Japan pledges US$30 billion for Africa as it seeks to counter Chinese influence

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the Tokyo International Conference on African Development that Japan will grow ‘together’ with the continent

Pledge includes aid and investment and stands in contrast to Beijing’s loans that have prompted concern about the debt burden

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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks via video link at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tunis. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 29 Aug 2022Updated: 12:52pm, 29 Aug 2022

Japan plans to pour US$30 billion in aid and investment from its public and private sectors into Africa over the next three years as it seeks to counter China’s growing influence.

Speaking via video link at the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) on Saturday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed that Japan will “grow together with Africa”.

This is an increase from the US$20 billion that Japan promised African countries in 2019 “and we essentially achieved it over the last three years”, Kishida said.

The pledge is seen as an effort by Tokyo to differentiate itself from China, which has been criticised by the US and some Western nations for burdening African countries with loans.

Japan launched the TICAD in 1993, to revive interest in the continent and find raw materials for its industries and markets for its products. About a decade later, China began holding a rival event, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, at a time when Japan was turning inward as it sought to rebuild its struggling economy.

Japan has over time shifted the focus of its engagement with Africa from aid to private-sector-led investment.

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