Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on the first day of the three-day G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau, Germany, on June 26, 2022. (Sean Gallup/Pool/Getty Images)
Japan and Egypt have agreed to elevate their bilateral relations to the “strategic partnership level” as Japan seeks to increase engagement with African countries in the face of communist China’s growing influence.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Egypt as part of a four-nation tour of Africa on April 30, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi for bilateral talks, his office stated.
“Japan and Egypt are already important partners that cooperate with each other on the world stage. We have now agreed to elevate our bilateral relations to a strategic partnership,” Kishida stated on Twitter.
The two leaders discussed regional affairs in the Middle East and Africa, including the situation in Sudan and Russia’s war in Ukraine, reaffirming the importance of maintaining the rules-based international order.
Japan agreed to provide Egypt with yen loans for the Greater Cairo Metro Line and to launch a study focused on ensuring the safety of navigation of the Suez Canal, Kishida’s office stated.
Kishida said he would encourage Japanese companies to expand and invest in Egypt, adding that Japan intends to cooperate with Egypt in realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific.
Kishida met with Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on April 1. Both leaders agreed to cooperate to strengthen the functions of the United Nations, including through Security Council reform, while Japan pledged to provide Africa with around $500 million in financial aid.
After Ghana, Kishida will visit Kenya and Mozambique. He will stop in Singapore on his way back to Japan and is expected to meet with his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong.
China’s Influence in Africa Worries Japan
Kishida aims to enhance ties with the four African nations to counter China’s influence. He told his aides last month that Chinese leaders have traveled “all over Africa and Latin America” to bolster ties.
“At this rate, we’ll lose them,” Kishida was quoted as saying by Nikkei Asia.
Last year, Japan pledged to contribute $30 billion over three years to support Africa’s development and economy. Kishida said his nation “aspires to be a partner growing together with Africa.”
Of those funds, Japan would invest over 10 billion yen ($72 million) in African startups and provide training to 300,000 Africans in various sectors over three years for human resource development.
The Japanese government will also provide $130 million in food aid and co-finance a $300 million loan with the African Development Bank to boost food production amid the global food and energy crisis.
Chinese state-run media Global Times criticized Japan’s move, saying that Japan should focus on resolving “its own doorstep” rather than competing with China in Africa. It stated that China is Africa’s largest trading partner, with $254.2 billion worth of trade in 2021.
In August 2022, China pledged to waive 23 interest-free loans for 17 African countries that had matured at the end of 2021. But critics warned of the trap behind the apparent largesse of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Chinese leader Xi Jinping poses with African leaders, including Malawi's President Arthur Peter Mutharika (2nd row, 2nd R), during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2018. (How Hwee Young/AFP/Getty Images)
Although the exact amount of debt to be waived is unknown, a Chinese online article said China’s total loans in Africa were $145 billion at the end of 2020.
Economist Davy Jun Huang explained that the CCP timed the waiving of the loans to suit its purpose, which was to gain diplomatic support from the African countries.
Huang believes the CCP’s geopolitical competition—the discourse power in West Africa—with the West was also part of the reason for this diplomatic gesture.
In June 2022, the G-7 leaders pledged to raise $600 billion over five years to finance needed infrastructure in developing countries. The European Union announced in 2021 that it would invest €300 billion (about $299.9 billion) over six years for global infrastructure. Both undertakings are seen as rivals to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
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