African flags have been flown over Tiananmen Square. Leaders of African nations have been greeted by dancers, honor guards and children waving flags. They have been escorted in extensive motorcades past banners celebrating “A Shared Future for China and Africa” and giant, elaborate flower arrangements.

天安门广场上飘扬着非洲国家的国旗。非洲国家的领导人受到了舞者、仪仗队和挥舞旗帜的儿童的欢迎。在浩浩荡荡的车队护送下，他们经过街道两侧悬挂的“中非共命运合作启新程”的道旗，以及精心布置的巨型花坛。

China has pulled out all the stops for a gathering of leaders and top officials from more than 50 African nations this week in Beijing, welcoming them with pomp and pageantry.

本周，来自50多个非洲国家的领导人和高级官员齐聚北京，中国竭尽全力，以盛大隆重的礼仪欢迎他们的到来。

“After nearly 70 years of hard work, China-Africa relations are at the best period in history,” China’s leader, Xi Jinping, told the gathering on Thursday.

中国领导人习近平在周四的峰会上表示：“经过近70年辛勤耕耘，中非关系正处于历史最好时期。”

Mr. Xi has cast his country as a defender of the developing world, one that can push the West to listen to the voices of poorer countries. He hosted a banquet for the leaders at the start of the event on Wednesday, after three straight days of back-to-back bilateral talks with nearly two dozen leaders of nations ranging from impoverished Chad to the continental economic powerhouse of Nigeria.

习近平将他的国家描绘成发展中国家的捍卫者，能够推动西方倾听贫穷国家的声音。他在周三设宴欢迎出席峰会的各国领导人，而此前，他已经与20多个国家的领导人进行了连续三天的双边会谈，其中既有贫穷的乍得，也有非洲经济强国尼日利亚。

The three-day forum is meant to demonstrate Beijing’s global clout despite rising tensions with the West. Mr. Xi’s courtship of African countries is part of a great geopolitical competition with the United States that has intensified in recent years over Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s aggressive posture toward Taiwan.

为期三天的论坛旨在展示北京的全球影响力，尽管它与西方的紧张关系日益加剧。习近平取悦非洲国家是中美地缘政治大战的一部分，近年来，由于俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争和中国对台湾的挑衅姿态，这种竞争愈演愈烈。

China is “trying to take advantage of the space left by the U.S. and Europe, which are increasingly disengaged with Africa,” said Eric Olander, the editor in chief of the China-Global South Project website. “China sees an opportunity to really step up its engagement, and not necessarily just with money.”

“中国正在尝试利用美国和欧洲在非洲留下的空缺，”中国全球南方项目(China-Global South Project)网站的主编埃里克·奥兰德说。“中国看到了真正加强接触的机会，而不一定只是靠资金。”

And Beijing’s diplomatic push is more urgent this year as China, faced with slowing economic growth at home and accusations of dumping excess production abroad, seeks new buyers for its goods.

随着中国面临国内经济增长放缓，以及向国外倾销过剩产品的指控，北京方面在今年的外交努力更为紧迫，要为商品寻找新的买家。

“As China’s relations with the U.S. and Europe deteriorate, African markets, as well as other parts of the global south, will become even more important for Chinese goods,” said Yunnan Chen, a research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute in London who has studied cooperation between China and Africa. That is particularly true of new technologies like solar panels or electric vehicles, she added.

“随着中国与美国和欧洲关系的恶化，非洲市场以及全球南方的其他部分将对中国商品变得更加重要，”研究中非合作的伦敦海外发展研究所研究员陈韵楠说。她还表示，对于太阳能电池板或电动汽车等新技术尤其如此。

Even so, some African leaders have indicated that they would prefer a more balanced relationship, one in which China bought more finished goods from the region, for instance. “We would like to narrow the trade deficit and address the structure of our trade,” South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, told Mr. Xi on Monday during talks held on the sidelines of the forum, according to an official transcript.

尽管如此，一些非洲领导人表示，他们希望建立一种更平衡的关系，例如中国从该地区购买更多的制成品。“我们希望缩小贸易逆差，解决我们的贸易结构问题，”据官方的会议记录，南非总统拉马福萨在周一与习近平举行会谈时表示。

周一，习近平在北京人民大会堂与南非总统拉马福萨检阅仪仗队，图片由中国官方媒体发布。

The event is also an opportunity for China to defend its engagement in Africa. It has come under criticism for offering financing without environmental, financial or human rights conditions, leading to projects tainted by corruption, pollution or labor abuses. China, one of the world’s largest creditors, has also been reluctant to offer debt relief to most countries despite the crippling load that some are carrying.

此次论坛对中国来说也是一次为它与非洲打交道的方式进行辩护的机会。它因提供不附带环境、金融或人权条件的融资而受到批评，这导致项目受到腐败、污染或虐待劳工行为的影响。此外，作为世界上最大的债权国之一，中国也一直不愿向大多数国家提供债务减免，尽管其中一些国家背负着沉重的负担。

The meeting, held once every three years, has historically been a platform for China to pledge large, multibillion-dollar packages of financial and technical aid to Africa. President William Ruto of Kenya, for instance, hopes to get funding to finish a railway line from the Rift Valley to Malaba town on Kenya’s western border with Uganda. He is also looking for more investment to build roads and dams and set up an industrial park for pharmaceutical companies.

在过去，这场三年一次的会议一直是中国承诺向非洲提供数十亿美元的巨额财政和技术援助的平台。比如，肯尼亚总统鲁托希望获得资金，修建一条从非洲大裂谷到肯尼亚西部与乌干达接壤的城镇马拉巴的铁路。他还在寻求更多投资，以修建公路和大坝，并为制药企业建立一个工业园。

China has adjusted its approach to new aid for the region. Instead of large railway and other infrastructure projects, Beijing is now emphasizing less costly commitments, like digital skills training — a useful contribution on a continent with a youthful population — and what it calls “small and beautiful” projects.

中国已经调整了为该地区提供新援助的方式。北京现在强调的不是大型铁路和其他基础设施项目，而是成本较低的承诺，例如数字技能培训——这对一个拥有大量年轻人口大陆来说，是有益贡献——以及所谓的“小而美”项目。

“We are in a period of recalibration, where African governments and Chinese banks are both more sensitive to risks,” said Deborah Brautigam, director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

“我们正处于一个重新调整时期，非洲政府和中国的银行都对风险更加敏感，”约翰霍普金斯大学高级国际研究院中非研究项目主任黛博拉·布劳蒂加姆表示。

Chinese lenders last year committed $4.61 billion to African countries and banks, the highest amount since 2016, according to data from Boston University. But that is still a fraction of the nearly $30 billion a year that they pledged in 2016, at the peak of Chinese financing in Africa.

根据波士顿大学的数据，中国的贷款机构去年向非洲国家和银行承诺了46.1亿美元的贷款，这是自2016年以来的最高金额。但这仍比2016年他们承诺的每年近300亿美元少得多，当时中国对非洲的融资正处于高峰期。

The shift is driven in part by changes inside China, where the property sector is in crisis and local governments are overextended, and by higher interest rates post-pandemic, which raise the cost of debt for African countries. Angola and Zambia now owe billions of dollars to Chinese state-owned banks.

这种转变在一定程度上是由中国内部的变化推动的，一方面它的房地产行业陷入危机，地方政府的财务状况不佳；另一方面是疫情过后利率上升推高了非洲国家的债务成本。安哥拉和赞比亚现在欠中国国有银行数十亿美元。

周二在北京举行的中非合作论坛部长级会议。

“The world’s financial situation does not allow large-scale loans to developing countries,” said Tang Xiaoyang, an international relations scholar at Tsinghua University in Beijing, referring to the higher interest rates. “The cost is too high.”

“世界金融形势不允许对发展中国家进行大规模贷款，”清华大学国际关系学者唐晓阳表示，他谈到了更高的利率。“成本太高了。”

Critics have said that past meetings led to bloated loans that African countries could not pay back. (African countries also owe significant amounts to the World Bank and other international lenders.)

批评人士说，过去的会议导致非洲国家无法偿还巨额贷款。（非洲国家还欠世界银行和其他国际贷款机构大量贷款。)

And while Chinese lenders financed crucial infrastructure on the continent, they also backed coal-fired power plants and other projects that contributed to greenhouse gas emissions.

尽管中国贷款机构为非洲大陆的关键基础设施提供资金，但它们也支持燃煤电厂和其他有温室气体排放的项目。

In the run-up to the summit, Chinese state media outlets have highlighted projects backed by Chinese lenders in African villages, like solar panel installations and soybean-planting techniques, as bringing direct benefits to communities.

在峰会召开前夕，中国的官方媒体在报道中强调中国的贷款机构在非洲农村所支持的项目，如太阳能电池板安装和大豆种植技术，称其为社区带来了直接的好处。

The emphasis on smaller, greener initiatives may help assuage concerns in Africa about unprofitable megaprojects, said Jana De Kluiver, a research officer at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria. “It has this aspect of making sure that the China-Africa relationship, at least on a global scale, doesn’t look predatory,” she said.

比勒陀利亚安全研究所研究员贾娜·德克鲁弗说，对规模较小、更环保的项目的重视，可能有助于缓解非洲对无利可图的大型项目的担忧。“这样做的目的是要确保中非关系，至少在全球范围内，不会看起来像是掠夺性的关系，”她说。

Even as the scale of Beijing’s cooperation with Africa has shifted or declined, “the fact that China has maintained these triannual summits over two decades is a huge political achievement,” said Ms. Chen, of the Overseas Development Institute.

尽管北京与非洲的合作规模发生了变化或下降，但“中国在过去20年里一直保持着每三年举行一次峰会，这是一项巨大的政治成就”，海外发展研究所研究员陈云南说。

Such meetings are a way for Beijing to demonstrate China’s commitment to Africa. The United States, by contrast, held one such summit with African leaders in 2022, after eight years.

这些会议是北京展示中国对非洲承诺的一种方式。相比之下，美国仅在2022年举行了一次与非洲领导人的峰会，而上一次峰会还要再往前推8年。

在北京参加中非峰会的国家的国旗。

Ms. Brautigam said that the summit follows months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy between Chinese and African officials. “You can contrast this with how we do things in the U.S., where engagement is far more ad hoc,” she said.

布劳蒂加姆表示，这次峰会是中非官员数月幕后外交的结果。“这与我们在美国的做法形成了鲜明对比，我们之间的接触更加零散，”她说。

China has officially asserted that it does not see Africa as a region where major powers compete for geopolitical gains, insisting it is interested in working with the region toward so-called “win-win cooperation.” At the same time, China’s aid, investments and diplomacy have helped secure African backing for China at international organizations like the United Nations.

中国正式表示，它不认为非洲是一个大国争夺地缘政治利益的地区，坚称它有兴趣与该地区合作，实现所谓的合作共赢。与此同时，中国的援助、投资和外交帮助中国在联合国等国际组织中赢得了非洲人的支持。

China has also won support on the African continent for the position it has taken on Israel’s war in Gaza. Beijing has brought rival Palestinian factions together for talks as it has sought a bigger diplomatic role in the Middle East. It has asserted its longstanding support of Palestinian statehood and criticized Israel’s bombardment of the region.

中国对以色列在加沙的战争所采取的立场也赢得了非洲国家的支持。中国政府希望在中东地区发挥更大的外交作用，已将巴勒斯坦敌对派系召集到一起进行谈判。它坚持对巴勒斯坦建国的长期支持，并批评以色列对该地区的轰炸。

That position aligns China with countries like South Africa, which has called Israel’s policies toward Palestinians an “extreme form of apartheid.” A joint China-South Africa statement released on Monday cited the two countries’ shared interest in an “immediate cease-fire and end to all fighting” in Gaza.

中国的这一立场与南非等国一致。南非称以色列对巴勒斯坦人的政策是“极端形式的种族隔离”。中国和南非周一发表的一份联合声明中指出，两国都希望在加沙“立即停火和停止一切战斗”。

“China’s full embrace of the Palestinian cause has fully aligned it with almost the entire global south,” said Mr. Olander. For many Africans, he added, the war “closely resembles the colonial wars that ravaged their countries.”

奥兰德表示，“中国对巴勒斯坦事业的全面支持，与几乎整个全球南方是完全一致的。”他还说，对许多非洲人来说，这场战争“与摧毁他们国家的殖民战争非常相似”。