Alarm bells ring in the West as Chinaâs quest for resources means making deals with some of the worldâs worst regimesTop representatives of 46 African countries are this weekend returning from the annual China-Africa Co-operation Forum (CACF) in Beijing with fresh promises of Chinese help in developing their nations. The CACF, which is worrying the European Union and the United States, has become the main mechanism by which China is co-ordinating its expansion into Africa in a large-scale campaign for access to natural resources â especially oil, but also gas, copper, manganese, iron, fish, timber and a host of other primary products that Africa has in abundance.
Alongside new commercial enterprises, China has been solidifying its strongest and longest partnerships with two oppressive African oligarchies, Zimbabwe and Sudan. "What is disconcerting is the willingness of China to not only help but to defend rogue regimes," said Princeton Lyman, a former US ambassador to South Africa and Nigeria.
Testifying in Washington before the US-China Economic and Security Review Committee, Lyman added: "China [with its membership and veto on the Security Council] has in effect inhibited the United Nations from imposing sanctions on Sudan and, in Zimbabwe, is helping to bail out a regime that is repressive and is destroying the country."
Although Chinese infrastructure projects such as stadiums and railways were carried out in the 1960s and 70s, Chinese influence waned in Africa in the 1980s because Beijing was unable to keep pace with increased Western aid programmes. What has changed since the late 1990s, however, is Chinaâs emergence as a powerful player on the global economic stage powered by its own need for oil, iron ore and other natural resources. With its reformed economy â rampant capitalism replacing communist commandism â China has returned to Africa in the 21st century with cash to play the big game effectively and spectacularly. The value of Chinaâs trade with Africa in 2003 stood at about £6 billion. This year it will top £18bn as Chinese goods flood African markets.
China has become the biggest investor in Sudanâs rapidly growing oil £8bn pipeline to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, where it is refurbishing harbour facilities. Beijing has been able to take advantage of Sudanâs rich new oil discoveries as a result of Western companies being pressured to withdraw because of the civil war, including that in Darfur.
Sudan is the most dramatic and unambiguous example of how China is coming to Africa with the "complete package" â money, technical expertise and influence in such crucial bodies as the UN Security Council to protect its friends from international sanctions. China, together with its close Asian partner Malaysia, replaced Western countries and enabled Sudan to become a net exporter of crude oil, with China itself becoming Khartoumâs biggest customer. Meanwhile, Beijing has fruitfully prevented the security council from imposing serious sanctions in the face of Khartoumâs clear crimes against humanity and alleged genocide in Darfur.
| Why, it's almost like an integrated strategy. |
Not only is it Chinaâs protection from strong Western punitive measures that is attractive to African leaders, but Beijingâs investments come with no conditionality related to âgood governanceâ. In Angola, as with Sudan, Chinaâs arrival reworks the international equation. The West and the International Monetary Fund have been pressing Angolaâs deeply corrupt administration to improve the transparency of its huge oil deals and to make other reforms as a preface to a planned Western donors conference. But, following signals from China about huge unconditional help to come, Angola now seems blasé about meeting Western conditions.
Meanwhile, China relishes the Westâs difficulties. Chinaâs deputy foreign minister Zhou Wenzhong recently said: "Business is business. We try to separate politics from business. You [the West] have tried to impose a market economy and multiparty democracy on these countries which are not ready for it. We are also against embargoes [on African states], which you have also tried to use against us."
The pattern of business is the same elsewhere â Zambia, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Libya, Sierra Leone Rwanda and Zimbabwe, where the Chinese have designed President Robert Mugabeâs new 25-bedroomed mansion and provided the cobalt-blue tiles for its sweeping roofs.
It is alarmist to say that Western interests are yet substantially threatened by Chinaâs new thrust into Africa. But the West has to come to terms with the fact that Beijing is now a permanent big boy on the bloc.
Lyman believes the best way forward is to engage China on Africa and explore areas where there can be a win-win set of circumstances for both the West and China. "Is there room for developing some common objectives, some ways in which Chinese economic gains for Africa and itself can come side by side with building more stability and democracy there?" asked Lyman. "It is better to explore these possibilities than start down the path of trying to limit Chinese influence, for the odds are against that happening any time soon."