It goes without saying that the Chinese scramble for Africa gained momentum with the election of George Bush II whose foreign policy has paid more attention to Middle East and Asia. The Chinese wasted no time and over the last few years, their presence can be felt across the entire Africa continent, from Ghana to Kenya to South Africa to Zambia. In the latter case it’s worse, with the entry of Chinese retail traders who are busy taking away jobs from the informal sector traders. In Mozambique I came across Chinese traders engaged in the informal sector as well. During my visit to Tanzania last year, a local confided to me that it’s easier for a Chinese to set shop in Tanzania than a Kenyan.
Whilst I have an admiration of the Chinese for their aggression, discipline and hard work, I’ve a bone to pick with them. Do any of you recall two characters that were prevalent in our high school days? On one side, we had the talkative fellow aka “Mr. Know-it-all”. This was an easy going likable cunning character who in all sense suffered from an intoxication with verbal exuberance that almost left all in a state of limbo. He would lack no words to utter whether during prep time, class or parade. He would comment on anything, tease and sometimes even bully. Think the West, think this fellow.
On the other hand, there was this quiet, reserved character with carefully scripted words and calculated moves who never looked fit to kill a fly. He would be on schedule and ahead of the pack while the talking fellow kept us glued to his entertaining stories. The resemblance between the Chinese and the latter character is one that cannot be doubted. On the surface, the quiet character looked disciplined and non-interfering. Unfortunately the story went that in a fit of rage, the chances of him piercing his fist through your mouth was higher.
The Chinese have perfected the art of a gentleman’s look while they pursue their needs in mother Africa behind our backs. A typical case is the Darfur crisis. There’s now growing evidence that the biggest supporter of Sudan’s brutal regime currently propagating the Darfur genocide is none other than China. BBC recently revealed details supporting this notion and were able to track Chinese military hardware deep into Darfur, which was being used by Sudan’s military. An arms embargo against the Sudan regime was put in place some years back. The Chinese, whose thirst for oil is unquenchable, disregarded the embargo and went ahead to supply a batch of 212 Dong Feng army lorries that the UN traced as having arrived in Sudan after the arms embargo was in effect.
The BBC further claimed that they found witnesses who said they saw the first Dong Feng, which the BBC tracked down, being used with Chinese anti-aircraft guns in an attack in a town called Sirba in West Darfur. This happened in December last year. To all world news readers, it’s common knowledge that when China’s President Hu Jianto visited Sudan in 2007 he wrote off millions of dollars worth of debt. He went ahead to donate a multi-million dollar interest-free loan for a new presidential palace for Sudan’s leader, President Omar al- Bashir. It’s not to say that President Hu was unaware of the situation in Darfur. He was well aware but chose to place his countries business interests ahead of the need to protect human lives. Turning a blind eye, his support for the Sudan regime has grown exponentially and only God knows how many more Darfurians will suffer.
More recently, the Chinese did an equally appalling thing that has led me to further question why we should call them genuine friends. Words are not enough to describe Mugabe’s atrocities and the world has rallied against this once great African leader in a bid to push for his stepping down. To this effect, the UN Security Council decided to pass a resolution imposing new sanctions on Zimbabwe. The measures in the resolution included an arms embargo and travel ban for Mugabe and 13 of his allies.
China was amongst the five countries that voted against this resolution in the name of non-interference with member states. It might be worthwhile to note that Libya sided with China, in case you still support the Grand Regency deal. I sought to understand why China would support Mugabe considering that Zimbabwe has no oil deposits, a resource whose China has a very high affinity for. In my research I discovered that Zimbabwe is one of the world’s largest producers of platinum. Besides platinum, the country also has large deposits of coal, gold, nickel, tin and steel.
As I sought to learn more about Platinum, I learned that this precious metal is considered one of the finest of all jewellery metals. Over 20% of all consumer goods either contain platinum or are produced using platinum. For instance hard disk drives, anti cancer drugs, fibre-optic cables, explosives and LCD displays all rely on platinum. As Anglo American Plc, the company that controls the world’s biggest platinum production reviews its plans to mine the metal in Zimbabwe due to the political crisis, China’s mouth must be watering as it simmers with the opportunity of another natural resource strike.
Mugabe’s embrace of China is expected with his international isolation. However for Kenya, Tanzania and the rest of Africa, to continue embracing this economic giant in the name of interest free loans, roads, bridges and airports, it is a worrying trend that ought to be checked closely.
In a recent research paper by The Heritage Organization, I was astonished to learn that, in 2006, Chinese leaders visited half of Africa’s countries and they declared 2006, the “Year of Africa”. According to the paper China has at least $3 billion invested in the Sudanese energy sector and continues to pursue more investment opportunities.
My take is, China is a selfish, aggressive investor that would stop at nothing to get what she wants at the expense of human lives and good governance. Before further progressing and advancing the trend of blindly embracing China as a partner and friend, it’s time for Africa regimes to halt and take stock of whether this is a worthy cause.
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