“We’re in business. We’re not Jesus trying to save people. We do business, and when business is finished we go away. Everyone has to live”.
Chinese Timber Operator in Mozambique

It is with these crude words that an operator of a Chinese timber company in Mozambique described his activities in a report on Forest governance in Mozambique’s Zambezia Province(1). This apparently simplistic depiction does in fact capture the complex impact that China, after recently arriving on the continent in the beginning of the new century, is already having at the political, economic and moral levels.
 
Three Interpretations for China’s Engagement

China’s involvement in Africa can be interpreted, as Chris Alden noted(2), in at least three different ways: one can see China as a development partner, committed to transmit its extraordinary economic growth experience to Africa; China as an economic competitor, in which its presence is just explained in a short-term logic of grabbing resources without caring about local worries or needs; or lastly, China as a neo-colonizer whose presence in Africa is there to offset the traditional western orientation of the continent. Regardless of what each individual interpretation you adopt over the issue of China in Africa, it is unanimous that the Asian emerging power is already having a highly significant impact, even if one that is not always well understood. The complexity of this issue is mirrored in the rawness of the timber operator’s words. China is not in Africa in a paternalistic way to help the continent in charitable fashion, traditional of the “psyche” of many Western political and economic agents in Africa. It is also not there due to a far-flung feeling of colonial guilt. It is in Africa for business, to make money, collect natural resources and get contracts for its companies to build large infrastructure projects. It is also canvassing in Africa for improving its international diplomatic clout, looking to support its global initiatives and interests geopolitically and within institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organisation. In this perspective, a large part of the responsibility to regulate and make this engagement work for Africa’s development lies precisely in the hands of African actors and institutions.

Crunching the Numbers – Foreign Direct Investment and Trade

Reports on China’s foreign direct investment in Africa are notoriously inaccurate. Estimates currently range from US$ 500 million to more than US$ 10 billion. Lower estimates are most probably incorrect. In 2007 state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) invested US$ 5.4 bn to acquire 20 percent of South Africa’s Standard Bank while just in October this year the President of the National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS) said that China has now invested US$6 bn in Nigeria alone. Officially, an August 2009 report released by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MofCom) observed a rise of 81 percent in the country’s direct investment in Africa in relation to last year’s performance. This growth brought the figure to US$ 552 million. Even believing the lowest of estimates we cannot discard the cheer pace of this increase and should recall how China’s direct investment grew from a value as little as US$ 14 million in the first half of the 1990s. Meanwhile according to the same Mofcom report, trade between the two blocs stands at around US$ 37.07 bn, with China’s enterprises achieving a significant business volume of at least US$ 11.53 bn. Another noteworthy initiative has been the zero-tariff preferential trade agreement China provided to some products imported from Africa. Since 2005 some US$ 890 million in imports from Africa have already benefited from this new policy. Lastly, the global financial crisis, although slowing down China’s involvement in Africa, has simultaneously pushed the continent to look, in the medium-term, for partners that can offer an alternative to the western economies which were the hardest-hit by the downturn. The obvious options are other emerging economies to the South, not just China but also India and Brazil. As Hamish Macrae recently noted when writing for “The Independent”, the recession instead of slowing down the pace of change is set to accelerate the arrival of a new reshuffle of the world order. 

Conclusion - China Challenges Chronic Paternalistic Misconceptions of Africa

The first week of November 2009 sees Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attending the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The city of Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt will be hosting the fourth meeting of this initiative, an annual summit at the highest level between African heads of state and the Chinese Presidency, a meeting used to discuss and sign new waves of political and economic agreements.  The presence of the Chinese Premier speaks for itself regarding the importance that China is attaching to Africa and the event. The Forum has been such a success at the level of economic diplomacy that India even decided to create its own version – the India-Africa Forum. This year’s key objective is to review the measures taken in previous summits, adopt a Sharm el-Sheikh declaration and an action plan for 2010-2012 defining the direction for China-Africa cooperation. 

It is important that in these high-level meetings, a good deal of attention is also given to those negative aspects pertaining to China’s involvement in Africa. These are multiple, undeniable and not limited to the intimacy and diplomatic “comfort” offered to reprehensible governments such as those of Sudan, Zimbabwe or more recently Guinea-Conakry. Nevertheless, China’s presence in the continent and its assumed attitude of same-level partner has great strength, contributing to a new attitude, trust and even “status” of the African continent in the world. The proclaimed benefits of China injecting massive amounts of capital in the continent, building infrastructure at a frantic pace and coveting the continent’s natural resources are all double-edged but the overall impact of the rising power is benign. Even if just for the simple fact of “awakening” the West and its institutions, pushing them to review and rethink its attention and relationship with a geographical and human space that is fortunately becoming less and less the “forgotten continent”. The “ball” is now on the side of Africa and its policy-makers to make China’s engagement work directly towards its people.

References:
(1) Mackenzie, C. (2006). Forest Governance in the Zambezia, Mozambique: Chinese Takeaway. FONGZA. (2) Alden, C. (2007). China in Africa. London: Zed Books