The next step for Beijing in its Africa relations is better people-to-people relations.
Photo Credit: BRICS Business Magazine
By Paul R. Burgman Jr.
The Diplomat
From January 10-17, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on a five-nation African tour to promote friendly relations between Africa and China, and to continue a Chinese government tradition of making the African continent the first overseas visit of the new year. While in Kenya, Wang defended China’s role in Africa, asserting, “We will not take the old path of Western colonists, and we absolutely will not sacrifice Africa’s ecological and long-term interests.” Wang’s statement alluding to the idea of a “neo-colonial China” in Africa is evidence that Beijing is becoming increasingly aware of Africans who question China’s role on the continent, and whether Chinese investments actually benefit local populations.
In the first decade of the 21st century, the Chinese government has made better country to country relations with various African countries a top economic and political priority. In 2013, China’s trade with the African continent topped an estimated $166 billion and in a 2014 speech at the World Economic Forum in Nigeria, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang discussed his dream of one day connecting Africa’s major cities by Chinese built high-speed railways “with no strings attached.” Analysts and academics have showered consistent praise on Beijing’s improved relations with the African continent, while the Obama Administration’s 2014 U.S./Africa Leader’s Summit was widely seen as a reaction to the inroads that Beijing had been making on the African continent.
Although Chinese involvement in financing infrastructure projects, debt forgiveness, and scholarships for African students to Chinese universities had given China a net positive image among various African countries in a 2013 Pew Research Global Attitudes Report, there remains room for improvement. While many African countries are very grateful for the economic partner that Beijing has shown it can be, allowing these countries to abandon or mitigate their sometimes rigid economic partnerships with the West, China must still convince Africans that its interest in their continent is authentic. By improving people-to-people relations, understanding, and mutual respect in a relationship that many Africans feel reeks of European colonial stereotypes, China and Africa can strengthen one of the 21st century’s most dynamic economic and strategic partnerships.
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