Advance orientation

China-Africa cooperation has opened a new chapter in global governance

The convening of the G20 Summit in Africa in November 2025 for the first time marked a watershed moment in the evolution of global governance. This gathering, occurring against the backdrop of shifting geopolitical dynamics, underscored the emergence of a multipolar world order where the China-Africa partnership stood as a pillar of sustainable multilateralism and shared prosperity.

Over the past five years, China-Africa cooperation has demonstrated a distinctive approach best captured by the ancient proverb:"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." China's engagement with Africa has emphasized capacity building, technology transfer and sustainable development that has enabled African nations to chart their own paths toward modernization.

The agricultural sector exemplified this "teaching to fish" philosophy. Since 2012, China has sent more than 400 agricultural experts to Africa and trained over 70,000 agricultural technicians for the continent. More impressively, China has established 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa and introduced more than 300 advanced agricultural technologies, increasing local crop yields by an average of 30 percent to 60 percent and benefiting over 1 million farming families by the end of 2023. These have not been temporary handouts but permanent improvements in productivity that have enabled African farmers to feed their communities and participate in global markets.

The most profound dimension of China-Africa cooperation lies in vocational education and skills development. Under the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development which was announced in August 2023, China aims to train 500 principals and high-caliber teachers of vocational colleges, and 10,000 technical personnel with both Chinese language and vocational skills for Africa every year. This represents an unprecedented investment in Africa's most valuable resource: its youth.

The Luban Workshops — vocational training centers established across Africa — embodied this approach. At the Luban Workshop in Ethiopia, Tola Tsegaye Alemu, a 35-year-old vocational teacher, first encountered the innovative use of industrial cameras and artificial intelligence to sort coffee beans. This technology, now integrated into the workshop's curriculum, has the potential to revolutionize Ethiopia's coffee industry, one of the nation's primary exports. Tola himself pursued doctoral studies at a university in Tianjin, positioning him to train future generations of Ethiopian technicians.

The scale of China's commitment to African talent development is staggering. Over the past decades, China has trained more than 300,000 practical talents for Africa through various short-term professional training programs, covering 17 fields related to national economic and social development, including agriculture, forestry, environmental protection, public administration, transportation and medical care. These programs have created multiplier effects — each trained professional returns home equipped to train others, creating cascading waves of capacity enhancement.

The past five years have witnessed extraordinary achievements in China-Africa cooperation. And China's governance wisdom has inspired African countries to develop their own paths to modernization and further their participation in global governance.

The Global Governance Initiative, proposed by China as a framework for reforming and strengthening the international system, has found particular resonance in the African context. The initiative calls for upholding true multilateralism, defending the international system with the United Nations at its core, and ensuring that global governance reflects the interests and concerns of developing countries. These views align seamlessly with Africa's aspirations for a more equitable international order.

The China-Africa partnership has demonstrated that alternatives to Western-centric models of development and governance are not only possible but also necessary. China had in-depth communication with the Republic of the Congo, the current African co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. It had extensive consultations with African countries and jointly made a timetable and road map for the implementation of the follow-up actions after the 2024 Summit of the FOCAC in Beijing. This consultative approach stands in stark contrast to the conditionality and interference that characterized other partnerships.

The achievement of sustainable development which is enshrined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union's Agenda 2063, requires the kind of partnership that China and Africa have cultivated. China's experience in lifting hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty while maintaining economic dynamism has offered valuable lessons for African nations pursuing similar transformations. Crucially, China has demonstrated its willingness to share its development experience while respecting African countries' agency in adapting approaches to local contexts.

The geopolitical landscape that characterized the G20 summit period, with certain powers' embrace of protectionism and decoupling, has paradoxically created space for more inclusive forms of cooperation. The United States' attempts to fragment the global economy along ideological lines have inadvertently demonstrated that sustainable development and prosperity could be achieved through diverse partnerships based on complementarity rather than domination.

The first G20 summit in Africa signaled that the era of exclusive clubs determining global affairs had passed. The summit demonstrated that the future of global governance will be shaped by inclusive partnerships that recognize diverse development paths and reject hegemonic approaches.

The deepening of China-Africa cooperation within the context of the Global Governance Initiative holds promise for addressing global governance deficits that have long frustrated developing countries. Reforming international financial institutions to reflect contemporary economic realities, strengthening multilateral trade systems against unilateral protectionism and ensuring developing countries' access to technologies needed for green transitions — all require the kind of collective action that China-Africa partnership exemplifies.

The data and stories from the past five years reveal a partnership delivering mutual gains through a distinctive approach: not merely building infrastructure but building capacity; not creating dependency but enabling self-sufficiency; not imposing models but sharing experience. From railway engineers in Kenya to coffee technicians in Ethiopia, from agricultural extension workers across the continent to medical professionals serving rural communities, the human dimension of China-Africa cooperation is creating lasting transformation.

As the world navigates profound changes in the distribution of power, rapid technological advancement, and environmental pressures, the principles underlying China-Africa cooperation — equality, mutual benefit, respect for sovereignty and genuine capacity building — offer a foundation for a more just and effective global governance system. The G20 summit in Africa confirmed that this is indeed the time for Africa, and the time for the China-Africa relationship to flourish in the service of a better world for all.

The "teaching to fish" approach that has characterized this partnership has ensured that Africa's development is sustainable, owned by Africans, and contributes to a more balanced and multipolar global order. In this vision of the future, both China and Africa emerge stronger, more prosperous and better equipped to contribute solutions for humanity's shared challenges.

The author is the managing editor of Africa News 24, Lesotho. 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.