Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to pledge support for Africa on Thursday at a summit in Beijing between the Asian powerhouse and the continent in an attempt to deepen the bond with developing and emerging countries in the so-called Global South. At the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit at the Great Hall of the People, Xi is expected to reaffirm Beijing’s policy of building “a community with a shared future” between the two sides. In the forum’s previous summit in 2018, the Chinese leader vowed to extend $60 billion of financing to Africa. Observers say China …