African nations to look to China for more help at coronavirus summit

Meeting is a goodwill gesture to engender openness on the continent towards China, says analyst

Covid-19 death toll in Africa is not as high as in other parts of the world but there are fears hospital admissions may soon outstrip capacity

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Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) pictured with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) and Senegalese President Macky Sall (left). Xi will address a summit of African nations on Wednesday on the fight against coronavirus. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:27pm, 16 Jun 2020Updated: 9:03pm, 16 Jun 2020

African countries are expected to seek more help from Beijing to contain the coronavirus during a summit to be hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday.

China’s foreign ministry announced on Tuesday that Xi would host African countries in a summit via videoconference to address the joint efforts of China and African countries to fight the coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease Covid-19.

The ministry said the meeting was proposed by China, South Africa, the chair of the African Union, and Senegal, which co-chairs the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Xi is expected to revisit promises he made during the World Health Assembly (WHA) last month. These included establishing a mechanism for Chinese hospitals to pair up with 30 African hospitals and funding the building of the headquarters of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to help the continent ramp up its disease preparedness and capacity to control outbreaks.

Leaders from the African Union member countries and the African Union Commission chairman have been invited to the summit. António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, and WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will also attend as special guests.

At the WHA meeting in May, Xi said China had sent medical supplies and help to more than 50 African countries and the African Union. Five Chinese medical expert teams had also been sent to the African continent.

In all, 46 resident Chinese medical teams were already in Africa helping with Covid-19 containment efforts, Xi said.

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