To counter China and Russia, Japan pledges $30 billion in aid to Africa over the next three years
(Observer Network News) Japan is making efforts to Africa once more.
According to Kyodo News of Japan and the Hong Kong English-language media South China Morning Post on August 27, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged on the 27th to provide $30 billion in aid to Africa in the next three years to counter China and Russia.
After testing positive for the new coronavirus, Fumio Kishida decided to attend the 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Tunisia online. From August 25th to 29th, Japanese Foreign Minister Lin Fangzheng visited Tunisia as the special envoy of the Prime Minister.
Fumio Kishida promised on the 27th that he will provide 30 billion US dollars for African development in the next three years, focusing on investing in human capital and promoting high-quality growth. During the two-day meeting, he tried to hype the “China debt trap”, declaring that Japan will develop together with Africa and is “different” from China’s approach.
He said Japan will coordinate with the African Development Bank to provide loans worth regarding $5 billion to promote sustainable development in Africa by restoring fiscal health.
On the other hand, Japan, in line with the rest of the G7 economies, has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia. But the continent is divided over the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, with some countries taking a neutral stance and opposing sanctions. Russia has also been wooing support from African countries and has accused Western sanctions of exacerbating the food crisis.
Fumio Kishida said that in order to support Africa, Japan will invest regarding 4 billion US dollars to promote green growth, and help Africa improve food production capacity and train agricultural personnel to deal with the food crisis exacerbated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He also said Japan would step up its efforts to support Africa’s fight once morest infectious diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and strengthen its healthcare system. In the next three years, Japan will train 300,000 talents in the fields of agriculture, medical care, education and law for Africa.
A month ago, when the West tried to impose sanctions and diplomatic isolation on Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, to start a trip to Africa.
“The New York Times” pointed out that with this trip to Africa, Russia is setting off a global movement once morest the rule of the United States and its allies, and Foreign Minister Lavrov directly conveyed this message to Africa. During the visit, Lavrov promised that Russian grain exporters would “full fulfillment of their orders”, stressing that the “aggressiveness” of Western sanctions once morest Russia indicated a simple conclusion: this is not regarding Ukraine, but regarding the future of the world order.
The United States and the West are also stepping up their horses to launch a “diplomatic competition” in Africa.
Regarding the so-called “China Debt Trap Theory” being hyped by some countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin clarified once more on the 18th that this is a lie concocted by the US and the West to shift its own responsibility, and it cannot stand at all. We still let the facts speak.
Wang Wenbin pointed out that some US and Western politicians and media ignore the facts and play up the so-called “China’s debt trap theory”, which is essentially a “discourse trap” that attempts to undermine China’s cooperation with developing countries and interfere with the development of developing countries. People of insight in society will not be fooled.
