Analysis-China In Africa: A Close Friend Or A Neo Colonialist?
By Prof. B. R. Deepak
<
http://www.eurasiareview.com/14052014-china-africa-close-friend-neo-colonia
list-analysis/> May 18, 2014
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya
between 4th and 11th May 2014. It was Li's first visit to Africa, and
coincides with the 50th anniversary of Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai's first
visit to Africa in 1964. Li's visit has been considered as another milestone
in China-Africa relations.
If Zhou Enlai advocated 'eight principles for Chinese assistance to foreign
countries and five principles for China's ties with Africa' back then, Li
proposed '461 China-Africa Cooperation Framework' during his speech at the
Chinese built swanky African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa.
The digit 4 in the framework stands for adherence to the principles of equal
treatment, solidarity and mutual trust, tolerance and development,
innovation and cooperation; digit 6 stands for cooperation in the fields of
industry, finance, poverty reduction, environmental protection, cultural
exchanges, and peace and security; and the digit 1 for perfecting Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) that was started in the year 2000. So far
five such forums have been held alternatively in China and Africa.
China is nurturing its relationship with Africa from a futuristic
perspective. It is evident from Premier Li's speech when he underlined that
Africa 'plays an important role in safeguarding world peace and stability' ,
'is an important force in the democratization of international relations' ,
is an important pole of the world politics' and more importantly 'Africa is
world's fastest growing economic region' and 'a new pole of global economic
growth.' Therefore, we see China-Africa relationship changing from a mere
political and economic significance towards a deeper comprehensive strategic
partnership aimed at future
A resource rich Africa is already having 210 billion dollar trade with China
which the Chinese premier said would be doubled by the year 2020. China has
heavily invested in Africa's energy resources, infrastructure development,
telecommunications and mining sectors. From the AU headquarters Li also
announced that China will build a high-speed rail development center in
Africa. During his visit to four African nations China concluded over 60
agreements worth billions of dollars.
'Rail-Road Diplomacy'
During his first leg of visit in Ethiopia, Li signed 16 deals including
loans and cooperation agreements for the construction of roads and
industrial zones. China's direct foreign investment in Ethiopia last year
reached $720 million and investment from Chinese enterprises recently is
reported by a Chinese television channel have exceeded $ 1 billion. China is
engaged in the development of basic infrastructure that includes building of
roads, railways, water and power supply systems, telecommunication etc.
projects. Chinese Premier also inaugurated 84.7 kilometer long expressway
built by 5000 Chinese workers, the fist in Ethiopia connecting Addis Ababa
to the city of Adama in Oromia region. 57% of the project funding came from
the EXIM Bank of China as loans. China is also building a light railway
project in Addis Ababa, the first in Ethiopia; Chinese telecom giants Huawei
and ZTE are building high-speed 4G broadband in the capital city and 3G
services throughout Ethiopia.
During his second leg in Nigeria, Africa's largest economy (510 billion GDP)
that in recent times is in news for the abduction of 200 schoolgirls by
Nigerian armed group Boko Haram, Li continued the 'Rail-Road diplomacy.'
China Civil Engineering Group, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction
announced that it has signed with Nigeria a railway project worth $ 13.122
billion. Nigeria has emerged China's third largest trading partner in Africa
with a bilateral trade of $30.65 billion. Nigeria is also China's largest
engineering contracting market in Africa; these are in the fields of
agriculture, energy, infrastructure, communications, textile, construction
materials, and mining industries.
China's direct investment in Nigeria reached US$1.79 billion by the end of
2013. In recent years, more than 40 Chinese enterprises have invested $800
million in above mentioned sectors. Early this year, Nigeria approved a $10
billion Chinese investment in oil exploration in the Bida Basin. Chinese and
Nigerian enterprises have also teamed up in operating satellite networks
with digital television signals covering 84% of the country now
It was revealed by the Chinese commerce minister, Gao Hucheng during the
sidelines of Li's visit that Chinese enterprises have repaired a cumulative
length of 4,500 km of railway in Nigeria since 1995, and are currently
building modern railways and metropolitan light rails in Nigeria. Chinese
telecom companies are helping Nigerian telecommunication operators in a big
way and have managed to have mobile phone subscription rate of 91% in 2013,
which was less than 1% a decade earlier. During Li's visit, bilateral air
services agreement was also signed. Li had said in his AU address that the
'Chinese government proposes to establish joint venture airlines between
Chinese companies and Africa and providing civilian aircrafts to develop the
regional aviation industry.' It is interesting to note that Nigeria is the
first African country to include Chinese currency, RMB into its foreign
exchange reserves. The Chinese premier also attended the 2014 World Economic
Forum on Africa in Abuja.
Angola that fought a civil war for 27 years and returned to normalcy only in
2002 was the third stopover of Li's African safari. If the western countries
shunned Angola's post-war reconstruction, China stepped in and bagged
projects in infrastructure, including highways, railways, power plants and
harbors. Angola has become China largest oil exporter in Africa and second
largest trade partner with a trade volume of $36 billion in 2013. In the
same year, China's accumulative investment in Angola had exceeded $8
billion. It is also in Angola that western countries have accused China of
'neo colonialism'.
China seems to have developed its strategy of soft credit lines worth $14.5
billion and execution of projects through Chinese companies and manpower for
these credits here only. contracts were guaranteed by oil repayments. The
China International Fund (CIF), a private company based in Hong Kong, has
been awarded projects such as the construction of 215,500 low income houses,
which western press has reported as 'ghost towns', an industrial park in
Luanda, an international airport, 2,680 kilometers of national railway
tracks, and 1,500 kilometers of road network connecting various provinces.
It has been reported by the Angolan government that 258,000 Chinese national
work in Angola, one-fourth of the total Chinese in Africa.
The last leg of Li's visit was Kenya, a country riddled by terror attacks.
Comparing above mentioned countries China's trade with Kenya is
insignificant at $ 3.27 billion in 2013, of which a whopping $3.22 billion
accounted for Chinese export to Kenya, and Chinese imports from Kenya only
accounting for $50 million. China primarily exported electronics, textiles,
garments, and high-tech products. It imported tea, coffee, nuts and other
agricultural products from Kenya. The infrastructure development projects
included standard gauge railway linking the port of Mombasa to the border
town of Malaba. Amongst 17 agreements signed with Kenya Li also signed an
agreement that extends the Mombasa line to the Burundian capital Bujumbura,
passing though Uganda and Rwanda. It is expected that Li's visit would
increase China's role in Kenya's socio-economic development, and open a new
chapter for closer relations.
'Neo Colonialist'?
China's push into Africa, at times clubbed with other Asian countries such
as India and Japan, has been compared to West's imperial move in the 18th
and 19th centuries by the western critics. Billionaire financier George
Soros has pronounced these countries as 'Africa's new colonialists' who he
said were 'exploiting the world's poorest continent in the same way as its
old European masters.' It is reported that more than a million Chinese have
settled in Africa in a span of ten years. Chinese are believed to be
capturing every employment opportunity varying from non-skilled to skilled
jobs, not to talk about higher positions in projects. New China towns are
coming up all over the continent, be it Dar es Salaam, Luanda, Nairobi or
any other city in Africa. China is also been accused of plundering local
mineral wealth, forests, oil and gas, as almost 30% of Chinese foreign
direct investment in Africa is in mining sector.
In China Returns to Africa, a collection of essays published by Columbia
University Press, the editors Chris Alden, Daniel Large and Ricardo Soares
de Oliveira have noted that 'the overarching driver has been the Chinese
government's strategic pursuit of resources and attempts to ensure raw
material supplies for growing energy needs within China.' Others like Andrew
Malone wrote in an article in 2008 that 'Beijing has launched its so-called
'One China In Africa' policy because of crippling pressure on its own
natural resources in a country where the population has almost trebled from
500 million to 1.3 billion in 50 years.'
The flooding of Chinese people in Africa has created visible tensions in the
continent resulting in riots in Zambia, Angola and Congo and kidnappings and
killings in other countries. Owing to cultural and language barriers, and
also that of tight project deadlines, the Chinese do not use African labor
wherever possible. Even if they are employed, the wages are not the same as
their Chinese counterparts. It has been reported that oil workers at two
China-invested projects in Chad and Niger went on strike in March in protest
against unequal pay.
Notwithstanding above criticism emanating primarily from the west, the local
governments in Africa and China see the relationship and Chinese investment
as a 'win-win' partnership. Contrary to International Monetary Fund's and
World Bank's stringent debt financing to these countries, China's credit
lines have been likened by most African countries. Besides, China is also
engaged in humanitarian projects in Africa. During the 5th Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation, held in Beijing in July 2012, Chinese President Hu
Jintao listed 100 schools, 30 hospitals, 30 anti-malaria centers and 20
agricultural technology demonstration centers for such projects across
Africa. Thousands of unutilized hectares of land has been leased to Chinese
companies by many African countries for developing agriculture in various
African countries, which obviously has been termed as 'land grab' by many
western countries.
In a Joint Interview to African Press on 1 May 2014, Chinese Premier Li
Keqiang reiterated 'China will never pursue a colonialist path like some
countries did, or allow colonialism, which belongs to the past, to reappear
in Africa.' Quoting Confucius he said 'Do not do to others what you do not
want others do to you.' The so-called 'China's neo-colonialism in Africa' is
a false accusation inconsistent with Chinese tradition and culture, and does
not reflect the reality of friendly, equal-footed and mutually beneficial
cooperation between China and Africa. He said, 'China and African countries
are tested brothers and partners committed to common development. In the
cooperation with Africa, China has always upheld the principles of equality,
mutual benefit, real results, efficiency, sincerity and credibility and
never attached any political strings to its assistance to Africa. This has
been China's decades-long practice without any deviation. China-Africa
cooperation has contributed to Africa's development with a keen focus on
social development and people's wellbeing.
The aim is to improve Africa's investment environment and its people's
lives. Numerous infrastructure projects built with Chinese assistance,
including schools, hospitals, stadiums and urban water and power supply
systems, have improved the living and working conditions of African people.
To lessen Africa's burden, China had altogether canceled RMB20 billion worth
of debts owed by African countries by the end of 2013.' He revealed that in
2013, China-Africa trade reached US$210 billion, 2,000 times that of 1960.
China has been Africa's biggest trading partner for five years running. More
than 2,500 Chinese companies are operating in Africa, creating over 100,000
jobs for the local communities. In 2013 over 1.4 million Chinese visited
Africa generating huge amount of exchange revenue for Africa.
An IMF report has also indicated that China-Africa cooperation has
contributed to more than 20% of Africa's development. Therefore the 'China
factor' is quite evident in Africa's development. It appears that China is
determined to establish itself as a sole player in Africa's development,
especially when most of the western countries have eschewed investing in the
poor continent. China, however need to be cautious as the continent is
impregnated with civil strife, terrorism and underdevelopment; the scars of
colonial suppression are too deep to be healed too soon; any repeat of that
path may jeopardize the grand Chinese strategy in Africa that for the
present seems to go so well for China as is demonstrated by Premier Li
Keqiang's visit. It certainly is not a low priority area for China as
believed by many western critics, the figures in terms of trade and
investment may tell a different story but that may not be the same in the
times to come!
(Prof B. R. Deepak teaches in the Centre of Chinese and Southeast Asian
Studies JNU)
Received on Sun May 18 2014 - 18:05:35 EDT