China Builds West African Economic Community Headquarters... 53 African Nations Get Duty-Free Access

China Builds West African Economic Community Headquarters... 53 African Nations Get Duty-Free Access

Following the donation of the African Union Headquarters in 2012... Countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan are excluded from duty-free.

As unilateralism and protectionism spread globally after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump last year, China is exploiting the vacuum left by the US in Africa.

China, already Africa's largest trading partner, is actively pursuing its strategy in Africa, not only through gratuitous and non-gratuitous aid but also by fully expanding duty-free measures with African countries with which it has diplomatic relations.

According to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and China's official Xinhua News Agency on the 1st, the Chinese government completed and handed over the new ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, on the 28th of last month.

ECOWAS stated on its official X (formerly Twitter), "The Government of China has officially handed over the newly constructed state-of-the-art ECOWAS Commission Headquarters complex within the framework of assistance," adding, "This is a significant milestone in the relationship between China and West African states."

ECOWAS is a regional organization established in 1975 with the goal of expanding economic cooperation and free trade among West African countries. Originally, it had 15 member states, but with the withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, where military governments were established through coups, it currently has 12 member states.

The construction of the ECOWAS headquarters, led by a Chinese company, cost a total of $56.5 million (approximately 84 billion won), with the construction costs provided through Chinese government support.

Previously, China built the African Union (AU) headquarters building in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in 2012, at a cost of $200 million.

China also plans to expand economic cooperation by extending temporary 'duty-free measures' to 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, starting from today.

Wei Dunhai, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, attended the ECOWAS headquarters donation ceremony on the 28th of last month and stated, "The duty-free policy for African goods imported into China will be implemented starting May 1st."

Earlier, the Tariff Policy Commission of China's State Council announced through a notice that from May 1st of this year to April 30th, 2028, 'duty-free' in the form of preferential tariff rates would be applied to an additional 20 African countries with which China has diplomatic relations, in addition to the existing 33 least developed countries that already enjoyed duty-free status.

However, Eswatini, which has diplomatic ties with Taiwan among the 54 African countries, was excluded from the duty-free list.

China's expansion of duty-free measures is analyzed as an attempt to expand its influence in the Global South (a term generally referring to emerging and developing countries located mainly in the Southern Hemisphere) in defiance of the United States.