China’s growing involvement in Africa is attracting attention, praise and criticism from within and outside the continent, says Busani Ngcaweni and Yazini April.
Johannesburg - China’s growing presence and influence in Africa has become a 21st-century phenomenon and, particularly for the West, it has become a geopolitical concern.
Coinciding with the centre of gravity shifting from the former colonial powers’ unfettered influence in Africa, the rise of the middle kingdom has seen it spread its tentacles beyond Asia.
China’s growing involvement in Africa is attracting attention, praise and criticism from within and outside the continent. The dominant narrative from the West has mainly been negative.
In the main, the criticism and warnings of “new colonialism” emanate from North America and European capitals where the history of slavery, colonialism and neo- colonialism is negated in favour of saint-like postures with pro-Africa pretences. Even before confessions and reparations from historical indiscretions, the net is cast fishing for sinners in the community of global saints and friends of Africa.
According to Peter Eigen, a CNN associate, there are two schools of thought in the China in Africa debate. There is a school of pessimistic critics who argue the Chinese strategy is entirely self-promotional, aimed at maintaining access to Africa’s precious mineral resources even when that means propping up odious governments.
Opposite to this big-China-junior-Africa thinking are more opportunistic and balanced commentators who say the middle kingdom is neutral and business-oriented, preferring to focus on economic activity, thus avoiding dependency on aid.
As the numbers show, China has been contributing to Africa’s economic growth, both in terms of trade and with building infrastructure. Across the continent, China has assisted in the building of roads, railways, ports, airports, and more, filling the critical gap that Western donors have been shy to provide and unblocking major bottlenecks to growth.
Whether China is good or bad for Africa, bilateral trade continues to grow at an extraordinary pace, reaching $160 billion (R1 987bn) in 2011 from $9bn in 2000. We can also say with confidence the new middle-class African consumer is a force to contend with and represent opportunities that no country or company can ignore. It is these positive economic indicators that has the West fidgety – raising suspicions of China becoming the 21st-century imperialist.
Alexis Okeowo notes if the Chinese have managed to accomplish at least one impressive thing in Africa – they have made everyone else uncomfortable. He states the Americans are uneasy, worried about China’s rapid and profitable investments throughout the continent, and the developmental assistance that it has started to provide in some areas. Europeans, he argues, have only to look at trade figures: the share of Africa’s exports that China receives has shot from 1 to 15 percent over the past decade, while the EU’s share fell from 36 to 23 percent. China is now Africa’s largest trading partner.
Not all Africans are happy about China’s forays in Africa. Some Africans have become resentful, unhappy with the unbalanced relationship in which “China has taken proprietorship of African natural resources, using Chinese labour and equipment without transferring skills and technology”.
Case in point: As Lamido Sanusi, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said: “China takes our primary goods and sells us manufactured ones. This was also the essence of colonialism, and imperialism,” which begs the question, can China be labelled a coloniser? Exactly what can be defined as imperialism, particularly capitalist imperialism in the 21st century?
Are the former colonial powers, who have enjoyed the bounty of Africa for centuries, concerned that this bounty has now sourced a more competitive market?
A snapshot of history demonstrates that a powerful force in world history over the last four or five centuries has been in existence carving up the whole continent while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating civilisations. The earliest victims of European imperialism were other Europeans and a part of Ireland still remains under British occupation.
Within a decade, China’s focus on infrastructural development with the construction of roads, bridges, hydroelectric and irrigation schemes, schools, hospitals, health centres and an array of government building has made a definitive contribution to improvement of lives of people across Africa.
Can that really be equated to imperialism or recolonisation of Africa? China has also committed to support industrialisation processes in countries like Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. Instead of focusing on whether China is imperialistic, or being a coloniser, the issue should be what could Africa and China do so that Africa benefits more qualitatively from its growing relationship with China?
Fact is, international relations are always premised on national or geopolitical interests. Therefore China, like any other state and continent, will advance its interests; but a further question is how does Africa merge its interests with China, thereby achieving mutual benefit and win-win.
In the same vein we need to develop more policies aimed at advancing Africa’s objectives, in particular, regional integration, which is critical for Africa’s growth and development as already expressed in the recently adopted AU’s industrialisation undertaking.
There should be particular focus at promoting industrialisation, competitiveness, economies of scales, diversification and creation of specific value chains.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has considered this a priority. The recently signed Trilateral Free Trade Area presents enormous opportunities for manufacturing revitalisation on the continent.
The middle kingdom can play a role in this regard with instruments like the China Africa Development Fund. African countries should negotiate better terms with Chinese investors, including quality control and better linkages with local economies. African countries could be in a better position to diversify their economies as much as possible away from supplying unprocessed natural resources to China and to encourage investment into more labour-intensive sectors as Africa’s population is growing faster than anywhere else in the world – job creation remains a top priority in the continent.
There is little room for an imperialistic debate when enormous opportunities exist for shared learning and improved models for programmes in agriculture, health and financial services. China could catalyse the efforts of African countries to develop economically and lift their people from poverty.
* Ngcaweni is senior public servant in the Presidency and April is a senior researcher at the HSRC. Views expressed here do not represent those of their organisations.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
The Sunday Independent