China seeks deeper African ties in a divided world

Dozens of African leaders have gathered in Beijing for a summit that signals China's influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a US-led global order.

President Xi Jinping promised the leaders billions of dollars in loans and private investment over the next three years and proposed relations with African countries that had diplomatic ties with China would be elevated to the "strategic" level.

"We have always understood and supported each other, setting an example for a new type of international relations," he said on Wednesday at the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation.

China has become a major player in Africa since the forum was founded in 2000.

Its companies have invested heavily in mining for the resources Chinese industry needs and its development banks have made loans to build infrastructure under Xi's Belt and Road program.

African leaders have welcomed China's assistance but are pushing for a closer alignment of aid with the continent's development goals.

They are seeking to industrialise their economies and expand agricultural exports to reduce a trade deficit with China, which has become sub-Saharan Africa's largest bilateral trading partner.

Xi outlined 10 "partnership actions" that included training for African politicians and future leaders, a further opening of the Chinese market, agriculture demonstration areas, vocational and technical training, green energy projects and one billion yuan ($A209 million) in grants for military assistance.

"While commending the overall progress so far achieved, we also appreciate the announcement of further areas of partnership actions," said Tanzania's President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, speaking on behalf of eastern Africa.

"We salute a new characterisation of China-Africa relations."

Xi said China would eliminate tariffs on products from most of the world's poorest countries, including 33 in Africa, in an expansion of existing tariff exemptions.

The relationship has moved beyond trade and investment to take on political overtones as China seeks allies in the developing world for its competition with the United States to define the norms governing the global economy and relations between countries.

"Modernisation is an inalienable right of all countries," Xi said.

"But the Western approach to it has inflicted immense sufferings on developing countries.

"Since the end of World War II, Third World nations, represented by China and African countries, have achieved independence ... and have been endeavouring to redress the historical injustices of the modernisation process."