[wanabidii] What Does China Want in Africa?

By Oscar Kimanuka

Recent stories about China's growing interest in Africa are worth
commenting on. For China, Africa is a source of cheap coal and oil,
two vitally important resources for its energy needs. As for African
states, China is the ideal commercial partner that seldom slaps
special political pre-conditions upon its readily available suppliers,
and regularly gives the continent diplomatic backing. According to Dr
Tom Barnett, in his article "Why China matters", "China's entry to the
world was globalisation's tipping point. After this, there is only
further integration or war". That sounds pretty ominous! And there is
also the speculation that it is unlikely that an economic Cold War
with China would work without escalating into a conventional conflict.

However, the Sino-African growing relations are in direct conflict
with the interests of the Unites States, which is also seriously
concerned with the challenge of diversifying the sources of its oil
imports. What Africa needs to learn is to put forward its vital
interests and avoid continuing to be a damping ground of second rate
products and source of cheap vital raw materials, as time has always
shown.

China's development record and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) have
appealed to many African governments who believe that this is in line
with their development agenda. There are, however, complaints from
countries such as Ghana and South Africa against what they have called
"negative impact of China's imports".

While the Western donor nations continue asking uncomfortable
questions with regard to Africa's transparency, accountability, human
rights and economic openness, China is willing to cut deals, and ask
no such questions.

It will be recalled that Beijing's relations with Africa have had a
long history dating close to six centuries when explorers set sail
from Asia across the Indian Ocean. However, in more recent times and
particularly during the Cold War era, Beijing is said to have lined up
supporters of its well known "One China" Policy on Taiwan by using aid
as a carrot. And this worked well. China has many times played the
empathy card, telling developing countries, particularly those in
Africa, that it is no stranger to poverty. African leaders have had no
room for manoeuvre because Western donor countries, euphemistically,
called development partners, dictate free trade, open markets and
privatisation, all of which are not done with levelled ground rules.

China's aid to Africa has, therefore, come at an opportune moment when
economic growth in much of the continent remains largely stagnant and
Western donor aid increasingly tied.

The number of Chinese companies operating in Africa today is testimony
to the seriousness with which it is moving into the continent. For
instance, by 2004, according to Stephen Marks, there were nearly 700
Chinese companies operating in about 49 African countries. Today the
figure has increased to nearly 900.

The low interest loans at non-commercial rates, extended to African
countries, have been rewarded with diplomatic support from the
continent at the United Nations. Besides economic interests, China
has, since 1963, sent over 15,000 of its doctors in about 47 countries
to treat nearly 180 million of HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases.

China's preference for technical support over financial aid to African
countries arises from the fact that financial aid stretches resources
and diverts capital from significant needs back home.

While some politicians in the Western world would want to view Africa
as a moral cause, China would rather see Africa as a business
opportunity. From the resurrection of a number of hitherto failed
projects such as Zambia's copper mines and new oil deals and other
ventures concluded during previous visits by Chinese leaders, it seems
that Africa's door has been kicked wide open and Beijing is becoming a
heavy weight investor and serious political player.

Whichever way one looks at it, for us in Africa, China's emergence as
a global power could help us break free of our bitter colonial past as
we absorb its investments. From the Chinese textile merchants in
Lesotho, Chinese tourists in Zimbabwe, Chinese road builders in
Ethiopia, Chinese geologists in Sudan and elsewhere, the evidence of
Chinese presence in Africa is no longer a matter of debate. Whether or
not Africa is caring about its own interest is another question.

--
Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com
Blogu ya Habari na Picha www.patahabari.blogspot.com

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