Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 00:19:40 +0200
China's war for Africa's hearts and minds
China's Foreign Policy
by <http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/author/mvarga/> Mark Varga |
on October 19th, 2014 |
<http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2014/10/17/chinas-war-for-africas-hearts-and-
minds/#comments> 1 comment
China has made a badge of honor out of Zheng Bijian's term coined in a
seminal 2005
<http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/61015/zheng-bijian/chinas-peaceful-r
ise-to-great-power-status> Foreign Affairs article, which described the
Middle Kingdom's path toward modernization as a "peaceful rise." At the
time, Bijian was trying to counter the dominant Western narrative that
viewed Beijing's ambitions and the country's rapid growth with suspicion.
The article ended with one of the most unexpected statements of intent
coming from a country that had been the world's foremost power for the
better part of a millennium "(China) does not seek hegemony or predominance
in world affairs." A decade has passed since and China is still unsure of
the part it should play on the international stage. Torn between its
commitment not to intervene in the affairs of other countries and the
growing demands of the West to use its growing clout to share some of the
burden of shaping the world order, all eyes have turned to China's budding
soft power.
To find an answer to this conundrum, one must look no farther than Africa,
where China is dovetailing its "peaceful rise" while also bringing new
allies onto its side. Driven by the need to secure reliable sources of raw
materials, Beijing has seen bilateral trade with the Dark Continent grow
20-fold in the past two decades, surpassing both the U.S and the EU. Many
have argued that the process has been eminently a political one, amounting
to little more than "
<http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/87075f26-4eda-11e4-b205-00144feab7de.html?si
teedition=intl#axzz3FX0JdZSd> check book diplomacy", the practice of lending
money to largely benefit China's own construction groups, buying alliances
and access to commodities. More than 2,000 Chinese companies now have assets
in Africa, especially in South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria, Algeria and Angola,
spanning all economic sectors. As a result, some 20,000 Chinese are
currently involved in local projects, a number that will only go up in
coming years. Moreover, in November 2013, the government announced plans to
<http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1358902/china-provide-
africa-us1tr-financing> invest $1 trillion by 2025, thus turning Africa into
the one-stop shop for Beijing's state-owned enterprises (SOEs). But China's
cold and pragmatic approach has managed to drive a wedge between the West's
historical interests in Africa and China's nascent world reach, leading to
numerous muffled conflicts. Two cases studies show how the traditional
Western relationship with the continent are increasingly strained by China's
desire to win over the hearts and minds of Africans.
The strange story of Djibouti
One of the most poignant stories of China's hard power appeal comes from the
small but pivotal East African country of Djibouti. Located in the Horn of
Africa, it emerged from anonymity in the early 2000s after cementing a deal
with the U.S. to host Washington's biggest drone military facility and key
outpost in the so-called "War on Terror." Moreover, thanks to its
geographical position off the Gulf of Aden, it is an important bridgehead
for the European Union's <http://allafrica.com/stories/201410091402.html>
Atalanta maritime operation to stymie piracy.
Since 9/11, billions of dollars have flown into the local economy, as the
country basked in the favor of the White House. But following a dispute with
Dubai's maritime operator DP World over the Doraleh Container Terminal,
which involved the
<http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/08/a_friendly_little_dictator
ship_in_the_horn_of_africa> authoritarian President Ismail Omar Guelleh
purging political opponents, China stepped in. It bought a 23.5 percent
share of the port, signed a landmark strategic defense agreement and is
negotiating the construction of a military facility. China's rising
influence in Djibouti is causing a souring in the African nation's relations
with the West, prompting U.S. national security adviser
<http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2014/10/10/djibouti-reliable-partn
er-terrorism/> Susan Rice to express deep concerns over the stability of
bilateral relations.
Of Ebola and soft power
With great power comes great responsibility and in China's case that
responsibility means translating some of its hard power to political
capital. Unfortunately, the Asian giant is notoriously reluctant to get
involved in the internal affairs of the countries it invests in, being time
and time again accused of showing interest only in hefty returns and not in
strengthening much-needed institutional capacity. Indeed, China is only the
29th most generous humanitarian donor (wedged between crisis-laden Greece
and Portugal), a position that has greatly upset its partners. For example,
Beijing caused worldwide outcry when it donated a meager $100,000 in aid for
neighboring Philippines during the devastating
<http://thediplomat.com/2013/11/chinese-soft-power-another-typhoon-haiyan-vi
ctim/> Typhoon Haiyan.
Recently, even in Africa, where loans and investments have no "finger
pointing" clause, this relationship has come under fire as the Ebola
outbreak continues to wreak havoc. African leaders have repeatedly beseeched
Beijing to help in the fight against the epidemic that so far has claimed
more than 4000 lives. To everyone's surprise, China obliged. President Xi
Jinping has pledged some $41 million in food and medical aid to the three
worst hit countries: Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Is this a sign that
China will jump on the soft power bandwagon?
Not exactly. Even if it has responded with unprecedented generosity to the
Ebola crisis, China's "
<http://www.cfr.org/councilofcouncils/global_memos/p33560> health diplomacy"
so far has closely followed Chinese investments and businesses. In Guinea,
where the current outbreak began, a
<http://english.cwe.cn/show.aspx?id=1848&cid=22> $446 million
hydroelectric power plant is being built courtesy of China Three Gorges
Corporation, while in Sierra Leone investments are expected to top
<http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2014/05/20/china-kingho-dreams-big-in-sier
ra-leone/> $10 billion by 2015. If these long-term, strategic investments
had been absent, China's attitude in the face of the worst Ebola epidemic on
record would have been one of complete aloofness.
The two stories point out that growing Chinese weight in the world will
surely leave an acrid backwash as the lumbering giant ploughs ahead in its
quest for resources. If Africa is any indication, Beijing's long-touted
"peaceful rise" looks more and more like an interest-driven zero sum game,
where the only winners are the SOEs who seduce African rulers using bucket
loads of cash with few strings attached. But when push comes to shove, China
is quick to adopt a libertarian we-don't-get-involved perspective on
humanitarian aid that would shame any Tea Party activist. At the end of the
day, its soft power campaigns are simply realpolitik exercises coated with a
thin veneer of diplomacy.
<http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/wp-content/uploads/8623051047_341bee5642_h.jp
g> via Flicker (c) Pedro Szekely
(image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg)