strategic and long-term framework aligned with China’s broader pursuit of national rejuvenation. It will generate opportunities for international cooperation that extend well beyond economic growth. In the years ahead, China and Africa can deepen collaboration across a wide range of areas, from governance experience sharing and global policy coordination to cultural exchanges, talent development, education and public health.

The plan serves as a critical catalyst for a new phase in China-Africa cooperation. For Africa, China’s experience is not a model to be replicated, but a source of inspiration. It underscores the importance of maintaining agency while learning openly, remaining flexible under strategic guidance and pursuing sustainability through win-win cooperation. By aligning the 15th Five-Year Plan and Africa’s Agenda 2063, China-Africa cooperation can move beyond traditional economic engagement toward a modern partnership built on joint planning, joint investment and shared benefits, offering a new development pathway for the Global South.

The author is the president of the China-Africa Institute and the general director of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.