Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Tuesday during a high-profile five-day trip to China during which he hailed Beijing’s push to establish a “more open and inclusive world” amid an “unbalanced international order”.
The two countries’ leaders agreed to expand their cooperation in multiple technology sectors – including aerospace, nuclear, information and communications technology – by signing bilateral cooperations in various fields and a joint statement.
It is Tebboune’s first visit to Beijing since coming to power in 2019 and follows his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month.
“China is Algeria’s most important friend and partner, thanks to China’s long-standing valuable support to Algeria. Algeria firmly supports China’s position on core interests such as Taiwan and Xinjiang-related issues, and is willing to actively participate in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative,” state-owned CCTV quoted Tebboune as saying.
“The current international landscape is very unbalanced, and we are grateful to China for playing a key role in promoting a more open and inclusive world and a more just and rational international order.”
Xi promised more cooperation and assistance to the North African country and support for Algeria’s development.
“China is ready to continue to provide assistance to the Algerian side to the best of its ability, to support its economic and social development … to encourage and support Chinese enterprises to carry out cooperations,” CCTV quoted Xi as saying. The Chinese president reportedly vowed to broaden cooperation on fronts such as media, tourism and think tanks.
The Chinese President also said China was willing to cooperate with Algeria in China-Arab and China-Africa collaboration frameworks.
China has been Algeria’s main exporter since 2013 when it overtook France, the African country’s former colonist.
Bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to US$7.42 billion last year, of which Algeria’s imports reached US$6.28 billion and exports amounted to US$1.14 billion.
In terms of investment, Algeria is one of the largest markets for China’s contracted works, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. Chinese companies mostly focused on the petroleum and mining sectors invested more than US$100 million in the oil-rich country in 2021.
Algeria owns the world’s 15th biggest oil reserve and 10th biggest gas reserve and is rich in mineral resources, especially iron.
Apart from the petroleum sectors, China has had a heavy presence in Algeria’s infrastructure projects since Algiers took part in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – China’s ambitious project to build a global infrastructure network.
“[China] sees Algeria as an important actor in the Sahel, sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the Mediterranean. Algeria’s location and participation in China’s BRI [is] attractive,” said Yahia Zoubir, a senior fellow at the Doha-based Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
Last year, Algiers and Beijing signed their second five-year strategic cooperation pact with the aim of fortifying cooperation, including relating to the “economy, industry, energy, space and culture”. The first pact was signed in 2014, marking Algeria as the first Arabic country to achieve the diplomatic level of “comprehensive strategic partnership” with China.
It will also likely join BRICS, an emerging market club formed in 2009 comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
By signing multiple cooperation pacts and aligning with China in different international groups, Algeria is looking for more opportunities to move away from its hydrocarbon rent economy, Zoubir said.
According to China’s foreign ministry, the oil and gas industry still accounts for 45.1 per cent of Algeria’s GDP, while manufacturing accounts for only 5.2 per cent.
In 2021, Algeria still had a trade deficit with China and more than 90 per cent of its exports to China were from the petroleum sector.
Zhang Yuyou, an associate professor in the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at China’s Northwest University, said Algeria’s ambition to cooperate with China also showed its “looking eastward” policy to balance the dominant influence of Europe, particularly that of Paris, in Algeria.
“Algeria wants to be on the fast track of the development of the emerging economies in East Asia,” Zhang said. “Meanwhile, it wants to balance the influence of the European Union, especially France … and to diversify its diplomacy and trade policies.”
During his presidency, Tebboune has conducted state visits to just two EU members – Italy and Portugal. A visit to Paris scheduled for May was postponed without further arrangement.
Beyond the economy, Sino-Algeria relations also contained rare nationalist elements, which even touch upon the sensitive “one-China policy”.
In 1955, then-Chinese foreign minister Zhou Enlai encountered Algeria’s nationalist delegation of the National Liberation Front (FLN) at the Bandung Conference of African and Asian states and China was subsequently the first non-Arab country to recognise Algeria when it gained independence from France in 1962.
In 1971, Algeria was among 23 United Nations member states that proposed Resolution 2758, the key proposal to help Communist-ruled China regain its seat.
“Algeria and China share many common views on international politics. They both oppose hegemonism and interference in other countries’ domestic affairs,” Zoubir added.