The Chinese Hand in African Socio-Economic Development Under the Microscope: the Zimbabwean

THE CHINESE HAND IN AFRICAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: THE ZIMBABWEAN EXPERIENCE 2000 – 2008.

(UNPUBLISHED WORKING PAPER)

Abstract

The Chinese march into Africa in the 21st Century has become a topical issue discussed by many scholars in many scholarly papers. The main arguments are either that China is a new imperialist in Africa as advanced by many Western scholars (P. Brookes and Hye Shin, 2005; Kurlantzic, 2006; D. Thompson, 2006; Kane and ‘O’Carpenter, 2006) or that she is a champion of development bent on promoting mutual benefit for both parties as advanced by a number of African scholars (T. Obadina 2007; A. Versi, 2006) and most African leaders. This paper is a critical appraisal of China’s role in African development through a closer look at Chinese activities in Zimbabwe in the new millennium. Zimbabwe is a good example for this study in that she is one country which experimented with pinning all its hopes for socio-economic development on Chinese support. Through a closer look at the political, social and economic interaction between China and Zimbabwe in the first eight years of the 21st century the paper reveals that the Chinese win-win formula or mutual benefit concept is euphemism for Chinese smart exploitation of African countries. It argues that China treats everything she does for Africa as an investment from which she must reap great rewards and every move is well calculated to give her greater benefit than the partner. The paper also proves that the chief beneficiaries in the host country are chiefly the political leadership even at the expense of human rights, democracy and the national economy. It then concludes that China is a worse exploiter than even the former colonial masters.

INTRODUCTION

The onset of the new millennium saw two major developments which had a great bearing on the sway of the China-Zimbabwe relations. On the one hand the world witnessed the growth of Chinese influence in Africa in general and on the other a major rift between Zimbabwe and the Western countries. These two developments facilitated the strengthening of ties between the two nations in that when Zimbabwe was dumped by the West for her controversial land reform policy and poor human rights record there was a super power to turn to for support. As Zimbabwe’s domestic policy helped to drive a wedge between her and the West she immediatelly declared the adoption of the Look East Policy, which meant turning her back on the Western Powers while warming towards the Muslim and Asian nations especially China. China in particular was a super alternative because of her twin policies of non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations and her concept of mutual benefit dubbed the win-win formula. The Chinese policies offered a dual benefit to the desperate Zimbabwe government, which swallowed the bait without considering the consequences because It was perceived in government circles that relations with China would see the country developing with Chinese aid but at the same time retaining its policies which were severely condemned by the West. Thus through the Look East Policy the government threw the country deep into the orbit of Chinese influence.

In summary terms this paper seeks to explore the sincerity of Chinese development support for Africa through closely analyzing the interaction between Zimbabwe and China from the time of Zimbabwe’s major fall out with the Western powers in 2000 to 2008.

THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The Sino-Zimbabwe interaction can be understood best in the realm of China’s Africa policy. From the mid twentieth century China’s Africa policy went through a rapid evolutionary process to an extent that by the beginning of the 21st century it had shed off most of its old features and adopted a new dynamic and futuristic outlook. History has proven that about forty years ago Chinese interests in Africa were ideological and were centred on building ideological solidarity with other underdeveloped nations to advance Chinese style Communism and on repelling Western imperialism. (P. Brookes and Ji Hye Shin, http://www.bnvillage.co.uk/african-continental-news-village/94309-china-unfluence-africa-implications-us.html) Thus having made her first successful breakthrough in East Africa with generous aid for the construction of the Tanzam railway line between Tanzania and Zambia she continued with the project of infrastructural development in a number of African countries. (Cas De Villiers, 1976:28-29).

However, during this period her influence on the globe was limited and her aid programmes were hardly significant and her diplomats were relatively unskilled. In most international forums, she did little other than defend her core interests, like the one China principle. But irrespective of these weaknesses her greatest achievement in the period was that when the other big Cold War powers were pulling out of Africa and reducing their development aid, she kept up her contacts. Servant, Jean-Christophe (http://mondediplo.com/2005/05/11chinafrica)

J.Eisenmen and J. Kurlantzick (2006) attribute China’s adoption of a more pro-active approach in foreign policy in the 21st Century to continued strong economic growth, a more sophisticated generation of Chinese leaders, better scholarship in China on Africa and a domestic population more confident in China as a global actor. Thus the first China-Africa forum held in Beijing in 2000 signalled China’s renewed interest in Africa. (L. Hilsum: 2005) It became abundantly clear at the forum that behind the seemingly harmless long hand of friendship she extended towards Africa, she harbored great selfish interests. It emerged that her growing industries demanded new energy and raw material suppliers, her exporters wanted markets, her diplomats required support in international organizations and her propaganda still sought support from allies to advance Chinese interests and when necessary to counter the United States of America. (Eisenman and Kurlantzick, 2006). Preciselly, Africa was crucial to China’s realisation of these goals.

China also sees Africa as a good environment for investment because it is not too expensive. (Hilsum, 2005). The Chinese are also aware that the competition for Africa has strategic implications for whichever country fails to establish or sustain access to that market. (Lt. Col. G. C. Kane and Col, P. ‘O’ Carpenter, http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/ksi1387.pdf.) Thus they are aggressively pursuing economic goals on the continent and also looking for support to become a world super power. Americans believe that Chinese investments both public and private sector are aimed at securing access to a largely untapped African market thus ensuring the continued flow of resources to fuel their economic growth and to building alliances around the region to counter the USA as the world’s most influential and economic power. (Ibid) Thus the Chinese African venture is a whole lot more complex than it looks. It is definitely part of the super-power struggle for spheres of influence in the world.

J. Kurlantzick, (2006) says cultivating African allies offers China crucial support at international forums like the United Nations, where she is beginning to have a more active presence. It is the Chinese thinking that if they could play a major role in Africa, they then could stake a claim as a great power in the world. Thus there is truth in Drew Thompson’s sentiments that Beijing’s presence in Africa, reflects her efforts in creating, ‘--- a paradigm of globalisation that favours China. (http://www.jamestown.org/) Africa is definitely part of this Chinese global strategic concern because she has the single largest bloc of votes in the UN and the World Trade Organisation. (A. Versi, 2006)

China however seems to differ with proponents of this line of argument. She describes her dealings with Africa as a win-win situation. Chinese leaders emphasise every time that China always sticks to the principle of mutual benefit. (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200411/04/eng20041104_162756.html) However what the Chinese call win-win or mutual benefit, fails the test when checked against the wisdom of Kwameh Nkrumah the first president of independent Ghana. He says, “Methods of neocolonialists are subtle and varied.” (http://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/nkrumah/neo-colonialism/ch01.htm) He asserts that they devise a plethora of ways to accomplish objectives formerly achieved by naked colonialism. He strongly maintains the position that modern imperialist powers perpetrate colonialism while at the same time talking about freedom, non-interference in affairs of other countries and support for sovereignty of nation states. Chinese imperialist strategies include all this and are even subtler. Thus China’s win-win formula might be China’s attempt to achieve the same.

Sino-African relations can also be explained well by Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory. Wallerstein argues that a ‘---lasting division of the world in core, semi-periphery and periphery is an inherent feature of the world system --- There is a fundamental institutionally stabilised division of labour between core and periphery. The core has a high level of technological development and manufactures complex products; the role of the periphery is to supply raw materials, agricultural products and cheap labour for the expanding agents of the core. Economic exchange between core and periphery takes place on unequal terms.’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel-Wallerstein). China acts as the core while Africa acts as the periphery. Africa is an important component of the Chinese controlled China-Africa-West Trade Triangle. In this arrangement China sits at the apex and draws very cheap raw-materials from Africa and sells manufactured goods at a super profit to the West which is her greater and richer market while at the same time she tries to weaken the link between Africa and the West.

The other aspect of Sino-African relations that will be tested in this paper is the sincerity of Chinese aid to African countries. African leaders are so excited about China’s generosity and have opened their arms to receive Chinese aid. In African circles this aid is believed to be better than Western aid because the latter aid is associated with harsh conditionalities. China makes official public and press statements which make African leaders believe that she grants disinterested aid which has no strings attached. This paper argues that this is a wrong assumption because foreign aid is a method by which the donors maintain a position of influence and control over the recipients thus sustaining and preventing them from falling into the sphere of influence of the donors’ rivals. China makes sure that through aid she keeps African countries from falling into US and Taiwanese hands. Unfortunatelly African countries do not seem to realise that severing ties with Taiwan is a conditionality for receiving aid from China or they simply decide to ignore the fact. Malawi which had stuck with Taiwan for years only cut ties with her in December 2007 and swayed her allegiance to China in return for ‘generous’ aid. (L. Masina: 2007)

What African leaders seem to be oblivious of when dealing with China is that aid, ‘--- is merely the smooth face of imperialism.’ (T. Hayter, p.7) The old China of Chairman Mao Zedong was for the spread of Communism but Hu Jintao’s modern China is not prepared to contemplate the collapse of Capitalism and is strongly committed to its preservation and perpetuation. It seems to be even trying to wrestle the centre of the capitalist web from the Western powers, USA in particular. As Hayter, (1971:9) says, “Aid is a concession by the imperialist powers to enable them to continue their exploitation of the semi-colonial countries.” Chinese aid is achieving the same for her in Africa. It is enabling her to extract as much value with the least investment from her new sphere of influence.

What makes it easy for China to make inroads into Africa is that the majority of the African leaders perceive China to be a large and growing market for Africa’s natural resources which offers an alternative to the traditional reliance on the West. Secondly, while they acknowledge that China’s financial and humanitarian aid is nowhere near to that from the West, they find it more acceptable in that it gives Africa room to ‘negotiate’ terms. Thirdly, China has also pledged to support African countries at the United Nations. She has already indicated that she will support South African and Nigerian aspirations for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. (Versi, 2006) She has also become a defacto champion of African interests in the World Trade Organisation. Pariah nations with a very bad Human Rights record of, which many African countries are, are assured of China’s support against any drastic Security Council resolutions. Thus to R.G. Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, China was the best partner that offered what she desired.

BACKGROUND TO ZIMBABWE-CHINA RELATIONS

China’s close ties with the then liberation leader and now President Robert Mugabe date back to Chinese assistance for the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) during its struggle for power in the 1970s. After the country’s attainment of independence in 1980, the two countries strengthened ties through formally establishing diplomatic relations. China, though, continued to offer considerable assistance for national development to Zimbabwe. She rendered assistance in the construction of the National Sports Stadium in Harare, hospitals, dams, school dormitories and wells. However, in the early years of independence the ties remained lukewarm because Mugabe’s main concern was on maintaining good relations with the West from where most of his aid came.

However Zimbabwe’s reaction to the Chinese Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 had a major bearing on the development of the Zimbabwe-China relations in the 21st century. When the Chinese government received immense condemnation from the West for the massacres, China activelly sought African support for its position on human rights issues in international fora. Mugabe immediatelly obliged by defending China’s actions. (Ambassador David H. Shin, http://www.gwu.edu/~elliot/news/speeches/shin/031508.cfm) In the proverbial one good turn deserves another, China also stretched out a desperately needed hand of friendship to Zimbabwe as from 2000 when Mugabe was bashed by the West for his land reform policy and gross Human Rights abuses. Thus the Chinese act helped in strengthening the bonds of friendship between the two countries at the turn of the century.