A recent speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping indicates China's long-term commitment to economic engagement with Africa, partly as a hedge against strategic competition with the West. But fiscal and security constraints will limit Beijing's ability to make good on its fiscal pledges to African nations. On Sept. 5, Xi gave a keynote speech in Beijing at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit. At this triennial summit, China outlines its plans for engagement with Africa -- particularly through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China's program to expand its international trade, political and infrastructure links that started in 2013. During his speech, Xi denigrated Western modernization efforts in the developing world as bringing ''great suffering,'' juxtaposed China's support as providing Africa with a ''new type of international relations'' with ''modernization that suits national conditions,'' and posed China-Africa modernization as a model for the Global South. In addition, Xi...
