Jottings from the Granite Studio

Chinese president Hu Jintao yesterday began an eight-country tour of Africa following a November summit of African leaders in the Chinese capital. The People’s Daily is describing Hu’s visit as “a journey of friendship and cooperation” but others both in Africa and in the West are more skeptical about China’s intentions and wary of increased Chinese influence in Africa.

In today’s Times, Jonathan Clayton writes:

The burgeoning relationship between China and Africa has passed largely unchallenged, with African leaders keen to take advantage of investment and aid that is delivered with few strings attached at a time when Western trade partners are imposing onerous conditions of accountability and the environment.

Now the relationship is being questioned, in Africa and beyond. Domestically, there is alarm at the adverse impact on local companies of a flood of cheap Chinese manufactured goods. In elections in Zambia in December the opposition attacked China’s “exploitation of workers” and low safety standards in copper mines that it took over, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Internationally, there is unease about Beijing’s support for dictatorial regimes such as Zimbabwe and the DRC, and of China’s willingness to overlook human rights abuses. The most pressing example is Sudan, which will play host to Mr Hu on Friday.

Many in Europe and the United States strongly condemn China’s resistance to action by the UN Security Council on the issue of Darfur. China, no stranger to criticism for human rights violations, continues to play its cards close its vest and calls for the world community to respect Sudan’s sovereignty on what both Beijing and Khartoum call an “internal matter.”

According the The Times:

Chinese officials say that Mr Hu would be looking to help to broker lasting peace in Darfur. “I believe this visit will not only boost bilateral ties, but also peace and stability in the region,” said Zhai Jun, the Assistant Foreign Minister, on the eve of the Africa mission. Mr Zhai said that criticism of China’s relationship with Africa was unfounded. He said that Beijing was trying to help Africa to build infrastructure and alleviate poverty.

All to the good. But not all in Africa share Hu’s optimism. In an article for OpenDemocracy.net entitled “Africa’s Chinese Challenge“, Onyekachi Wambu cautions:

While Africans should welcome an engagement with China, potentially the world’s biggest economy, that engagement should be qualified. China represents an enormous opportunity, but the challenge for Africa is how it will manage China - how Africa will play to its own strengths, minimise its weaknesses, discover areas of synergy and opportunity, and exploit its vulnerability.

As Africans move forward with China, they should also look at the engagement through a historical prism. While China does not share the west’s colonial baggage or a history of slavery in regard to their continent, Africans must recognise that slavery and colonialism were partially a two-way process. Western aggression succeeded because of African weakness and disorganisation - failings that can be repeated.

Wambu’s piece, well worth reading in its entirety, looks at the recent Chinese-Africa relationship from the perspective of African economic development-jobs, infrastructure, and fears of Chinese ‘dumping’ of cheap manufactured goods.

Obviously, to generalize about “Africa” as a single unit is impossible, a mistake frequently made by the Chinese media whose knowledge and understanding of Africa, given the number of visuals of “primitive” peoples being shown on television and in print, seems to be derived in large part from old Tarzan movies. Whether the Chinese government has a more sophisticated view of the situation in Africa remains to be seen. China could do great things in Africa, it would indeed be difficult to do worse than the imperialists of the 19th century or the US and the Soviets in the last century. I, like many, remain skeptical. It is up to Mr. Hu to prove us wrong.