Re: Thanks for the reassurance, but I don't think the Chinese will be as considerate to the blacks as the whites were.
Time will tell....
[Views From Overseas] China's Africa Policy
By Frank Ching
Journalist, Commentator in Hong Kong
Fifty years after the first Bandung conference, when the leaders of Asia and Africa met and pledged mutual cooperation and support, ties between China and the developing world, especially with African countries, have been greatly strengthened.
China has provided substantial assistance to Africa over the years for political reasons, though not on the scale of the developed countries. And Chinese aid is often dispensed in such a way that corrupt rulers cannot somehow use it to buy Mercedes Benzes for themselves and their wives.
This is because Chinese aid is often in the form of infrastructure, such as a railroad network in Nigeria or roads in Kenya and Rwanda. Or in the form of doctors and nurses to provide health care to people who otherwise would not have access to such medical care. In addition, China provides scholarships for African students to study in its universities and, increasingly, funds to encourage its businessmen to invest in Africa.
China has provided training for African students since the 1950s. The 15,000 graduates include some of the leaders of Africa today, such as President Isaias Aferwerki of Eritrea, who received military training in China, and President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chinese trade with Africa has tripled from $10 billion in 2000 to $30 billion in 2004.
Much of this economic activity is fueled by China’s need for oil to keep its economy growing. Today, China imports about a third of its oil from Africa.
Historic ties bind China and Africa. The founding fathers of the People’s Republic of China, such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, identified with the cause of the people of Africa in opposing colonialism and imperialism. In return, newly independent countries in Asia and Africa supported China’s efforts to join the United Nations until, in 1971, Beijing successfully ousted Taiwan to claim the China seat on both the Security Council and in the General Assembly.
In 2000, at Beijing’s initiative, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was set up, including 46 of Africa’s 53 countries. (The remaining seven have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and so were not included.) At the inaugural meeting held in the Chinese capital, China agreed to cancel debt amounting to $1.2 billion for 31 African countries. China also agreed to set up a special fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa.
In 2003, at the second China-Africa forum meeting, this time held in Addis Ababa, Premier Wen Jiabao reported that 117 new China-invested projects were up and running in Africa. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing reported that China was promoting tourism to eight African countries.
Such is the priority accorded to Africa by China that, each year, the Chinese foreign minister’s first official overseas trip is always to Africa, a tradition that goes back to the late 1980s.
One major ingredient of China’s Africa policy is non-interference in their internal affairs. Thus, Beijing will not cooperate with Washington when it condemns the human-rights behavior of such countries as Sudan or Zimbabwe. Instead, American sanctions often provide an opportunity for Beijing to further its inroads into African countries.
While China’s policy of noninterference clearly gives it an advantage in terms of relations with African countries, it may also be an obstacle to another prong of Chinese policy, which is to help those countries improve governance. But, as a result of extending friendship to all African countries, regardless of the form of their government, China has won for itself a lot of goodwill. African countries by and large support China on all issues it considers important (as long as they do not conflict with their own interests). They adopt a “one China” policy, support Chinese rule over Tibet, China’s passing of the anti-secession law directed at Taiwan as well as China’s status as a market economy.
The question, however, is whether this should be sufficient. Ultimately, the Chinese may well ask themselves if they should be doing more if they really had the welfare of their African friends at heart. In particular, they should consider whether they should do more to help them in terms of governance, especially to help combat the corruption that is so rampant in certain African countries, so that much of the external aid to Africa never reaches the people for whom it was intended.
frank.ching@gmail.com
07-13-2005
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