by R. Asmerom
Much has been made about China’s involvement in sub-Saharan Africa. Some call it a new phase of colonialism for the continent and others cite it as a much needed economic injection into territories starving for opportunities.
Whatever the case, China wants the world to know that its “massive grab” for African resources is not totally selfish. Recently, according to Fast Company, the Information Office of the State Council issued a white paper to tout the mutually beneficial relationship between China, the country, and Africa, the continent. Amidst worldwide criticism of China’s intensive efforts to exploit the continents resources, including oil in Nigeria, it seems apparent that the country is looking to calm accusations of an inequitable relationship. As it stands today, the second largest world economy has a lot invested in Africa. Whether the involvement is a plus for Africans, or a negative presence, depends on the standards by which the investments are measured.
“The positive side of the China-Africa relationship is that China offers another source of investment and is an important purchaser of African raw materials, especially oil and minerals, that Africa needs to sell to someone, said David Shinn, an adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs of George Washington University. “These arrangements are, in my view, win-win-win arrangements. The Africans get needed infrastructure but Chinese companies build the projects with money provided by Chinese banks that is paid back by the African country usually in the form of oil or minerals.”
Is it fair to say that some business is better than no business? The Africa we see today, mired in conflict and poverty, is a manifestation of the centuries of colonialism, exploitation and faulty aid relationships with the IMF and World Bank.
“There is a great energy and a real hunger by many in Africa to step out of a past that was too often dependent on aid from the West, said Tom Lynch, founder of the Worthwhile Wine Company, an Atlanta-based importer of South African wines. “Whether for selfish gain or not, the thing the Chinese are doing is investing in the countries of Africa, and in doing so, interjecting a dose of self-sufficient capitalism that all of the West’s aid never did.”
China’s interests in Africa include lumber, refining, agriculture, mining, textiles, railroads, highways, bridges, airports and housing; and that’s just to name a few.
Seyi Fabode, who works with an Africa-focused market research firm called Textionnaire, has seen how the influx of Chinese money has changed the composition of his hometown of Lagos, Nigeria. “There were undeveloped plots of land in 1996 that started getting developed in the early 2000s,” he recalled. “A few years ago the Chinese started showing interest and drove up land prices. Now, in 2010, my parents’ neighbors are Chinese engineers who house several of their staff. The staff [are] all Chinese and work for them on rail track projects and farm acres of land bought by the engineers, but most likely has been paid for by the Chinese government.”
With China’s massive investment comes some doubt. It’s a relationship that impacts both parties immensely, and although the receiving countries may not completely be involved in the terms of the deal, Fabode believes it’s a relationship that can be capitalized upon by African countries as well.
“Will Nigerians and Africans benefit from the Chinese interest? Inasmuch as the African people do not just sit by and ‘sell’ themselves for a lot less than the resources are truly worth, and the governments implement local content clauses like the Brazils of this world, then it will not be total pillage,” he said. “Otherwise Africa will look back in a few centuries and wonder how they screwed this huge opportunity up.”
