IESD, Tongji University.
Criticism of China-Africa Relations
Critics are pointing out that China’s aspiration toward Africa is gaining more political back up from Africa’s fifty-four states, which now constitutes well over one-quarter of the UN’s 193 members. While the African countries do not vote as a block in international forums, there tends to be considerable cohesion in their voting patterns. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and three African countries have non-permanent seats. China uses the threat of its veto in the UNSC to counter or water down sanctions against certain African countries and African countries oblige by supporting China when it comes under criticism in the UN Human Rights Council. China also seeks African support on a number of other issues such as climate change and those that come before the World Trade Organization.
1 From a political point of view:
China stands ready to establish and develop the relations with countries that have not yet established diplomatic ties with China on the basis of the one China principle. China’s interest in Africa is powered by its anxieties about superior development by the superpowers and by its aspiration to strengthen its own emplacement in the international system. In the past, China has pointed out real flaws of the hegemonism of Washington and Moscow, and it continues to express opposition to expansionism by any power. For example, General Secretary Hu Yaobang has previously asserted: The main forces jeopardizing peaceful coexistence among nation’s today imperialism, hegemonism, and colonialism. True, the old system of colonialism has disintegrated with the successive winning of independence by nearly one hundred former colonial and semi-colonial countries. Yet its remnants are far from being eliminated. The Superpowers that practice hegemonism pose a new threat to the peoples of the world (Han Nianlong et al 1990).
Since the 1990s, China has shown keenness and energetic pursuit African countries for its resources to meet these needs. Chinese government and private businesses are increasing in Africa excessively exploiting hardwoods, pumping oil, mining minerals, rebuilding infrastructure. China is relentlessly searching for new sources of oil globally. China’s fast‐rising involvement with Africa grows out of China’s immense and growing need for natural resources, in particular for imported oil, of which one third was already from Africa.
Africa offers China access to untouched oil and strategic natural resources. The continent currently supplies China with about 30% of its oil imports (Eisenmann 2005). Beijing’s oil purchases from African nations constitute “a significant share of African oil producers’ export,” thus making China an increasingly important actor on the continent. According to sources from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China’s dependency on import oil rose to 47% of demand in 2006, an increase of 4.1 percentage points from the previous year.190 In 2006, China produced 183.68 million tons of crude oil (up 1.7%), while the country’s net oil imports exceeded 162.87 million tons, an increase of 19.6%. 191 Experts predict that China’s demand for oil is bound to increase (P.R.C 2007). It is estimated that in2007, China’s crude oil output will grow less than 2%, while the country’s demand for both crude and other oil products will increase by more than 6%.193 Relations with Africa will bring China great opportunity to get cheap sources of raw materials (Sidiropoulos 2005).
The relationship between Africa and China is built on Africa sells raw materials to China and China sells factory-made goods to Africa. This is a risky equivalence that recreates the image of Africa’s previous relationship with colonial powers. The equation is not sustainable for a number of reasons;
Firstly, Africa wants to keep and maintain its natural resources for its own future development.
Secondly, China’s export strategy which is contributing to the de-industrialization of some middle-income countries. It is in the interests of both Africa and China to find solutions to these strategies. Clearly, many of the decisions announced at the summit reflect Chinese companies imported dozens of Chinese workforces, disregarding the African unemployed. Chinese textile firms exploited workers with little pays and low labor standards, making national firms out of business.
2 China’s Economic gains:
China gives careful thought toward economic involvement in Africa. Africa gives china a marketplace for its goods. This offers a good chance for engagement China’s extra labor in manufacturing. China’s energy need is no secret.
Quite a bit of criticism of China is disguised protectionism. Established businesses try to maintain privileged positions—at the expense of consumers. The recent arrival of Chinese traders in the grimy alleys of Sowe to market in Lusaka halved the cost of chicken and cabbage prices dropped by 65%. Local traders soon marched their wire-mesh cages filled with livestock to the local competition commission to complain. “How dare the Chinese disturb our market,” says Justin Muchindu, a seller. In Dar El Salaam, the commercial capital of Tanzania, Chinese is banned from selling in the markets. The government earlier this year said the Chinese were welcome as investors but not as “vendors or shoe-shiners” (The economist 2011).
Chinese are conveying bad habits and corruption; African leaders find it hardly to make use of development funds. Usually money is set into escrow accounts in Beijing; then a number of infrastructure schemes are drawn up, Chinese companies are afforded contracts to construct them and money is transferred to company accounts. Africa, for better and worse, gets roads and ports but no cash. Continent economy is damaged throughout impairment. In international rankings of bribe-payers list, Chinese managers are near the top. When these managers move abroad from China to Africa they carry on corrupting and weaken good governance in host countries. The World Bank has disqualified some mainland companies from bidding for offers in Africa.
Universal observers have, however, stated caution in contradiction of Chinese investment in Africa due to the common habit of large numbers of expatriate Chinese labor developed on production projects and fully Chinese procurement applies. Concern has also been stated over the Zambian Government offering exceptional tax allowances to Chinese investor firms that may probably erode the country’s economic revenue base if not supervised carefully and excellently (The economist 2011).
3 Financial Gains over Human Rights:
Critics of China’s relations with Africa are implicated that income will be placed over principle.428 Sticking points include China’s uncertain attitude toward Darfur crisis,429 China’s arms sales to regimes in Africa, and China’s friendship with leaders that Western governments seek to isolate, such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. Critics see China as the major stumbling block to U.S. efforts to impose economic and military sanctions in countries such as Sudan.
The crisis in Sudan is critical. Millions of people in Darfur now face the threats losing their lives or livelihoods because of the regional instability caused by Darfur’s conflict. China can demonstrate its support for regional peace and security by publicly calling for an end to abusive domestic and foreign policies.
China’s relationship with Zimbabwe too gives cause for worry. In return for supporting the Mugabe government with financial assistance, machinery, equipment and army supplies, Chinese state-owned projects creativities have made significant investments in some of Zimbabwe’s major national effects containing hydroelectric power plants and tobacco production services. The Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe has shown obvious turning to China for assistance, military supplies and trade which Western governments will not provide. China supplied 12 fighter jets and 100 trucks to Zimbabwe’s army even as the country is matter to a Western arms restriction (Kwesi et al 2007).
Some Chinese companies working in Africa have been inculpated by NGOs of offending employment and environmental rights in the communities where they operate. NGOs in Nigeria have accused the Chinese logging company WEMPCO of discharging untreated effluents into the rivers in southeastern Nigeria, thereby damaging the health and lively hoods of local fisher folk. The company is also accused of colluding with local officials and law enforcement officers to suppress protests by the local community. The Chinese metal working firm WAHUM, operating in Lagos, Nigeria, has also been accused by NGOs of discharging noxious substances into the air and systematic violations of occupational safety and health standards inculpate ( Firoze et al 2007).
China’s imperfect social and external conditions, desires, disregard for human rights protections, absence of transparency and strategy of non-interference in the internal affairs of the countries they advance to have shown in some African administrations being propped up with assets while agreeing them to elude native and international force to clean up corruption. The consequence has been dictators continuing influence, consolidating wealth, and avoiding right development. Mozambique is one of the African countries that has fastened onto China’s funding approach and seized the opening of non-interference and fragile policies with influences.
China gave backing to several African liberation movements in their fights for independence. During the Cold War era, Sino-African relations were considered primarily by a policy of anti-Soviet rhetoric and sustenance for the anti-Portuguese nationalist movements in Angola and Mozambique. China’s recent relations with Africa should be regarded within the context of globalization in the aftershock of the Cold War. This fresh relationship is widely concentrated on economic and technological cooperation for the interest of development.
4 What Africa has got so far from China?
Chinese aid, trade and investment in Africa have increased since the early 1990s. In recent years, China’s engagement with Africa has reached a highest level and continues to rise exponentially. Today, China has certainly attained the position of a new significant supporter for Africa. Most African show highly welcome Chinese participation and its philosophy: Joint operation for reciprocal benefit, cooperation on equal level, no interference in internal affairs, access to loans for large infrastructure projects with “no strings attached”, Greenfield investments in the exploitation of untapped raw materials, etc. Chinese investments in the infrastructure area in roads, power generation, ports and new airports, for example China has created a different comeback in the rail area(Song Lilei 2012), with financing commitments on the order of US$4 billion for this sector. They include rehabilitation of more than 1,350 kilometers of existing railway lines and the building of more than 1,600 kilometers of new railroad. To put this in perspective, the entire African railroad network amounts to around 50,000 kilometers. The largest contracts have been in Nigeria, Gabon and Mauritania. China has opened up opportunities for African producers to increase production, move goods to local, regional and global markets relatively quickly resulting in increased incomes to Africans Building Bridges (William et al 2008)
In the information and communication technology (ICT) field, China’s participation primarily takes the form of equipment trades to national officers, either through customary commercial contracts or through high-level financing tied to purchases of Chinese equipment by public telecom incumbents. A significant emphasis has been the development of national backbone infrastructure. In total in 2001–07, Chinese telecom firms supplied almost US$3 billion worth of ICT equipment, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Ghana(William et al 2008).
After Zhai’s visit Sudan, Beijing declared the report of Ambassador Liu Guijin as the special ambassador to Africa. Liu, a seasoned diplomat, has classified the Darfur conflicts as a top priority. Liu has visited Sudan at least twice and directed diplomatic discussions with concerned parties in Addis Ababa, Brussels, Paris and Pretoria to support push the agenda forward in Darfur. Following Khartoum’s acceptance of an expanded peacekeeping force in Darfur in June 2007, Liu reportedly stated that Beijing had been using “very direct language” as well as its “own wisdom” to persuade Khartoum to accept the A.U./U.N. hybrid force (Chinese embassy2008) .
China has provided a combination of commercial exchange and investment encouragements, aid and technical support, low-interestloans, and strong diplomatic relations with Africa’s leaders. According to this, China has put itself to gain the vast untapped African market and safe supplies of African oil and mineral resources
China’s extensive commitment has increased optimisms across Africa. China moves its consideration to long-neglected areas such as infrastructure and that its strategic approach raises Africa’s global status, intensify political and market competition, create promising new choices in external partnerships, strengthen African capacities to combat malaria and HIV/AIDS and promote economic growth. It also raises nettlesome policy issues and complex implementation challenges that China will increasingly confront in the future (Col JS2009).
By the end of 2009, about 30,000 African students had received scholarship opportunities to study in China, which is now offering 4,000 new scholarships yearly. China has provided technical training for more than 30,000 Africans in twenty different fields. Several years ago, China started a youth volunteer program, which in some respects is similar to the Peace Corps. By the end of 2009, more than 300 volunteers had served in Africa. Since 1963, China has sent 18,000 medical personnel to forty-six African countries and treated, it claims, as many as 200 million patients (Chinese embassy 2011).
China has paid particular attention over the years to interact with the African media. Xinhua has more than twenty bureaus in Africa and now competes with Reuters and Bloomberg. Xinhua established regional centers in Cairo and Nairobi. China Radio International transmits from Kenya in Swahili, Chinese, and English and has rebroadcast rights around the continent. There are twenty-eight Confucius Institutes in Africa and more are on the way. China seeks to establish Confucius Institutes in Africa― programs at leading local universities.
In December 2005, Africa’s first Confucius Institute opened in Nairobi. Two more have been set in Rwanda and South Africa. A few more Confucius Institutes are expected to be launched in Egypt and elsewhere. China has invested in resource deprived countries. For example, China is building a dam and a military hospital in Guinea Bissau, a country with little industry, no oil, and few exports. China has invested in resource deprived countries. For example, China is building a dam and a military hospital in Guinea Bissau, a country with little industry, no oil, and few exports (Antony et al 2008).
Not surprisingly, the African countries much prefer China’s non-conditional aid rather than assistance from the West which calls for improved human rights practices, economic policy reform, or more democratic governance systems.