What is China Doing in Africa?

 

China's Railroad Project in Kenya

One of my projects at Jiao Tong University this year has been editing English translations of a series of Chinese books about the relationships between China and several African nations, including Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.  These books are intended for a general African audience; however, they will be available to the world.  They are comprehensive and outline the history of China’s involvement in Africa from the middle ages, through Western colonial rule, right up to today.  Since opening up in the late 1970's, China has been investing in infrastructure and other modernization projects in Africa.

What has struck me most about these books is the Chinese authors’ aim to be transparent, balanced and reflective when describing China’s involvement in Africa.  They do not hide China’s paternalistic role in helping African nations develop.  The authors make clear that Western powers have a history of exploiting and abusing African people.   China sees herself as uniquely qualified to lead these African development projects, since she, like many African nations, suffered under Western domination.  However, what makes these texts interesting and not simply one-sided propaganda, is that the authors describe in great detail China’s own struggles with racism against Africans as well as its own poor reputation in certain countries in Africa.  They recognize that this has hampered China’s projects in Africa. 

China has been accused by the Western press of being opaque and untrustworthy when it comes to its involvement in Africa.   The current and most ambitious development project, the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI), was announced in Beijing in 2013.   The BRI is a broad Chinese initiative to bring trade and infrastructure development to nations along the Silk Road and all the way to Sub-Saharan Africa.  China has fostered cooperative relationships in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and other nations with the goal of building  modern transportation systems, particularly highways, railways, and factories.  Western journalists have been quick to be suspicious of the BRI, claiming that it is vague and may have nefarious intentions.    The following is a 2020 excerpt from “Forbes” on-line. 

“China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is nothing if not vague. Is it a blanket term for all Chinese overseas economic, social and political activities? Is it a specific set of coordinated policy that’s exclusive to Beijing-led international endeavors? What projects are officially Belt and Road? Where do the corridors actually go? What countries are truly participating? Nearly seven years into the initiative, we are still asking these questions as Beijing attempts to wrangle back its message from private firms and enterprising governments that have unscrupulously been using the Belt and Road brand for their own gains, dragging its reputation through the proverbial mud and putting the future of the initiative in jeopardy.”(1)

There is a profound difference between the East and West when it comes to describing what China is doing in Africa.  Contrast the “Forbes” comments above with a 2017 article excerpt from the “China Daily”; it spells out concrete details from the 2017 Beijing BRI forum.

“President Xi confirmed that China has so far signed cooperative agreements with 68 countries and international organizations concerning the initiative, including those signed during the forum.

A list of major outcomes of the forum was approved at the closing ceremony of the forum, with 76 items including more than 270 concrete results in the key areas of policy, infrastructure, trade, finance and people-to-people exchanges.

While chairing the summit, President Xi said the Belt and Road Initiative is an open and inclusive platform and a public service jointly built by parties around the world.” (2)

The following excerpt is from one of the books I edited.  The author is clear about China’s paternalistic role in Africa and does not hesitate to criticize the West.  The author emphasizes China’s long history of commitment to African development and puts this in contrast to the West which he maintains has taken a purely selfish approach and “returns” to Africa only out of self-interest, either to exploit the nations or contain terrorists. 

“Engagement between China and Africa, despite its ups and downs in the past half century, represents continuity in China-Africa relations and is worthy of admiration. This continuity, as professor Li Anshan from Peking University stated, “features mutual respect, respect of sovereignty and common development”. China has adhered to and constantly improved its principles in developing relations with African countries.^[1]The giant leap in China-Africa relations is accompanied by economic progress since China’s Reform and Opening Up in 1978.  There has been improvement in the domestic and international environment and deepening globalization.  However, some Western scholars have misinterpreted an increasingly closer China-Africa relations as “China returns to Africa”^[2], largely ignoring the continuity and historical evolution of China-Africa relations. In the past, Westerners referred to Africa as “the dark continent” and regarded their colonialism and imperialism in Africa as a contribution to civilizing backward people. In the early 2000s, the Western media and scholars portrayed Africa as a “hopeless continent”.  Indeed, their interest in Africa had waned by the end of the Cold War in 1991. It is due to the sound economic performance of African nations and continuous development of China-Africa relations that Africa is referred to as “Rising Africa, the hopeful continent”.^[3] Furthermore, the United States has extended its operations in Africa to deal with terrorist or extremist threats in a wide range of conflicts, thus enhancing Africa’s strategic position. It is in this context that Western countries have refocused their attention on Africa. Consequently, it is more appropriate to describe Westerners as “returning” to Africa. China will always stand with its African brothers.”

^[1] LI Anshan (李安山). 2006, “China-Africa Relations in the Context of a Rising China: Three Types of Views of Foreign Countries” (论“中国崛起”语境中的中非关系——兼评国外的三种观点), World Economics and Politics, no. 11, p. 9.

² Christopher Alden, Daniel Large, Ricardo Soares de Oliveira. 2008. China Returns to Africa: A Rising Power and a Continent Embrace, New York: Columbia University Press.

³ See different titles in The Economist to report on Africa on May 11, 2000 and December 3, 2011. http://www.economist.com/node/333429; http://www.economist.com/node/21541015

This passage undoubtedly is propaganda.  But there is more.  The authors recognize that there are problems in China-Africa relationships and that Chinese companies, people and power have faced opposition in Africa.  The books furthermore recognize that the Chinese suffer from a poor reputation among some Africans.  The following are excerpts from one of the books I edited.  It describes Chinese sociologists who surveyed the way locals in Zimbabwe think about the Chinese. 

“Local Zimbabweans’ negative views of the overseas Chinese focus mainly on the following three aspects: bad behaviors and habits, the sale of counterfeit and poor-quality products and lack of concern for local economic development.”

“The negative views of Zimbabweans of the overseas Chinese in terms of Chinese behavior and habits are numerous, including rudeness, a lack of manners, lack of general hygiene, untidiness, smoking in public areas, spitting on floors, paying no respect for local customs and denigrating local people.”

“Around 2006, counterfeit and poor-quality products became a synonym for Chinese goods and even Chinese people. According to this phenomenon, Anderson said: “Locals called Chinese ‘Jing Zhong’, which means counterfeit and trash.” Li Xin Feng, President of the Zimbabwe Chinese Business Association, confirmed this: “At that time, black people called Chinese ‘Jing Zhong’ whenever they saw them, and you could tell their discrimination against Chinese from their eyes. We didn't understand it at first, but when we asked black employees, we realized that it was a satire of the poor quality of our goods.”

“The lack of productive investment and the lack of concern for local economic development is another negative impression Zimbabweans have of the overseas Chinese. One in interviewee said, “You Chinese are here to make money, not to invest. Apart from opening stores and mining, you seldom invest in manufacturing. You have taken our money, you have taken our jobs, you have destroyed our environment, but you have failed to deliver the infrastructure development and the manufacturing prosperity that we need the most right now.” Another interviewee said: “Chinese stores have provided great convenience for our daily life, but what we need more are investment, employment, and economic development.” With the deterioration of Zimbabwe’s economy in recent years, their views are of great practical significance.”

              From this passage, you can see how the books are not one-sided.  The authors are willing to point out problems with China-Africa relationships and present a balanced view.  The gulf is huge between what the West thinks China is doing in Africa and what China is reporting.  The West is suspicious that China is up to no good and that Africa will not benefit in the long run.  However, in these books, China acknowledges this notion and seems willing to examine the serious problems it faces in building infrastructure and doing other projects.

China and the West don’t trust each other.  The Western press presents China as obtuse and often mysterious.  Given the way the West treats China, China is guarded as well.  However, this editing project has shown me that China is willing to look at herself critically.  I think we in the West should listen to what China tells us and make a greater effort to understand her.  Let’s give China a break and hear what she has to say.    

References:

1      Wade Shepard, Forbes online, https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2020/02/28/how-beijing-is-losing-support-for-its-belt-and-road-initiative/#7e9f8dd52199. Accessed May 4 2020.

2      Zhang, Yunbi www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-05/16/content_29359281.htm

Photo: One Belt and One Road "Chinese Business Card"丨Henan mine hand in hand with Mombasa Nairobi Railway  https://www.minescrane.com/news/34.html accessed May 7, 2020

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