At a recent ministerial meeting in the central Chinese city of Changsha, Beijing announced an ambitious new phase of its engagement with Africa: the possibility of eliminating customs duties on exports from all 53 African countries (except for Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan). While many media outlets quickly presented this as a done deal, the reality is more nuanced: China says it is “ready” to act, subject to negotiations and the establishment of a new economic partnership framework.
This framework, the China-Africa Economic Partnership for Shared Development, lies at the heart of Beijing’s latest strategy. Through its naming and ambition (as expressed in the FOCAC final declaration last September), it echoes a well-known, if imperfect, historical precedent: the ACP Agreements between the European Union and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) states.
