(AFP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted more than two dozen African leaders at a banquet in Beijing on Wednesday, kicking off the city's biggest summit in years with promises of cooperation in infrastructure, energy and education.

China, the world's number two economy, is Africa's largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent's vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but also sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Twenty-five African leaders have arrived in Beijing or confirmed attendance at this week's China-Africa forum, according to an AFP tally, including some whose countries face a rising risk of debt distress.

Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan welcomed guests as they arrived for a lavish dinner at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday evening, live AFP footage showed.

There was also a "family" photo of the gathered leaders and Xi will give a speech at an opening ceremony on Thursday morning.

Chinese state media has lauded Xi this week as a "true friend of Africa", claiming Beijing's ties were reaching "new heights" under his stewardship.

The Chinese leader had held talks with more than a dozen African counterparts in Beijing by Wednesday, a tally of state media reporting showed.

Xi called during a meeting on Tuesday with President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria -- one of China's biggest borrowers on the continent -- for great cooperation in the "development of infrastructure, energy and mineral resources", state news agency Xinhua said.

He also promised cooperation in "investment, trade, infrastructure, mineral resources" and other areas during talks on the same day with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Xi backed Zimbabwe in its struggle against "illegal sanctions" imposed by the United States in response to corruption and human rights abuses by the country's leadership.

- Geopolitical concerns -

Analysts say that Beijing's largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.

"Deepening economic engagement with Africa across the board" is one of Beijing's key goals this week, Zainab Usman, director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told AFP.

"In specific areas, even where such an expanded engagement may not make economic sense, it will be driven by geopolitical reasons," she said.

One goal may be narrowing the growing trade imbalance between China and Africa through increasing imports of agricultural goods and processed minerals, Usman said.

"Meeting these African demands is in China's geopolitical interest to keep them onside in the tussle with the US."

For their part, African leaders are likely to seek backing for big-ticket items, as they have in the past, but also place greater emphasis on debt sustainability, analysts say.

Recent deadly protests in Kenya were triggered by the government's need "to service its debt burden to international creditors, including China", said Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at London's Chatham House.

Vines and other analysts expect African leaders at this week's forum to seek not only more Chinese investment but also more favourable loans in light of such events.

© Agence France-Presse