“The Moroccan Minister of Industry told us that the Chinese were contacting him every day and that we had to wake up before it was too late.” Told in April 2024 by the boss of a CAC 40 company, the anecdote says it all about the growing weight of China in Morocco. According to Moroccan customs statistics, Beijing, which is organizing its summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation from September 4 to 6, has firmly established itself since 2007 as the third supplier of the Cherifian kingdom, going so far as to overtake France in 2020 and 2021, just behind Spain.
Between Rabat and Beijing, trade even approached 8 billion dollars in 2023. An amount close to the 10 billion transactions carried out the same year between China and Algeria. But the comparison ends there. Compared to those carried out in its neighbor, Chinese investments and contracts in Morocco, which signed a strategic partnership with China in 2016 and embraced the “New Silk Roads” initiative the following year remain low: less than 3 billion dollars between 2005 and 2020, compared to nearly 24 billion for the same period in Algeria, according to data collected by researcher Yahia Zoubir, affiliated with the Middle East Council on Global Affairs research center in Doha.
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One only has to look at the profusion of large-scale infrastructure built by Chinese companies in Algeria. Nothing comparable in Morocco, where the only notable building with which Beijing was associated is the 950-meter-long Mohammed VI cable-stayed bridge, inaugurated in 2016. China nevertheless participated in the construction of the Noor solar complex in Ouarzazate, and is positioning itself on future construction sites for the extension of the high-speed train line between Kenitra, Marrakech and Agadir.
This is to say that the recent announcements of several Chinese companies, which have indicated that they want to invest nearly 10 billion euros in the manufacture of electric batteries and their components in Morocco, have surprised observers. So much so that in August, the British magazine The Economist placed the kingdom among the top five countries targeted by Chinese investments in 2023 « green field »synonymous with direct establishments and new installations. The CNGR company alone, in partnership with the Al Mada fund, whose main shareholder is the Siger holding company of King Mohammed VI, and the giant Gotion could inject nearly 4 billion dollars into Morocco.
Conquering the American and European markets
Chinese officials make no secret of the reasons that are pushing these companies to set their sights on Morocco. “Mainly because of its free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union”responds the Chinese ambassador to Rabat, Li Changlin, who admits it frankly: “For a long time, Morocco was like a curiosity for Chinese companies, but the relationship between Beijing and Rabat has entered a new era”while Washington and Brussels, accusing China of dumping, decided this summer to increase taxes on Chinese imports of electric vehicles and batteries.
For researcher Kyle Chan of Princeton University, the interest of large Chinese companies can be summed up in one objective: “Access the American and European markets and circumvent the provisions aimed at excluding their products.” This specialist in Chinese industrial policy cites the Inflation Reduction Act as proof, an ecological reform plan adopted by the American Senate in 2022: “It offers tax credits for batteries made from components from countries with which the United States has a free trade agreement, which includes Morocco.”
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Faced with the handful of nations riding the wave of Chinese investment in electric batteries, Morocco still benefits from a second advantage: its reserves of minerals essential to their manufacture. In Guemassa, south of Marrakech, the kingdom’s first cobalt sulfate plant is announced for 2025. Built by the engineering company China Electronics Corporation, it is one of Managem’s flagship projects, with which the Moroccan mining group intends to meet the growing demand for critical metals. Its annual production capacity is estimated at 5,800 tonnes, the majority of which will be delivered to Renault, with Managem also supplying the German group BMW and the Anglo-Swiss trading company Glencore.
Also in Managem’s portfolio, a copper plant, essential for electric motors and charging stations, is also due to open in 2025 in Tiznit, in the province of Taroudant. The deposit’s reserves are estimated at more than 600,000 tonnes. But it is phosphate, of which Morocco has 70% of the world’s reserves, which is expected to gain particular importance, experts say, as lithium-iron-phosphate batteries become more commonly used in electric vehicles worldwide, as is already the case in China.
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In less than fifteen years, Morocco has become the leading car producer in Africa. By taking advantage of this automotive ecosystem and the port of Tangier Med, less than an hour from Spain and five days from the American coast, producing electric vehicles on Moroccan soil for export now seems within reach. All that remains is to find a manufacturer. In 2017, the Chinese leader BYD signed a memorandum of understanding at the royal palace, in the presence of Mohammed VI, but Tesla’s rival ultimately opted for Hungary. However, Kyle Chan says, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the company considered this option again.”.
Common political interests
Between Morocco and China, the displayed complementarity is not just a matter of development. Like Beijing, Rabat agrees to promote multilateralism, non-interference and respect for territorial integrity. In this case, Moroccan diplomacy supports the one-China policy and refrains from any criticism of the fate reserved for the Uighurs, these Turkic Muslims of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, more than a million of whom are or have been the victims of a policy of mass internment.
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This does not prevent Morocco from interfering in certain hot issues. Arrested in July 2021 at Casablanca airport, on the basis of an Interpol red notice issued at the request of Beijing, Uyghur activist Yidiresi Aishan is still being held in detention in the kingdom, although the international criminal police organization has since lifted its notice. Even though it has received the approval of the Moroccan Court of Cassation, the extradition of the activist to China remains suspended pending the green light from Rabat, under pressure from human rights organizations.
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Far from the situation prevailing in many African countries, riddled with debt and plunged into a situation of dependence on their Chinese creditors, the relationship between Morocco and China is “above all pragmatic”Yahia Zoubir emphasizes. Without calling into question cooperation with its traditional partners, which are France, Spain, the United States and more recently Israel, Morocco is ultimately pursuing the diversification of its alliances with Beijing, as it does with Moscow, even on the military level.
In the highly sensitive issue of Western Sahara, the fact that China is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council is not insignificant. On this point, the country has never departed from its neutrality, but “It is a recurring subject in my discussions with my Moroccan interlocutors”confirms Ambassador Li Changlin.
