ESSAY 4: Empowering modernisation, Building the future: Exploring China-Africa Cooperation’s support for Africa’s sustainable modernisation within the G20 framework

Read as PDF

Copyright © 2026

Print ISSN: 2960-1541

Online ISSN: 2960-155X

Inclusive Society Institute PO Box 12609

Mill Street

Cape Town, 8000 South Africa 235-515 NPO All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the permission in writing from the Inclusive Society Institute D I S C L A I M E R

Views expressed in this report do not necessarily represent the views of

the Inclusive Society Institute or those of their respective Board or Council

members.

JANUARY 2026

by WenTao Lin

Abstract

The ascent of the Global South and Africa's drive for sustainable modernisation are pivotal in reshaping contemporary global governance. The G20, significantly enhanced by the African Union's permanent membership, is increasingly central to supporting Africa's developmental aspirations. This essay explores how China-Africa cooperation, operating synergistically within the G20 framework, can effectively empower Africa's sustainable modernisation agenda. It first analyses the evolution and "upgrade" of the G20's Africa focus from the Hangzhou Summit (2016) to the Johannesburg Summit (2025). Building on this, the paper proposes concrete pathways and mechanisms—spanning institutional synergies, multi-actor engagement, and enhanced cooperation in both traditional and emerging sectors—for aligning China-Africa initiatives with G20 platforms. Such concerted efforts can unlock significant potential, accelerating Africa's journey towards sustainable modernisation and contributing to a more equitable and collaborative global future.

Keywords: G20, Africa's Sustainable Modernisation, China-Africa Cooperation

1 Introduction

Against the backdrop of profound shifts in the global power landscape and the collective ascent of Global South nations, the African continent is embarking on a new journey towards autonomous and sustainable modernisation, a process that profoundly influences the international order and global governance systems. In this context, the Group of Twenty (G20), as the premier forum for global economic governance, is undergoing a significant transformation in its focus on and engagement with African development issues. The formal accession of the African Union (AU) as a permanent member has historically elevated Africa's representation and voice, opening new vistas for G20 support to African modernisation. Africa's modernisation is not merely crucial for its own destiny and the realisation of development blueprints like Agenda 2063; it also holds profound implications for global sustainable development and prosperity. The evolution of the G20's Africa agenda, from initial advocacy at the Hangzhou Summit to the "leapfrogging upgrade" at the Johannesburg Summit, reflects an acknowledgement of Africa's rising status in the global politico-economic landscape and poses new challenges for the international community on how to more effectively support Africa's modernisation.

Against this backdrop, China-Africa cooperation’s—as a paradigm of South-South cooperation and a key force driving the solidarity and self-reliance of the Global South—distinctive role and pathways for supporting Africa's sustainable modernisation within the G20 framework assume significant theoretical and practical importance. China's successful modernisation experience, its long-standing foundation of friendly cooperation with Africa, and the high degree of alignment in development philosophies between both sides provide a robust underpinning for jointly empowering Africa's modernisation. This paper aims to explore the trajectory of Africa's modernisation agenda within the G20 from Hangzhou to Johannesburg amidst the G20's institutional transformation. Building on this, it focuses on investigating how China-Africa cooperation, through innovative pathway designs and pragmatic mechanism construction within the G20 framework, can more effectively support African nations in pursuing sustainable modernisation paths tailored to their national conditions, thereby jointly charting the blueprint for "Empowering Modernisation, Building a Shared Future".

To systematically address this core issue, this paper will first review and analyse the transformative characteristics of the G20's African modernisation agenda, from its foundational impetus at the Hangzhou Summit to the "leapfrogging upgrade" at the Johannesburg Summit. Subsequently, the paper will, with a primary focus on the G20 framework, delve into the specific pathways and mechanisms for China-Africa cooperation to support Africa's sustainable modernisation across multiple dimensions: institutional construction synergy, multi-actor empowerment, upgrading cooperation in traditional fields, and frontier leadership in emerging sectors. A conclusion and outlook will conclude the paper.

2 G20 Transformation – Upgrading Africa's Modernisation Agenda from Hangzhou to Johannesburg

2.1 The Foundational Role and Impetus of the Hangzhou G20 Summit for Africa's Modernisation Agenda

In 2016, the G20 Hangzhou Summit, themed "Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy" (Group of Twenty, 2016), emphasised the importance of practicing the concept of "inclusive growth" against the backdrop of globalisation. This meant ensuring that economic growth benefits all countries and peoples, especially developing countries and low-income groups, thereby paying close attention to their development aspirations. The Summit particularly advocated building closer "Global South partnerships", committed to creating more development opportunities for developing countries in key areas such as "interconnectivity", "trade and investment facilitation", "the digital economy", "poverty reduction and inclusive growth", and "sustainable development".

Notably, the communiqué of the Hangzhou Summit significantly elevated Africa's priority in the G20 development agenda, calling on G20 members to strengthen support for African countries in multiple dimensions, including infrastructure development, universal education, public health improvement, industrialisation processes, and renewable energy development.

Specifically, the Hangzhou G20 Summit launched the landmark "G20 Initiative on Supporting Industrialisation in Africa and LDCs” (WangYi, 2025). The initiative clearly proposed "supporting industrialisation in developing countries, especially in Africa and LDCs", marking the first time African industrialisation was discussed in-depth as a specific core issue at the G20 leaders' level, with a dedicated action plan adopted. The initiative encouraged all parties to strengthen inclusive growth models tailored to local conditions through voluntary policy options, thereby effectively enhancing the African continent's endogenous development potential.

Guided by the spirit of this initiative and propelled by a favourable policy atmosphere, Chinese enterprises actively responded to and participated in Africa's wave of industrialisation. For example, in Gqeberha (previously Port Elizabeth), a port city in South Africa, Chinese automotive manufacturers invested in setting up assembly plants, promoting local employment and skills enhancement by hiring local staff for vehicle assembly. In Morocco, North Africa, Chinese enterprises also invested in factories producing hybrid vehicles. Furthermore, Chinese investments in the manufacturing sector in countries like Cameroon and Ethiopia have also injected vitality into local economic development.

Several African media outlets positively appraised the outcomes of the Hangzhou Summit. For instance, Ana Rita Cardoso, a journalist from Mozambique's Notícias, commented: "This allows the voices of African countries to be better heard by the international community, providing a valuable opportunity for African nations to articulate their own needs and attract investment from G20 members, which is expected to bring fruitful results to the African continent” (Largest African media delegation in G20 history warmly reviews the Hangzhou Summit, 2016). This viewpoint, to a certain extent, reflects African society's expectations and recognition of the summit's role in promoting its development.

2.2 Deepening and Institutionalisation of the G20 Africa Agenda

Following the G20 Hangzhou Summit's heightened focus on African development in 2016, the G20's engagement with Africa's modernisation agenda entered a key phase of deepening and institutionalisation between 2017 and 2024. This stage was primarily marked by the "Compact with Africa" (CwA), initiated at the German Summit in 2017, and the African Union (AU) becoming a permanent member of the G20 at the Indian Summit in 2023. These two major developments significantly enhanced Africa's collective voice and agenda-setting influence in global economic governance, providing robust institutional support for advancing Africa's modernisation agenda within the G20 framework.

Firstly, the "Compact with Africa" (CwA) focused on empowering African modernisation. This initiative, co-championed by Germany and South Africa, aimed to attract private sector investment into key areas of modernisation in Africa, such as infrastructure, by improving the business environment and macroeconomic resilience. Since its inclusion in the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) agenda in 2017, with support from the World Bank and IMF, the CwA has provided signatory countries with policy advice, investment matchmaking, and capacity building. Currently, 12 African countries have participated in this initiative and received loans, forming an institutionalised cooperation model of "one country, one policy" that effectively aligns African national modernisation strategies with G20 resources (Clynch, 2023).

Secondly, the African Union becoming a permanent G20 member in 2023 represents a historic breakthrough in enhancing Africa's representation in global economic governance (African Union, 2024). Its main significance lies in: First, the AU's formal inclusion means Africa's collective interests are systematically integrated into the G20's highest decision-making level. With a permanent seat, the AU can directly participate in agenda-setting and policy coordination on core issues crucial to African modernisation, such as the digital economy, sustainable development, food security, climate change, and debt governance, thereby significantly strengthening its collective bargaining power. Second, the G20 is required to consult the AU when formulating policies involving Africa, ensuring their strategic synergy with Africa's own development blueprints like the African Continental Free Trade Area and Agenda 2063. Third, this move also provides G20 members with a direct and efficient platform for dialogue with Africa's major Regional Economic Communities, enhancing the inclusiveness of global governance and its responsiveness to Africa's modernisation needs.

In summary, between 2017 and 2024, the G20's Africa modernisation agenda made substantial progress in terms of institutionalisation, and Africa's overall representation and policy influence were significantly enhanced. These institutional achievements and cooperation experiences laid a solid foundation and provided operational prerequisites for deepening China-Africa cooperation and supporting Africa's sustainable modernisation at the Johannesburg G20 Summit.

2.3 Johannesburg G20 Summit: A Leapfrogging Upgrade of Africa's Modernisation Agenda

The 2025 Johannesburg G20 Summit, as the first G20 summit ever held on the African continent, carried milestone significance not only due to its geographical breakthrough but also because it marked a leapfrogging upgrade of the G20's African modernisation agenda and a profound transformation of the G20 mechanism itself. South Africa, in its capacity as the G20 President, placed African priorities and sustainable modernisation needs at the core of the global governance agenda. This, complemented by the full participation of the African Union as a permanent G20 member, jointly shaped a new phase for the agenda that better reflects African agency and promotes inclusive and sustainable development.

This Summit, themed "Fostering Unity, Equity, and Sustainability", profoundly resonated with the two major contemporary aspirations: "the Rise of the Global South" and "African Modernisation” (Group of Twenty, 2025). This theme itself represents an ideological upgrade from previous development paradigms: it not only continues the focus on economic growth but also prioritises collaborative global partnerships, equitable development opportunities, and the holistic sustainability of an integrated economy-society-environment system. This reflects both South Africa's deep contemplation of its own development path and the African continent's collective aspiration for a fairer and more sustainable mode of participation in the new global landscape, heralding a transformation in the G20's development philosophy towards a more comprehensive and human-centred direction.

Specifically concerning Africa's modernisation agenda, the Johannesburg Summit, building on previous G20 efforts, achieved a significant deepening and expansion of agenda items:

First, an "upgrade" from debt relief to constructing long-term debt sustainability mechanisms. While the Hangzhou Summit had begun to address the financing needs of developing countries, the Johannesburg Summit directly confronted the systemic debt challenges faced by many developing economies, including numerous African nations. South Africa pushed the G20 not only to focus on short-term liquidity support and debt relief but also to commit to exploring the construction of effective long-term debt sustainability solutions. This includes addressing structural deficits, reforming sovereign credit rating systems to ensure fairness and transparency, and tackling the issue of unreasonably high-risk premiums faced by developing economies, thereby unlocking long-term fiscal space for African countries to invest in critical modernisation areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education. This marks a profound transformation in G20 support for African development, from responsive aid to systemic empowerment.

Second, an "upgrade" from general energy cooperation to a focus on "Just Energy Transition" and its financing guarantees. Whereas previous G20 discussions might have broadly touched upon energy accessibility, the Johannesburg Summit upgraded the agenda to tailor "Just Energy Transition" pathways for Africa and concentrate on resolving its financing bottlenecks. South Africa advocated for G20 members to reach stronger commitments on enhancing the scale, quality, and accessibility of climate finance for developing countries. It also promoted the strengthening of support from Multilateral Development Banks for country platforms like the "Just Energy Transition Partnerships", and innovation of mechanisms to more effectively leverage and channel private capital to serve Africa's green and low-carbon development. This reflects a significantly enhanced G20 consideration for the sustainability and inclusivity of Africa's modernisation path within the global climate governance framework.

Overall, the Johannesburg G20 Summit was a key platform for consolidating consensus, mobilising resources, and elevating G20-Africa cooperation to new heights, thereby injecting strong momentum into the African continent's path towards autonomous, inclusive, and sustainable modernisation.

3 Pathways and Mechanisms for China-Africa Cooperation to Support Africa's Sustainable Modernisation within the G20 Framework

As Africa's modernisation agenda within the G20 framework progresses from its foundation and deepens due to the leapfrogging upgrade at the Johannesburg Summit, the significant involvement of the African Union as a permanent member has further invigorated the G20 mechanism's inclusive transformation. At this crucial juncture, China and African nations, as core forces and natural partners in the sustainable development of the Global South, should actively explore how to effectively integrate their profound bilateral cooperation base with the functional advantages of the G20 as a premier platform for global economic governance. To achieve this, China and Africa need to jointly design and implement a series of concrete measures, constructing a synergistic operational model of "China-Africa Cooperation + G20 Platform". This will amplify the effectiveness of their cooperation and provide more robust and powerful global support for the African continent's journey towards autonomous, inclusive, and sustainable modernisation.

3.1 G20 Synergy in Institutional Construction: Enhancing Global Credibility and Governance Effectiveness of Cooperation

To enhance the global effectiveness of China-Africa development strategy alignment and the dissemination of consensus, both parties should commit to leveraging the G20 platform to systematically share successful experiences, innovative models, and pragmatic outcomes of aligning China's "Global Development Initiative" (GDI) with African national and AU's Agenda 2063, as well as the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Specific measures include China and Africa, particularly the AU, utilising their G20 membership, jointly encouraging G20 member states to deepen their understanding of Africa's development priorities and advocating for the optimisation of global development resources towards Africa. This will thereby consolidate broader cooperation consensus at the multilateral level and create a favourable international environment for supporting the African continent's integration process and the enhancement of its autonomous development capabilities.

In optimising project execution and evaluation mechanisms, China and Africa should jointly commit to enhancing the transparency and international credibility of their cooperation projects. Key measures involve promoting the establishment of an open and shared China-Africa cooperation project database platform and actively collaborating with international institutions such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the African Union Commission (AUC) to build scientific and independent evaluation and supervision frameworks. More importantly, the construction and operation of these mechanisms should proactively benchmark against and fully adopt G20 principles and best practices concerning quality infrastructure investment, debt sustainability, development effectiveness, and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria. The results and experiences can be regularly reported, exchanged, and promoted through the G20 Development Working Group (DWG) and related subsidiary bodies, effectively addressing international concerns and providing valuable practical examples for the governance of various development cooperation projects within the G20 framework.

To shape a more favourable international environment for institutional opening-up conducive to African modernisation and China-Africa cooperation, both sides need to act proactively within the G20 framework. When China advances high-level Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with African countries, deepens customs cooperation facilitation reforms such as the "single window" system, and promotes local currency settlement and currency swaps, it should rely on key G20 mechanisms like the Trade and Investment Ministerial Meetings and Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meetings. In these forums, China, together with African countries (especially through the collective voice of the AU), should jointly advocate for maintaining an open, inclusive, and non-discriminatory multilateral trade and investment system, resolutely opposing all forms of protectionism. Simultaneously, they should push for the G20 to encourage its member states (especially developed economies) to provide more preferential and convenient market access conditions for products and services originating from Africa, promoting the evolution of international economic and trade rules in a direction that is more just, balanced, and conducive to the sustainable modernisation of developing countries.

3.2 G20 Empowerment for Converging Efforts of Multiple Actors: Building Extensive Modernisation Partnership Networks

To effectively converge the immense strengths of multiple actors—including governments, enterprises, think tanks, and educational institutions—to empower African modernisation, China and Africa urgently need to utilise the G20 platform to foster broader and more diverse international modernisation partnership networks. At the intergovernmental cooperation level, successful practices and cooperation outcomes between China and Africa, particularly those involving Chinese local governments and African countries in sharing development planning experience and exchanging local governance best practices (such as the "one country, one policy, paired assistance" cooperative governance models between Chinese provinces/cities and African countries), should be actively showcased and promoted to other G20 member states and the international community through institutionalised channels within the G20 framework, such as the Urban 20 (U20) Summit, local government development forums, and G20 development experience sharing seminars. This will not only enhance the international visibility and referential value of China-Africa local cooperation models (like Zhejiang's "Ten Counties/Districts Connecting with Fifty-Four African Countries" initiative) but also attract and encourage more international partners to participate in targeted and results-orientated cooperation projects with Africa, thereby forming a broader global development synergy.

In the field of industry-academia-research collaboration and human capital development, China and Africa should commit to proactively aligning their cooperative initiatives—such as joint enterprise-school cultivation of locally suitable talent (e.g., "Luban Workshops", "Banmo Colleges" for vocational skills training), co-establishment of joint laboratories and R&D centres, and strengthening of industry-education integration and science-education integration—with the G20's core agendas and priorities concerning educational innovation and reform, future workforce skills development, universal digital literacy enhancement, and human capital investment returns. Specific measures could include striving to incorporate successfully validated China-Africa cooperation projects into the priority support scope of G20 human resource development cooperation plans, or leveraging the G20 platform and the quality educational and technological resources of its member states to attract top-tier educational institutions, research institutes, and high-tech enterprises from other member countries to jointly participate, thereby building trilateral or multilateral international talent cultivation and technological innovation alliances, with the goal of efficiently transforming Africa's vast demographic potential into valuable human capital, driving its sustainable modernisation.

At the level of think tank exchanges and youth and people-to-people interactions, China and Africa should jointly promote the G20 platform expansion for knowledge production and cultural exchange. The research outcomes of China-Africa think tank collaborations, the construction of data-sharing platforms, and the establishment of governance experience exchange systems—yielding high-quality policy reports and profound insights—should be actively disseminated and effectively translated into policy through official G20-affiliated academic and intellectual platforms via annual summits, policy briefs, and closed-door seminars, thus providing robust intellectual support for the formulation of more targeted and forward-looking G20 agendas concerning Africa.

Concurrently, youth and people-to-people exchange programmes like the "China-Africa Universities 100 Cooperation Plan" and the "Silk Road Heart-to-Heart China-Africa People-to-People Friendship Partnership Plan (2024-2026)" should be actively promoted for effective linkage and deep integration with important G20-affiliated dialogue mechanisms such as the Youth 20 (Y20), Women 20 (W20), and Civil 20 (C20). This can be achieved by organising young leaders, women representatives, and civil society organisation leaders from China and Africa to jointly participate in the discussion, advocacy, and action on key global issues, thereby enhancing mutual understanding and broadly consolidating cooperation consensus at the global level, laying a more solid social and public opinion foundation for the continuous deepening of the China-Africa strategic partnership and the stable, long-term development of G20 cooperation.

3.3 G20 Synergistic Upgrading of Cooperation in Traditional Fields: Consolidating the Solid Foundation for Africa's Modernisation

China-Africa pragmatic cooperation in traditional fields such as infrastructure connectivity, agricultural development security, and industrial capacity upgrading has always been a vital external support for African countries in achieving industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, and improving livelihoods. Through the strategic synergy and multilateral empowerment of the G20 platform, cooperation in these key traditional areas can achieve qualitative improvements and model innovations, thereby serving the long-term strategic goals of the African continent's sustainable modernisation more precisely and effectively.

To deepen economic and trade cooperation and efficiently support the construction of the African Continental Free Trade Area, China should, at the G20 Trade and Investment Working Group and relevant ministerial meetings, unite with the AU and other G20 members supportive of African development to jointly advocate for and promote the G20 to formulate a collective action roadmap and specific support plans for the high-quality implementation of the AfCFTA. These measures may include providing technical assistance and capacity building in trade facilitation, promoting regional standards harmonisation and mutual recognition of conformity assessments, and encouraging investment and financing support for cross-border infrastructure in Africa, aiming to accelerate the process of African regional economic integration and value chain construction.

Meanwhile, successful practices from China-Africa co-construction of pioneering zones for in-depth economic and trade cooperation, can also be shared and promoted as typical cases within the G20 framework. This can provide African experience and Chinese wisdom for G20 discussions on how to promote the deep integration of developing countries into global value chains and build more resilient and inclusive regional supply chain networks.

Regarding the African continent's rich mineral resources, China and Africa, while jointly promoting the integrated "exploration, extraction, processing, and trade" whole-chain cooperative development for minerals, should commit to actively advocating, leading by example, and jointly promoting the improvement of global principles for responsible mineral resource development and supply chain management within the G20 framework. This includes enhancing industry transparency standards and comprehensively adopting Environmental, Social, and Governance best practices. A specific measure is for China, together with African countries, to jointly push for the establishment of a fairer, more equitable, and inclusive global governance system, pricing mechanisms, and benefit-sharing frameworks for critical minerals on the G20 platform. They should firmly support and assist African countries in enhancing their domestic processing capabilities and value creation from their mineral resources, ensuring that African nations can fairly and sustainably derive greater development dividends from their valuable natural endowments, truly transforming potential resource advantages into powerful endogenous drivers for their sustainable industrialisation process and economic structural diversification.

In the domain of agricultural modernisation and food security, China-Africa cooperation should be more closely integrated with the G20's core agendas and priority actions concerning global food security challenges, development of climate-smart agriculture, promotion of sustainable land management practices, and advocacy for responsible agricultural investment. Key implementable measures include China and Africa, at G20 Agricultural Ministers' Meetings and relevant technical working groups, jointly calling on G20 developed members to earnestly fulfill their Official Development Assistance commitments to agricultural development in developing countries (especially Africa), based on Africa's actual agricultural development needs and the agricultural transformation goals of Agenda 2063. They should also promote enhanced R&D cooperation and transfer of agricultural technologies within the G20. Furthermore, joint efforts should be made to push the G20 to focus on and support African countries in improving food storage and logistics systems, reducing post-harvest losses, and developing agro-processing industries to extend value chains, thereby systematically building more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable regional and global food supply systems.

3.4 G20 Frontier Leadership in Laying Out Emerging Fields: Jointly Shaping New Momentum for Africa's Modernisation

By accurately grasping and proactively adapting to the wave of the new scientific and technological revolution and global industrial transformation, China and Africa's forward-looking cooperation in strategic emerging fields such as green energy, sustainable blue economy, and artificial intelligence is not only an intrinsic requirement for achieving their own leapfrog development but can also contribute unique Eastern wisdom and African solutions to G20's leadership in the healthy and inclusive development of global emerging industries. This will jointly shape and powerfully drive new growth engines for Africa's modernisation process.

To deepen China-Africa green partnerships, their cooperative practices and successful experiences in areas such as joint development of clean energy, co-construction of green and low-carbon demonstration zones, support for the green upgrading and transformation of traditional industries, and exploration of the potential for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, should be systematically showcased and promoted using G20 platforms. Specific measures include China and Africa jointly advocating for G20 member states, especially developed countries, to increase efforts in green technology R&D and transfer to Africa, and promoting the establishment of more diversified, accessible, and preferential financing mechanisms and risk mitigation tools for green development in Africa. The innovative operational model and early achievements of initiatives like the "China-Africa Green Industry Chain Special Fund" can also provide valuable practical reference and policy insights for G20 discussions on how to effectively leverage and guide public and private capital to jointly support developing countries in achieving a just and orderly green and low-carbon transition.

In the realm of sustainable blue economy cooperation, as China and Africa continuously expand and deepen their collaboration from traditional areas like marine fisheries, shipping, and port construction to marine future industries such as deep-sea operations, marine technology equipment manufacturing, and R&D, both sides should commit to actively promoting, at the G20 level, the integration of building sustainable and resilient blue economy ecosystems into the core agenda of global economic growth and international cooperation.

Actionable measures include China and Africa jointly advocating, within the G20 framework, for strengthened coordinated actions and policy dialogues on global marine ecosystem protection and climate change risk response; promoting the establishment of international cooperation funds aimed at supporting developing countries, especially African coastal and island states, in enhancing marine governance capabilities and developing sustainable blue industries; building open and shared global marine science and technology innovation networks and data platforms; and actively participating in promoting the formulation of fair, equitable international rules and codes of conduct for deep-sea resource exploration, development, and equitable benefit-sharing that can effectively balance economic development with ecological protection needs, by improving bilateral and multilateral mechanisms for China-Africa blue economy cooperation and striving to sign bilateral blue economy cooperation agreements with more African countries.

Addressing the rapid development of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry and its profound impact on global governance, China, while actively implementing the "Global AI Governance Initiative" and jointly exploring AI cooperation frameworks with African countries, should commit to proactively participating in and constructively influencing the G20-level process of formulating global rules and standards concerning AI ethics, data security and cross-border flows, intellectual property protection, security risk assessment, and capacity building.

The core measures for China and Africa should be to jointly ensure that these emerging global governance rules fully embody development-orientated and inclusive principles, effectively balance technological innovation incentives with potential socio-ethical risks, and pay special attention to the unique national conditions, practical needs, and capacity gaps of developing countries in AI R&D, application, and governance. Both sides should jointly promote, within the G20 framework, the bridging of the "AI divide" that may arise from technological disparities, by encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in AI infrastructure in Africa, fostering joint China-Africa research and the establishment of AI technology cooperation centres in Africa, and supporting African countries in establishing AI industrial parks and expanding AI applications in agriculture, manufacturing, trade, finance, and social governance, thereby creating new growth points for China-Africa cooperation and contributing to the leapfrog and sustainable modernisation process of the Global South as a whole.

4 Conclusion

By organically combining the profound practices of China-Africa cooperation with the global platform advantages of the G20, and by implementing comprehensive, multi-level synergistic and innovative measures across institutional construction, multi-actor engagement, traditional fields, and emerging sectors, a broader prospect will undoubtedly be opened up for the African continent to achieve its "upgraded" sustainable modernisation agenda. This not only enriches and deepens the connotation of the China-Africa community with a shared future but also powerfully enhances the inclusiveness and effectiveness of the G20 as the core platform for global economic governance, jointly composing a new chapter for the Global South's solidarity, cooperation, and shared development in the new era.

References

African Union. 2024. African Union’s Landmark G20 Engagement: Shaping Global Energy Transition and Driving Sustainability. [Online] Available at: https://au.int/en/pressreleases/20241005/african-unions-landmark-g20-engagement-shaping-global-energy-transition-and [accessed: 3 June 2025].

Clynch, H. 2023. Germany invests €4bn in African green projects at Compact with Africa Conference. [Online] Available at: https://african.business/2023/11/trade-investment/germany-invests-e4bn-in-african-green-projects-at-compact-with-africa-conference [accessed: 3 June 2025].

G20 South Africa. 2025. G20 Presidency. [Online] Available at: https://g20.org/g20-presidency/?utm [accessed: 3 June 2025].

G20. 2016. The G20 Hangzhou Summit Communiqué. [Online] Available at: http://www.g20chn.org/hywj/dncgwj/201609/t20160906_3392.html [accessed: 3 June 2025].

Guo, J. 2015. China-Africa Forum: A Long-term Mechanism for Pragmatic Cooperation. China Social Sciences Today, 10 December, 3.

2016. Largest African media delegation in G20 history warmly reviews the Hangzhou Summit. China Economic Weekly, 36, 125.

Wang, Y. 2025. Becoming a Driving Force for Historical Progress. Speech at the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on "G20 Cooperation Goals for 2025", Johannesburg, South Africa. [Online] Available at: https://www.mfa.gov.cn/ziliao_674904/zyjh_674906/202502/t20250221_11560207.shtml [accessed: 3 June 2025].

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This report has been published by the Inclusive Society Institute

The Inclusive Society Institute (ISI) is an autonomous and independent institution that functions independently from any other entity. It is founded for the purpose of supporting and further deepening multi-party democracy. The ISI’s work is motivated by its desire to achieve non-racialism, non-sexism, social justice and cohesion, economic development and equality in South Africa, through a value system that embodies the social and national democratic principles associated with a developmental state. It recognises that a well-functioning democracy requires well-functioning political formations that are suitably equipped and capacitated. It further acknowledges that South Africa is inextricably linked to the ever transforming and interdependent global world, which necessitates international and multilateral cooperation. As such, the ISI also seeks to achieve its ideals at a global level through cooperation with like-minded parties and organs of civil society who share its basic values. In South Africa, ISI’s ideological positioning is aligned with that of the current ruling party and others in broader society with similar ideals.

Email: info@inclusivesociety.org.za

Phone: +27 (0) 21 201 1589

Web: www.inclusivesociety.org.za