Sino-Africa Ties: What Should Africa Do?

Published on 11th April 2011

African youth carry a poster of China's Premier   Photo courtesy
Africa’s relations with China predate the post-independence period. Indeed the early trading contacts with China have been traced to the pre-colonial African states of Timbuktu and Great Zimbabwe. In the wake of the Chinese revolution in 1949, faced by hostility from the west and, later, ideological differences with the Soviet Union, China threw in its lot with the oppressed countries and peoples of Africa, Asia and Latin America supporting these countries in their liberation and independence struggles. This process formally began at the Bandung Conference in 1955 and continued in different forms into the 1980s.

On their part, once these African countries gained their freedom they swelled the ranks of third world countries at the United Nations and supported China in its quest to end its isolation which had, hitherto, excluded the most populous country from the United Nations. Driven by ideological, solidarity and anti-imperialist affinities China, in turn, dispatched its technicians to these countries to provide military training, medical assistance, economic aid and infrastructure construction in such countries as Tanzania. China also extended interest-free credit to these countries in an effort to pump prime their development. In this way, the African countries and Tanzania, in particular, helped to end the isolation of China helping it regain its seat at the United Nations in 1971. Rising from 13 diplomatic missions in 1967, China had 30 missions by 1974. It now has 48 missions covering almost all the countries on the continent.

China’s relations with post-independence Africa, however, have always aroused considerable anxiety from the west and stirred up some controversy both within Africa and between Africa and the West.12 Western anxiety may partly arise from the symbolic image of China as a dragon. There exist two contradictory mythical images of a dragon held by the east and the west. In Chinese mythology the dragon is a ”…a divine, mythical creature that brings good fortune, prosperity and bounty…eastern dragons [in general] are perceived as good and benevolent, western dragons are all fire and flinging their tails about and biting heads off”.13

More realistically however, western hostility stems from a suspicion of China’s motives towards Africa – a traditional sphere of western influence and source of resources. In a nutshell, the question has been whether China, like the west itself, has its own designs for the exploitation of Africa or whether, as China would claim, “Sincerity, equality and mutual benefit, solidarity and common development-[these] are the principles guiding China-Africa exchange and cooperation and the driving force to lasting China-Africa relations”14

The controversy, particularly within Africa, has revolved around whether, regardless of China’s own stated motives, Africa can forge a new and gainful relationship with China. Specifically the issue has been whether China provides a unique and productive opportunity for Africa to realize its development aspirations as is anticipated by the joint statement that emerged from the Beijing Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006. Adopted by the leaders of 48 African countries and China, the statement proclaimed the establishment of “a new type of strategic partnership” featuring political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges”. The statement also stresses the point that China and Africa have common development goals and converging interests “…which offer a broad prospects for cooperation…between Africa and ‘the world’s largest developing country”15

In the early 1960s, as newly independent African countries groped around and reached out to China and the Soviet Union, in particular, in the quest to forge new relations with the outside world, the stock response, particularly from the West was that China was motivated by material and ideological interests and that Africa was being rather naïve in flirting with China – the dragon as serpent! This relationship, it was constantly argued, could not be good for Africa since not only would Africa be encroached upon by communism but also that it stood to lose its resources to the teeming millions of China. This was in the context of the cold war in which countries and regions were judged by the sphere of influence they belonged to – western (capitalist) or Eastern (socialist/communist).

Post-independence Africa was seen in the cold war as the new prize to be won by the east or lost by the west which had just reluctantly yielded to Africa’s demands for political independence but wanted to continue with economic domination. The underlying, though unstated, assumption by the west was that singly and collectively the African countries did not have interests of their own to protect or pursue. It was in this context that Kwame Nkrumah protested in exasperation making the now famous statement; “We face neither East nor West, we face forward” adding, in the same context, that it was far easier “…for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle’s eye, hump and all, than for an erstwhile colonial administration to give sound and honest counsel of a political nature to its liberated territory”. To the extent that the imagery of China as a dragon made any sense to them, the African countries, at least in the 1960s and 70s, subscribed to the eastern benevolent view. 

Despite the fact that African leaders have variously continued to protest and uphold Nkrumah’s position, this patronizing attitude on the part of the west does not seem to have changed much over the years. With the end of the cold war and China’s economic break through in the last decade, western attention has now been turned to China’s strategic objectives in Africa. This is summed up by Derek Quinn of Radio Canada International: “As China gains more power in Africa, it will increasingly become a major power for countries in Africa and the Middle east to turn to for support against the United States and Europe. In establishing closer ties in Africa, China is setting up geopolitical alliances so it can become a global superpower.16 More recently in the run up to the November 2006 summit Time asserted that: ”The primary impetus for China’s drive into Africa is the raging thirst for oil for its booming economy…”17

Again no credit is given to Africa for seeking, in its own interests, to form a strategic relationship with China. Responding more recently to the western claim that the development of China poses a threat to Africa, Tanzania’s President Kikwete in a speech on the occasion of the visit of Premier Wen Jiabao to Tanzania in June, 2006, had the following to say:

The Tanzanian and African people strongly oppose such a claim. In the past, China, though not rich helped the African people in our struggle for independence and liberation. Today, the developing China is again helping us to cope with the challenges brought about by globalization.18

But it is not enough for Africa to defend China and to take its motives for granted. It would certainly be wrong to asses modern China’s motives on the basis of the ‘proletarian internationalism’ of Maoist China. The more urgent task is for Africa to clearly define its interests with China and to pursue these interests with consistency and vigor. Just as China unveiled its ‘Africa Strategy’ in early 2006, so does Africa need to formulate an articulate a coherent and unified ‘China Strategy’ particularly focusing on the engaging China to bring about fundamental economic transformation in Africa.

To be continued

By Prof. Mwesiga Baregu
School of Graduate Studies,
St. Augustine University of Tanzania.
Dar es Salaam.

References

12 An interesting on-line debate between Brautigam and Gaye under the title: Is Chinese investment good for Africa? Will be found on the Council for Foreign relations website www.cfr.org/publications 

13 Dragons: A history of mythology and beliefs. http://www.darkfiredragons.com/

14 China’s African Policy. January 2006. www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng

15 Beijing Summit and Third Ministerial Conference of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Beijing Summit adopts declaration, highlighting China-Africa strategic partnership, 2006-11-05. http://english.focac.org/

16 Radio Canada international, China’s Influence in Africa. July 18th. 2005.

17 Time, Fri. nov. 30, 2006.

18 Premier Wen Jiabao Holds talks with Tanzanian Presedent Jakaya Kikwete. 2006/06/23. http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ 


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