In the past decade, China and African countries have forged genuine collaboration in different fields of diplomatic relations including health surveillance, infrastructure development, student exchanges and Confucius Institutes. This collaboration has been cemented through the regular Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, which has become one of the most recognizable platforms for global diplomacy and a reflection of China’s growing international stature as well as Africa’s agency in collective diplomacy.

One of the critical issues facing Africa today is how to manage the human rights emergencies and inequalities precipitated by the Covid pandemic. How can China contribute to Africa’s resilience to withstand and transform these emergencies? As African states thus prepare for this year’s FOCAC summit it is imperative that they address how African states and China can:

• Step up and lead initiatives to support African countries in controlling the pandemic and post-pandemic recovery in ways that respect, protect and fulfil human rights and human dignity.
• Establish truly multilateral approaches to global and regional emergencies including public health, the climate crisis, poverty alleviation and digital connectivity.
• Make transparent the terms and conditions of Chinese loans and debt restructuring/cancellation agreements with a view at arriving at international/multilateral standards that promote transparency, accountability, African agency and benefit African people.

The United States International University - Africa and Amnesty International will put together a knowledge-sharing webinar forum on 27 May 2021 to bring together civil society activists and human rights and international relations scholars to inform the question of how African states can best engage China on post-pandemic resilience relating to debt management, global vaccine/health collaborations and human rights.

Please register for the event here