Moroccan media on Xi Jinpings Visit and increasing cooperation with China – the Southern Chinese -Mondial project

By Mariateresa Natuzzi

On November 21, 2024, Xi Jinping, returning from his state visit to Brazil for the G20 summit, made an unexpected landing in Casablanca. Officially described in the Chinese reading As a technical stopover, the Chinese president was welcomed at the airport by Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch. Brief meetings took place before Xi's departure the next day.

Major international media discussed the XIS Stopover in the context of the enlargement of investments in Morocco, in particular in the energy and infrastructure sectors. The time of this visit also drew attention, because it came shortly after Donald Trumps victory in the American presidential elections of 2024.

In this edition of The Chinamed Observer, we explore the coverage of the Moroccan press from the economic presence of Chinas in Morocco and analyze how the visit of Xi Jinpings was represented by the local media. Our analysis reveals that although the Moroccan press echoes European stories that portray Chinese investments as a pragmatic or even opportunistic attempt to bypass EU prices, local media also celebrates the potential advantages that these investments could bring to the kingdom. These include improving infrastructure and promoting industrialization in emerging sectors.

Nevertheless, Moroccan engagement with China, including the visit of XIS, is carefully designed as a wider part of the strategy of diversification of foreign policies rather than alignment with Beijinging, particularly as Moroccoment for the second Trump administration.

Economic cooperation: opportunity of opportunism

In mid-November, the Chinese engineering company China Gezhouba obtained a$ 225 millionContract to build viaducts for the Kenitra-Marrakech high-speed rail line. This contract represents the ninth of the ten packages in which the project was divided and marks thesuccessful fifthby a Chinese company.

Interestingly, the Moroccan media landscape largely controlled by the State has moved away from the supervision of the railway project in competitionBetween China and FranceA competition that France seemed to lose. This story was particularly importantA few years agoWhen initial contracts were mainly awarded to Chinese companies, excluding French companies such as SNCF, which had played a key role in the construction of the first high -speed railway line.

An explanation possible for this change is the growing participation of French companies in the current phase of the project. GTR (a subsidiary of the French civil engineering firm Colas), in consortium with the Moroccan Stam / Vias, obtained the contract for the third package of the project, while the French railway manufacturer Alstom will provide 18 high -speed trains for the line.

Another factor can be the recent improvement in Franco-Moroccan relations. France hasrecognizedMoroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, following aunsuccessful attemptto a rapprochement with Algeria which contributed toStraining TiesBetween Paris and Rabat. Despite these developments, the French press remains skeptical of the growing presence of Chinas in Morocco, in particular in the battery sector, supervising Chinese investments as an attempt to bypass EU tariffs thanks to agreements Morocco free trade.

While Moroccan media recognize that Chinese investments can be motivated by the desire to bypass Western protectionist policies, they also highlight the broader advantages that these investments could bring, in particular by attracting capital in emerging sectors and promoting improvements significant in the Morocccos infrastructure. In particular, positive coverage even extends to the media aligned with the opposition parties, such asAhdath.infoThe online portal of the socialist union of the newspaper aligned with popular forcesAl Ahdath al Maghribia.

This optimistic framing is even more pronounced in points of sale generally aligned on the Royal Palace, such asThe morningAndGo outWho, while celebrating cooperation with China, put more emphasis on the role of the skilled workforce Morocco, strategic geographic location, the well-developed automotive ecosystem and the favorable commercial climate.

A project that has received special praise is the planned gigafactory of 128 million euros electric in Kenitra, following a memorandum of understanding signed in June between the Sino-European group of high technology and the Moroccan government. This project should produce 20 GWh of lithium-ion batteries and cathode materials and should create around 2,300 jobs.

The unexpected visit of Xi Jinpings to Casablanca was celebrated by the Moroccan press, which, however, has refrained from describing it as a technical stopover, as officially framed by the Chinese. Instead, it was characterized as a short visit This reflects the solid links of friendship, cooperation and solidarity between the Moroccan and Chinese peoples, thanks to the common commitment of His Majesty King Mohammed VI and His Excellency President XI Jinping to advance the partnership SINO-MOROCAIN strategic.

This emphasis on the strategic partnership, created in 2016 on the occasion of the visit of the state of Mohammed Vis in China, is a recurring theme in the pro-government Moroccan press.FairnessA newspaper aligned with the Istiqlal monarchist party, noted; Since 2016, Sino-Moroccan relations have experienced an unprecedented increase following His Majesty the king's visit to Beijing, during which the two countries have raised their cooperation at the level of a strategic partnership.

This story may be due to a desire to center the role of the king, but it also seems to reflect an effort to supervise the relationship bilaterally rather than position it in larger global initiatives from Chinas. In particular, Moroccan media has apparently minimized Rabats's commitment to the Belt and Road (BRI) initiative, despite the rapid growth of Chinese investments and the unique status of Morocco as the only North African country to have signed a BRI implementation plan (THE A few articles which mention the comments of BRI cite made to Daily China By the ambassador of Morocco to China, Abdelkader El Ansari, a message clearly intended for the Chinese public). Likewise, Morocco has not openly recognized its Application to reach BricsAlthough it can also be due to tensions with South Africa.

The apparent efforts of Moroccan media to keep Morocco away from international executives led by China can reflect the flap strategy to start on a good foot with the new government in Washington. Indeed, the Trumps return to the White House have not aroused significant concern in the Moroccan media, probably because of its first decision of administration to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the west of the Sahara.

Nevertheless, concerns persist, in particular among the left media, on the assets rather than the belligerent position on the prices and the vague of potential global protectionist that it could trigger.Bayane al yaoumeA newspaper affiliated with the Party of Progress and Socialism, warned that the American prices could destabilize the global markets, to exacerbate the challenges for emerging economies, in particular the reduction of capital flows and the depreciation of local currencies.

Moroccan interest in this issue can be notedAhdath.infosDecision to publish an article by Rama Yade, Director of the Atlantic Center of the Africa Center and former French Secretary of State for Human Rights. The new trade policies of presidents may have Chinese investments abroad on the future. She notes that without IRA, Morocco could become less attractive for China and that Rabat may need to revise its equidistence strategy between the two powers.