Africa and China

Three years back, while doing an assignment for the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the Southern Africa Development Bank (SADB), I had difficulty sourcing literature on Sino-African relations. Even a visit to the Northwestern University Library in Chicago could only yield a single chapter! This was all the more surprising given that China has had relationship with Africa going back several decades. By comparison, there is no shortage of literature on Africa's relationship with Europe.

So, when we convened in Nairobi to discuss the contribution of Development Studies to policy development particularly in Kenya based on the experience of Institute for Development Studies (IDS) University of Nairobi, but also more generally in the developing world following the experiences of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, it was not surprising that the question of Sino-African relations came up. At the time, I observed that China was ready for Africa but Africa was not ready for China.

To illustration what I meant, it is useful to reflect back on South Africa under apartheid and the rest of Africa. Throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s the Frontline States as well as majority of African countries clamored for the release of Nelson Mandela and end of apartheid. Following negotiations freedom finally came in 1994 following the first free elections that saw President Nelson Mandela elected to office. The past 15 years has witnessed South Africa's balance of trade with the rest of Africa has grown in leaps and bounds. South African goods and outlets are common places in Botswana, Dar es Salaam, Harare, Kampala, Nairobi and almost every other capital. Brands such as DSTV and MNet dominate the Eastern, Southern and West African markets. Clearly, South Africa, more specifically corporate South Africa, prepared behind the apartheid curtain for post-independence reality. The rest of Africa did not!

There is a parallel to be drawn with emergence of China as a dominant economic force during the last two decades. For years, China had only but a limited economic footprint in the continent. However, during the last two or so decades China has become a major economic player competing with Africa's traditional trading partners for contracts and resources. The nature and pace of China's investments in Africa issomewhat puzzling given the size of her economy. But what is no doubt of concern is the huge trade surplus that China enjoys vis á vie the rest of Africa. All this is happening because Africa is a net importer of manufacturers and an exporter of primary commodities. In a nutshell, Africa failed to capitalize on the four decades of independence to prepare before engaging with China as the latter re-emergenced into a formidable economic giant.

Even more worrying in the trend that Sino-China economic relations has taken, which essentially is “neo-colonial” in character. But perhaps the worst element of this “partnership” is the absence of a clear and strategic African policy framework on the one hand, and a clear long-term strategic and deliberate policy by China, one the other. When will Africa wake up and think long-term and strategic? We can, and must, build on previous attempt to operationally define the principles and mechanisms for the NEPAD.