China’s presence in Africa is not new. Gavin Menzies, a retired Royal Navy submariner and banker who later became an author in his treatise “1421: The Year China Discovered the World,” documented that “on 2/2/1421, kings and envoys from the length and breadth of Asia, Arabia, Africa and the Indian Ocean assembled amid the splendours of Beijing to pay homage to Emperor Zhu Di, Son of the Heaven.”
Since the late 1950s, China has been offering assistance to African states. Chinese focus on investment in Africa was narrow in the 20th Century. But at this age, Beijing’s investment has expanded. China’s expanding involvement in Africa through aids is an integral component of a grand strategy to restore itself to its perceived “rightful” position in global dominance. So, what is Africa’s strategy towards bilateral or multilateral engagement with China? Yet to be seen.
But whatever is Africa’s strategy towards engaging China, Xi Jinping has a dream it is vigorously pursuing in Africa. At the heart of Jinping’s strategy in Africa is economic interest. Interest in accessing and exploiting Africa’s vast natural resources. I have read in many journals and newspapers that Africa’s dream is to have infrastructure.
It is good for African countries to have infrastructure. But I am yet to know the African country whose loans from China is to actively build the capacity of its people. It is people that will operate and manage infrastructure and possibly conceptualise, design, and produce new ones. This is my view because we are in a world of competition, economic inequality and dazzling technological capabilities, where ideologies spread like wildfire, and the stakes are too high. We live in a world of uncertainties where the consequences are too dire to hold on to theories that worked centuries ago and hope for the best.
I love to remind my respected readers that the centre of gravity of any nation is the people in a civilised society. An investment in Africans acquiring appropriate knowledge will yield the best dividend. If those in government cannot invest in infrastructure and human capital, they should not refer to loans from China as a product of “debt-trap diplomacy.” Yes, Africans want infrastructure and that is why when one travels through most Africa’s capital cities and commercial centres, it is hard not to see China’s presence and influence. But loans collected from China by African countries would be repaid with interest within a specified period.
In most parts of Africa, new railway tracks are being laid, roads are built, seaports deepened, commercial contracts signed- all these are happening on a weird scale by China- whose appetite for commodities seems limitless. So, questions are being asked by pundits whether China’s strategic grand design promises the much-needed transformation in Africa? Or, is this friendship between China and Africa one of exploitation by the former? Added to the salvo of questions is the urgency to know: “Who really owns the railways in Nigeria: China or Nigeria?” (BusinessDay August 17, 2020).
I love to remind my respected readers that the centre of gravity of any nation is the people in a civilised society. An investment in Africans acquiring appropriate knowledge will yield the best dividend
Nigerians have expressed fears that Chinese loans may jeopardize sovereignty as members of the National Assembly allegedly uncovers clauses conceding Nigeria’s sovereignty to China. Apart from concerns raised about the ownership of the railways in Nigeria, what generated an uproar recently was an Information Communication Technology contract. The contract in question, according to reports, was a 2018 loan for $400 million from the China Exim Bank to build Nigeria’s National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase II Project.
It is the word “sovereign” in the clause that has generated the din. With the exception of those in government, most Nigerians were offended. Nigerian media organisations carried the story condemning the action of the federal government. The social media was completely taken over by the meme that China will seize the country’s national strategic assets. But a few legal experts were quick to add that “there is nothing in the clause that cedes sovereignty of Nigeria to China.” In fact, the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi says during the interview that: “There is no clause in the contract ceding Nigerian sovereignty to China. There is none! What we ceded was commercial immunity which prohibits any country from taking us to court.”
If not Chinese, then who will give loans? Many scholars call the Chinese boom “a phenomenal success story for Africa,” and see it continuing indefinitely. Statistics show that Africa is the source of at least one-third of the world’s commodity but the poorest of all the continents in the world. Despite the depth of poverty in Africa, China will need these commodities as its manufacturing economy continues to grow. “if one understood the economics behind manufacturing, then it would be much easier to understand China’s determination to build roads, airports, seaports, and railroads all over Africa,” according to an article in The Atlantic titled “The Next Empire.” In the midst of controversies however, the Chinese foreign ministry denied that China had any clause in the contract. And that it has always followed one of its terms in any agreement which states that “no imposition of our will on African countries.”
Considering the rise in infrastructural development across Africa, one would have expected to see a transformational moment for Africa. A continent without conflict, where more food is produced and more jobs are created. African continent where there is no conflict. But this is barely the case. The narrative of Africa as the world’s poorest continent would have changed positively but for the prevalence of wars, and steady decline in governance in most countries within the continent. If African governments had taken advantage of the injection of funds into an economy of over one billion people, perhaps Africa would have been ready in all respects to participate actively in global trade under the AfCFTA.
Instead, the begging bowl strategy is what most African countries adopt. It is the adoption of the begging strategy that makes most African countries ask someone else to take care of their problems. But Nigeria’s transport minister says: Who else is going to lend us money for infrastructure?” We started with Europeans. This was followed by the Americans. Now, Nigeria and other African countries look up to China as a global power from where their help flows. But when the infrastructure fails as a result of roads that are sub-standard; trains that are likely to be unserviceable, one can only hope that policymakers will not tell the government of Xi Jinping to either produce another train or provide loans for the repairs.
Pundits on Sino-Africa relations keep asking relevant questions on China’s burgeoning partnership with Africa: Is a hand’s off approach to governmental affairs appropriate? Can Chinese money and ambitions succeed where Western engagements have manifestly failed? Or, can we take it that China has become the latest in a series of colonial and neo-colonial powers destined like others to leave its own legacy of bitterness and disappointment?
Can Africans blame China? Negative! I say this because there is no free launch anywhere in the international arena. Who does not like free gifts? Although African countries like free gifts, China is playing a strategic role in Africa that will enhance its national interests. So, African countries that have taken loans from China are encouraged not to default. What should guide policymakers who travelled to Beijing with a begging bowl strategy is to avoid a loan default. If African countries that took loan from China defaults, they should be prepared in all respect for arbitration and may forfeit some strategic national assets. Thank you!
