China's modernization and insights for African countries

Author’s note: This article coincides with the early March 2025 holding of China’s Two Sessions, the largest legislative gathering in the world. This annual event unites the nation's foremost political advisory bodies: the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. During this crucial meeting, China will announce its annual budgets and targets. Importantly, this year's sessions are particularly significant as they will mark the conclusion of the People's Republic of China's 14th Five-Year Plan spanning from 2021 to 2025.

The 14th Five-Year Plan is essential for advancing Chinese modernization by focusing on new quality productive forces and various key areas like artificial intelligence (AI), the digital economy, and other innovative industries. This year's Two Sessions will assess the successes and failures of the 14th Five-Year Plan's goals and strategize the path for China's modernization in the near future. This reiterates the deliberate planning and implementation of the Chinese modernization process which African countries must endear themselves with.

According to the Report on the Work of the Government delivered at the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on March 5, 2025, it was stated that China’s gross domestic product (GDP) has surpassed 134.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 5 percent, ranking China among the fastest-growing major economies in the world. Within that year also a total of 12 million urban jobs were added to the system. Furthermore, China’s traditional industries saw accelerated transformation and upgrading.

Photo shows large scale of solar panels installed in China. (Guangming Picture)

Strategic and emerging industries also achieved vigorous growth, as the groundwork was laid for developing industries of the future, and several world-class innovations such as AI, solar PV and electric cars. Today, China is also known for three new industrial chain capacity advantages: solar panels, lithium batteries, and electric vehicles. China has greatly improved its clean energy and green economy in its modernization process. At the end of 2023, China accounted for over 60 percent of global electric vehicle production, 75 percent of lithium battery production, and over 80 percent of solar panel production. The above was achieved by China within a short space of over 40 years of “reform and opening up” and it is a feat that is associated with China’s modernization.

On the contrary, the continent of Africa is enormously endowed in both human and natural resources. Africa is home to about 30 percent of the world’s critical minerals. Africa has 40 percent of the world's gold and up to 90 percent of its chromium and platinum. It also has the world's largest reserves of cobalt, diamonds, platinum, and uranium, and 65 percent of the world's arable land, and 10 percent of the planet's renewable fresh water. However, with this enormous wealth, the continent's economy accounts for only about 3 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

It is deeply concerning that many African countries have struggled with underdevelopment since achieving independence. Economic growth and development in Africa remain elusive. Over the past one and half decades, Africa's economic growth has remained stagnant. Although Africa recorded a high growth rate in per capita income during this period, many people continued to live in extreme poverty and lacked the basic necessities of life. Evidence indicates that the economic growth experienced in Africa during the first decade of the 21st century did not necessarily lead to development. This demonstrates that development is not solely about increasing GDP or per capita income; it must also directly benefit the people.

Examining China's modernization and development experiences prompts important questions regarding Africa's development: What factors are impeding Africa's progress? Why are African nations unable to adopt development strategies akin to those employed by China? What valuable lessons can African countries glean from China's modernization efforts?

To begin with, a major problem of many African countries’ governments is that they are not accountable to the people. People are key to any development agenda. As President Xi Jinping noted in his book, XI JINPING: THE GOVERNANCE OF CHINA III, “the principal challenge facing Chinese society is the gap between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people’s growing expectation for a better life”. In that sense, development must be people-oriented, and economic growth and development must precipitate on the people, which must transcend all strata of society and must not revolve around any social, ethnic, or religious groups. Development begins with the people. This is in line with the ancient Chinese saying which states that “a sovereign who shares the interests of the people will have their support, a sovereign who denies the interest of the people will provoke their opposition”. African government must recognize that the people are their greatest strength in governance.

This brings us to the issue of peace and security; which are a critical part of modernization and development. Since opening up, China’s government has made peace and security a sine-qua-non for growth and development. It is often highlighted that development cannot occur without peace, and peace cannot exist without development. Therefore, selecting the appropriate path for a country's political progress is crucial for its stability. As President Xi Jinping states, “The wrong choice in the path for political development leads to social unrest, national disruptions, and the fall of the governments.” This observation is particularly evident in several developing countries in Africa. It is noted with dismay that African countries have suffered from a curtail of maladies, including lack of economic growth, failures of the political system, and many more. Therefore, African countries must make peace and security of their countries a priority if they must develop.

Another important aspect of Chinese modernization that is of significance to countries in Africa is reforms in the political system, governance, and institutional structures. China’s government has exceedingly focused on deepening reform comprehensively with systematic and holistic plans, to pave the way for a brand-new stage in China’s development. Indeed, the importance of reforms for Chinese modernization cannot be overemphasized. Chinese modernization has continuously been advanced through reform and opening up.

On July 18, 2024, during the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, new resolutions were adopted to further promote Chinese modernization. These resolutions clearly outline the target requirements and strategic plans designed to accelerate China's modernization process and elevate it to a new level.

Many African governments have faced challenges in this area. Unlike China, many of the reforms being implemented in African countries are not tailored to their unique contexts. Instead, these reforms often originate from Western financial institutions, which may not fully take into account the distinct socio-economic dynamics of these nations. To promote stability and foster development, a country's governance system should be grounded in its history, socio-cultural structure, and political dynamics. It must be noted that reforms are critical to any country's development.

A further perusal into China’s unprecedented economic growth and development is research and development - a key component of Chinese modernization. In 2022, China’s investment in basic research accounted for 6.57 percent of the total R&D spending. In 2023, according to Yin Hejun, Minister of Science and Technology, China's research and development (R&D) expenditure exceeded 3.3 trillion yuan (about 458.5 billion U.S. dollars), an 8.1-percent year-on-year increase. By 2024, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), research and development exceeded 3.6 trillion yuan (USD494.69 billion), an increase of 8.3 percent year-on-year, making China ranked the second country with the largest R&D expenditure recorded globally in 2024.

African countries allocate, on average, about 0.45 percent of their GDP to research and development, while the global average is 1.7 percent. This allocation is still very low and significantly below the global average. African countries should begin to understand that the two most important indicators of development are science and technology and artificial intelligence is the future.

Finally, African countries must understand that there is no one way to development and or modernization. Development is not just a prescription from other worlds nor is it something that can be enforced. Development must be deliberate. It is a process that cannot be halted. It must be imbued endogenously and socio-structurally conceived. However, this does not mean you cannot acclimate to your society an alien system that works through what this article considers as “adoption and adaptation” based on the uniqueness of each society.

Article contributed by Prof. Efem N. Ubi, Professor of International Relations/Strategic Studies and China-Africa Studies, Director of Studies at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, and Distinguished Visiting Professor, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University.