China’s tech push is also helping expand Africa’s digital footprint with high-impact projects that are reshaping the continent’s technological landscape

In global economic debates, innovation is often framed as a competitive race among major powers. Headlines tend to focus on who leads in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing or green technology. The narrative is usually about who is ahead, who is falling behind, and who will dominate future industries.

But for much of the developing world, the real question is whether innovation expands opportunity beyond the traditional centers of power. For Africa, China’s growing push for technological innovation is increasingly providing that opportunity. And as articulated during this year’s two sessions — the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — this partnership is entering a more mature, policy-driven phase focused on shared modernization.

For Global South nations, China’s modernization drive is not an isolated project, but an open one. The two sessions were charged with a focus on new quality productive forces, driven by digitalization and AI. This is a signal of where China is investing in its immense research and development capacity and, crucially, what it is willing to share with partners such as Africa.

One of the most striking moments came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s news conference on the sidelines of the NPC session. When a Nigerian journalist was given the opportunity to ask a question, the gesture stood as a small but powerful symbol of the importance China places on its African partnership. Wang’s response was a reaffirmation that China’s path to modernization is intrinsically linked to Africa’s — a sentiment that resonates deeply from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to the tech hubs of Nairobi and Lagos.

This commitment was given strategic depth by Wang during his visit to three African countries in January, during which he laid out a comprehensive vision for the future. His message moved beyond simple infrastructure development to a holistic partnership for the 21st century, built on several key pillars that will directly impact Africa’s digital future.

The first is the principle of prioritizing development as companions in modernization. This is backed by the implementation of zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent of taxable imports from the 53 African countries that have diplomatic ties with China, starting May 1. This policy is a game-changer. It is designed to boost African exports, and crucially, it fosters the development of local industries and technological capacity, giving African innovators a direct pathway to the huge Chinese market.

Second, Wang emphasized promoting mutual learning in national governance. This means creating platforms such as the China-Africa knowledge network for development to share expertise. For Africa’s digital transformation, this is vital. It is not just about receiving technology, but about understanding the policies, regulatory frameworks and innovation ecosystems that allow technology to thrive. It is a direct channel for African engineers, entrepreneurs and policymakers to learn from China’s development.

Third, Wang called for upholding openness and inclusiveness as partners with a shared future. This stands in direct contrast to the trend of technological protectionism elsewhere. By strengthening coordination in international forums, China and Africa can jointly advocate a global governance system that gives developing nations a greater voice in making the rules for emerging technologies such as AI, ensuring these technologies serve the shared interests of all humanity.

This policy alignment is already translating into tangible, high-impact projects that are reshaping Africa’s technological landscape. The focus is shifting from basic connectivity to intelligent infrastructure. A landmark example is the 2026 strategic memorandum of understanding between MTN Group and Huawei, signed to accelerate Africa’s digital and intelligent transformation.

This partnership is a blueprint for the future. It leverages AI as the core driver to build “agentic networks”, the next-generation infrastructure that evolves from automation to true autonomy. By targeting Level 4 autonomous networks, where AI handles most network management, this collaboration aims to dramatically improve efficiency and unlock new possibilities for service innovation. In addition to enabling faster internet traffic, it is about creating an AI-ready digital backbone that can support everything from smart agriculture and telemedicine to fintech and logistics, powered by innovation labs based in Africa.

This builds on a long history of cooperation where companies such as Huawei have been instrumental in building the continent’s digital skeleton, contributing to constructing a large share of Africa’s 4G networks and deploying hundreds of thousands of kilometers of fiber-optic cables. Now, with AI integration, we are moving from building the skeleton to wiring the nervous system of a digital economy.

For Africa, the convergence of its youthful population is obvious, with more than 60 percent of the total population in the sub-Saharan region being under the age of 25, and these technological investments create unprecedented potential. The continent is already the world’s fastest-growing mobile internet market, gaining 1.5 new users every second. Young developers in Africa’s Silicon Valley are building solutions on this foundation — mobile payments that expand financial inclusion, platforms connecting farmers to markets and digital health services reaching rural patients.

The pieces are coming together. China’s renewable energy push, another pillar of its innovation drive, is also making solar power more affordable, helping power this digital ecosystem and address the electricity gap that affects 600 million Africans, according to the International Energy Agency.

As Chinese companies invest in solar farms, hydropower and mini-grids across the continent, they are providing the clean and reliable electricity needed to keep data centers running, charge millions of new mobile devices coming online every day and power the small businesses that form the backbone of Africa’s digital economy.

Ultimately, the narrative is no longer simply about China’s tech push. It is about a strategic partnership that is actively co-creating Africa’s digital future. Innovation delivers its greatest value when it spreads, and in this partnership, there is a clear path for the technological breakthroughs of the 21st century to truly transform economies far beyond the traditional centers of power.

The author is the executive director of South-South Dialogues, a Nairobi-based communications development think tank.

The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.