L. Fituni, I. Abramova Resource Potential of Africa and Russia's ...

local finance partner. ICBC acquired 20% stake in Standard Bank,
worth about R36bn, in 2007. 40
Despite the fierce competition that Chinese companies have to
wage, we can say that Beijing's strategy has been a success on the
African continent in the last decade.
Over this time, China and African countries have made substantial
progress in their bid to build a new type of strategic partnership
established on the basis of "mutual trust and beneficial cooperation".
The frequent exchanges of high-level visits and mutual support on
international issues and bilateral affairs have further enhanced political
trust. Remarkable achievements have also been made in the
economic domain, with bilateral trade growing 35 percent year on
year over the past decade. In 2008, bilateral trade volume reached
$106.8 billion, compared with a meager $10 billion in 2000. China
has now replaced the United States as Africa's second largest trading
partner after the European Union. China's annual average investment
in the continent has risen to $1 billion from a mere $50 million
in 2001. Africa is China's second largest overseas labor and project
contracting market. About 1,600 Chinese companies engage in economic
and trade activities on the continent. 41
Progress has also been made in promoting bilateral cultural exchanges,
security consultations, as well as coordination and cooperation
in international affairs. In the realm of security, China has remained
active in the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa
and has dispatched more than 3,000 personnel on 12 peacekeeping
missions.
Schools of Confucianism have successively been established
across the African continent with the aim of popularizing Chinese
culture and promoting bilateral cultural exchanges. The number of
African students studying in China has also been on the rise in recent
years.
The growing Sino-African ties have proved inseparable from the
principle of "pragmatic cooperation". China has, from the beginning,
adopted a series of concrete measures to reduce Africa's debts and
increase its aid to African countries. It has also strived to expand its
investments in Africa and to adopt zero tariffs on commodities from
48