Xi offers African leaders more aid as China challenges US-led global order

BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of African leaders have gathered in Beijing for a summit that signals China’s influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a U.S.-led global order. Chinese President Xi Jinping promised the leaders billions of dollars in loans and private investment over the next three years and proposed that relations with all African countries that have diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the “strategic” level. He was speaking Thursday at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. China has become a major player in Africa since the the forum was founded in 2000.