China’s Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Zhang Ming has questioned Japan’s ability to fulfil the promises made during the just ended Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad) summit held in Nairobi over the weekend.
Mr Zhang Ming was in Nairobi saying he wanted “gain first-hand knowledge” of Africa’s other partners.
Just after the conference had concluded, he told journalists that Japan could be joining a list of countries that have promised much but delivered little to Africa.
“There is never a shortage of conferences and promises for Africa, and yet action and implementation have not always followed.
“We hope Africa’s partners will honour their commitments with real actions and deliver tangible fruits to the African people,” he said on Sunday in a statement.
Ticad VI was happening for the first time in Africa and Japan pledged up to $30 billion more over the next three years to be invested in African infrastructure, healthcare systems and other projects meant to boost the economy.
“Both China and Japan are working with Africa as part of the international endeavour to help the continent.We support the diversification of Africa’s partners and hope they will leverage their respective strengths and combine forces to support enduring peace and rapid development in Africa,” Zhang said.
Last Year, China held a similar conference dubbed the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) and pledged up to $60 billion to go into infrastructure, most of it to be channelled through government-to-government deals. Beijing claims billions worth of agreements have been signed already, although there is little information on how the money is to be repaid or the terms of the agreements.
Japan, on the other hand, would be mostly disbursing these monies through development agencies, and will be following up to ensure the money is used for the purpose given. Yet the Chinese official who served as Beijing’s ambassador to Kenya between 2006 and 2009 said China’s way of doing things remains that of non-interference.
