China-Africa Cooperation Forum endorses Morocco's territorial integrity
- Support for Morocco and rejection of the Polisario Front and SADR
- Strong international support for Morocco's proposal for Western Sahara
Beijing has been chosen to host a new edition of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) with a view to strengthening ties between the Asian giant and the African continent.
Dozens of leaders and delegations visited the Chinese capital for this important forum, which demonstrates the importance China attaches to Africa.
In recent years, China has invested a significant amount of money in Africa, sending thousands of workers and engineers to the continent to build major infrastructure projects, in return for privileged access to the continent's natural resources, including copper, gold and lithium. Chinese state loans have also financed railways, ports and roads, which are very important infrastructures for Africa. This situation is strengthening China's influence on the African continent to the maximum.
China, the world's second largest economy, is Africa's largest trading partner. Bilateral trade reached 167.8 billion dollars (151.8 billion euros) in the first half of 2024, according to official Chinese media, which shows the importance of this bilateral relationship.
Support for Morocco and rejection of the Polisario Front and SADR
African countries were represented at the highest level on Chinese soil, although certain absences were notable. The Polisario Front and the self-styled Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) were not invited to this important international event, as reported by various media, which represents an important endorsement of Morocco's territorial integrity and a frontal attack on the secessionist theses in Western Sahara put forward by the Polisario Front and the SADR, which are supported by Algeria, a major political rival of the Moroccan kingdom in the Maghreb.
The King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, was represented at this important event by the Moroccan Prime Minister, Aziz Akhannouch. Also in attendance was the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Bourita, who in recent years has intensified his agenda to strengthen diplomatic ties between the Moroccan kingdom and most countries in the world and on the African continent in particular, gathering clear support for the territorial integrity of the North African country, which rejects the pro-independence theses supported by Algeria and considers Western Sahara to be a region included in Moroccan territory.
The Moroccan delegation to China was completed by the Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of Investment, Implementation and Evaluation of Public Policies, Mohcine Jazouli, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco in Beijing, Abdelkader El Ansari, and the President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), Chakib Alj.
The ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation provided Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita with the opportunity to discuss with many of his counterparts and explore ways and means to promote peace, stability and development on the African continent through effective South-South cooperation, as well as through tripartite cooperation with China within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, in accordance with the instructions of King Mohammed VI.
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation represents a relevant partnership between China and the African continent, based on the basic principles of solidarity, cooperation and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, which has limited Algeria's pressure on the Polisario Front and SADR to attend the event. Analysts identified this move as a clear rejection of Polisario's secessionist theses.
China's refusal to invite these groups was a further setback for Algerian and Polisario Front efforts to disseminate separatist positions at high-level summits.
The Algerian-backed pro-independence groups did not appear at the Indonesia-Africa Forum in Bali on 1-3 September 2024, nor at the South Korea-Africa Summit in June.
All African countries participated in these important summits, aimed at fostering trade relations and a peaceful and stable policy, but SADR and the Polisario Front did not receive an official invitation, as in other summits attended by important countries such as the United States and Russia.
The refusal to include the Polisario Front in the China-Africa Cooperation Forum attacks the secessionist thesis, and China's rejection perpetuates the failure of Algeria and the Polisario Front's efforts to defend their pro-independence postulates at high-level summits.
China rejected the Polisario Front's presence at this important China-Africa forum, as it did at the Indonesia-Africa Forum, despite Algeria's attempts to impose it through diplomatic pressure.
According to various media, such as Al-Arab, Algeria had made preparations for the summit through its contacts with the Asian giant, and its Foreign Minister, Ahmed Attaf, received the Chinese ambassador to Algeria on 22 August. An official communiqué from the Algerian Foreign Ministry indicated that the meeting ‘is part of the preparations for Algeria's participation in the work of the Africa-China Cooperation Forum summit’. However, Algeria's efforts to persuade the Chinese side to include the Polisario Front in this meeting failed, after China limited the list of participants to UN member states.
China has previously rejected all attempts by Algeria and South Africa, another stronghold of support for the Polisario Front and SADR, to invite these pro-independence formations to events held in China or African countries, which could reflect China's position in support of Morocco's territorial integrity and its respect for relevant international resolutions, and Beijing's continued policy towards the Western Sahara issue, a policy based on respect for international legitimacy and non-interference in countries' internal affairs, a stance the Asian giant maintains on many other international issues.
Hisham Moataded, an academic and expert in strategic affairs, confirmed to Al-Arab that the rejection of the Polisario Front's presence in the China-Africa Cooperation Forum and also in the Indonesia-Africa Forum, in which African Union countries participate, is a victory for the efforts of Moroccan diplomacy, a result of recent political changes on the African continent and recognitions of Morocco.
The growth in support for Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara indicates a shift in the positions of many countries towards the Polisario Front and the self-styled SADR and that the Moroccan kingdom should take advantage of its increased influence within the continent to press the issue of the expulsion of the Polisario Front and SADR from the agenda of AU summits.
In view of the fact that the Polisario Front and SADR have no legal status before the UN, with the addition of the UN secretary general's own recognition and the increasing number of countries reconsidering their relations with the Polisario Front and supporting Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, Hisham Moataded suggested to Al-Arab that the situation would develop in Morocco's favour, with growing pressure within the AU to reconsider the membership of the separatist organisations and isolate them on the continent.
On the other hand, Morocco's influence in Africa is growing. This is especially the case with proposals such as the Atlantic Initiative, strongly supported by King Mohammed VI, which seeks to provide an outlet to the Atlantic through Morocco's Atlantic coast (including Western Sahara) to various African nations, especially in the Sahel, in order to promote their economic development and commercial traffic with an important gateway to the Atlantic Ocean, which would give them important access to other markets in America and Europe. This would favour exponential economic development in the area.
Strong international support for Morocco's proposal for Western Sahara
More than 100 countries have shown their support for Morocco's proposal for Western Sahara. The Moroccan kingdom proposes broad autonomy for the Sahrawi territory under Moroccan sovereignty with the aim of granting a broad capacity for decision-making and management to the future Sahrawi authorities and developing the area socio-economically to the maximum, leaving foreign policy and defence in the hands of the Moroccan state.
Many countries of great relevance on the international scene, such as the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, France and Spain, have recognised Morocco's proposal as the most serious, credible and realistic way of resolving the Sahrawi dispute, which has lasted for more than 40 years after Spain's departure as the colonial power in the territory.
Meanwhile, the Polisario Front's proposal, backed by Algeria, advocates holding a referendum on independence for the Sahrawi population, which is very difficult to achieve due to problems such as the creation of an electoral census, as various analysts have indicated, and which has less support at the international level.
