China Seen by Africans as Partners, America and Europe Seen as Predators
by Abayomi Azikiwe
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http://www.globalresearch.ca> Global Research, July 3, 2012
A recent op-ed piece in the New York Times by Dambisa Moyo takes a firm
position that the role of the People's Republic of China in Africa is a
positive one. This comes amid the growing U.S., U.K. and French military
interventions on the continent which has resulted in the massive destruction
of Libya, Somalia and Ivory Coast. She notes in the Times that "Despite all
the scaremongering, China's motives for investing in Africa are actually
quite pure. To satisfy China's population and prevent a crisis of legitimacy
for their rule, leaders in Beijing need to keep economic growth rates high
and continue to bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty." (NYT,
June 27) This same writer goes on to point out that "China needs arable
land, oil and minerals.
Pursuing imperial or colonial ambitions with masses of impoverished people
at home would be wholly irrational and out of sync with China's current
strategic thinking." Yet even though the U.S. and other NATO countries are
facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression with high
unemployment and rising poverty, the imperialist aims of the West are
clearly guiding its foreign policy toward Africa. This statement by Moyo
comes a year after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the
Southern African nation of Zambia where she arrogantly told the government
and people that "China's foreign assistance and investment practices in
Africa have not always been consistent with generally accepted international
norms of transparency and good governance, and that it has not always
utilized the talents of the African people in pursuing its business
interests." (Reuters, June 10, 2011) This statement came at the same time
that the U.S. along with its NATO allies were bombing Libya on a daily
basis.
Libya was prior to the overthrow of Gaddafi the prosperous and stable
country on the continent. Despite the objections by the African Union as
spelled out in numerous resolutions and public statements calling for a
negotiated settlement of the Libyan crisis, Washington and its NATO partners
totally ignored the will of the governments and people of the continent and
continued the war that resulted in regime-change and the assassination of
Col. Muammar Gaddafi. These actions in Libya follow a historic pattern of
slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism as reflected in modern times through
Washington's opposition to all genuine national liberation movements and
progressive governments in Africa. Refuting Clinton's assertion, Zambian
President Rupiah Banda noted that "Our country has been in a close
relationship with China since before independence (in 1964)." The president
continued saying that China had assisted numerous African states in dealing
with the global financial crisis which originated in the U.S. Differences in
Approach China Daily took notice of one of Clinton's statement that was made
in neighboring Tanzania as well warning that a "new colonialism in Africa
from foreign investors and governments interested only in extracting natural
resources to enrich themselves" was underway. (China Daily, June 17, 2011)
Although the top U.S. diplomat did not mention China by name, the
implications were obvious. According to China Daily, "The most ironic thing
is that Hillary Clinton apparently does not know the significance of Dar Es
Salaam, Tanzania in the history of China-Africa relations. It is the site
where China built its first railway for Tanzania and Zambia" during the
early 1970s under the leadership of Chairman Mao. The China Daily continues
saying that its "government invested in the project that has benefited the
local people tremendously, and Chinese workers endured the extreme weather
conditions and made huge sacrifices in completing this railway project in
the most difficult terrain. That railway project sets China apart from
Western nations that were involved in Africa earlier than China." Other
scientific transfers of technology have the potential to address the
agricultural crisis in Africa. The Desert Control Research Institute of
Gansu has dispatched 10 scientists to Niger and Nigeria to implement a water
resource preservation program sponsored by both the Chinese government and
the United Nations. (Xinhua, July 2)
The Chinese scientists are doing research and training local personnel in
Niamey, Dosso, Tahousa, Maradi and Zinder in south Niger as well as in Kano
state in Nigeria. The project is designed to address the problem of scare
water resources which impacts agricultural development and animal husbandry
that are caused by drought and the expansion of the deserts. In contrast the
U.S. under the Clinton administration established what is known as the
Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The U.S. Congress has been
inconsistent in providing provisions for investments by corporations which
have opened factories in several countries. Although the Brookings
Institution says that AGOA had created 300,000 jobs on the continent,
thousands of these jobs have been lost due to bureaucratic bungling on the
part of the U.S. government. In a June 30 opinion piece Nicholas D. Kristof,
a longtime proponent of Washington's intervention in Africa both militarily
and economically, attempted to place responsibility for most the problems on
corruption within various nation-states on the continent.
However, Kristof was forced to admit that "In Lesotho alone, about 5,000
garment workers have lost their jobs because of this maddening Congressional
delay" in renewing AGOA. While America may largely misperceive Africa as a
disaster zone, China does get the promise on the continent." (NYT, June 30)
Look East Policy Viewed As Partnerships Not Exploitative In Zimbabwe the
government has been negatively affected by sanctions imposed by the U.S.,
U.K., the European Union and Australia. The reason for this economic war
against Harare is that the ruling ZANU-PF Party initiated a comprehensive
land reform program twelve years ago to take back 50 percent of the land
stolen by British imperialism a century ago during the advent of
colonialism.
The western imperialists have denied trade and investment to Zimbabwe and
have supported opposition forces bent on undermining land reform and
national sovereignty. China has built stronger economic ties to Zimbabwe,
whose liberation movement it supported during the 1960s and 1970s during the
war for independence against British settlers. China has also defended
Zimbabwe and Sudan when both countries were threatened with further
sanctions by the UN Security Council. The imperialist states have continued
their policies of opposing any genuine efforts on the part of African states
to develop along the lines that serve the interests of the people within
their societies. Consequently, the West will continue to be perceived as a
negative force in Africa while China's role is growing in popularity. A Pew
Research report from five years ago indicated that in 10 African states, the
majority of the people have a favorable view of China's role on the
continent.
In Senegal 86 percent said that China policy was making things better in
comparison to 56 percent in relationship to the U.S. role. Even in Kenya,
whose government is closely allied with Washington, 91 percent of
respondents said that they believed China's role was positive in comparison
to 74 percent for the U.S. (China Digital Times, June 2012)
Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of Pan-African News Wire, an international
electronic press service designed to foster intelligent discussion on the
affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world.
Received on Wed Jul 04 2012 - 00:22:55 EDT
