China is not colonising Africa: Prime Minister Sonko’s reminder is timely

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OPINION

By Joshua Kingdom

For the past two decades or so, it has become fashionable for leaders in the West to claim that China’s approach towards Africa is that of colonialism. Being that Africans have perspectives of their own on this issue, though, it has become imperative to say how it is it that they view it– and they have.

This list includes Angolan head of state João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, former Namibian President Hage Geingob, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, and, most recently, the Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.  In an interview with China Global Television Network, the West African politician pointed out several reasons as to why this notion does not hold water, each of which deserves our attention.

The first has to do with projection i.e. the fact that China’s critics are reading her relations with Africa by extrapolating from how they have themselves gone about it– first with the literal division and rule of the continent’s territory following the Berlin conference (1884-1885), and thereafter neo-colonialism as pundits starting from as early as Kwame Nkrumah’s time have observed. For the Senegalese premier, these presumptions can not be extended to China-Africa relations. Instead, he explained that mutual respect, common respect, and shared development have been harnessed in their place.

Luckily, one does not have to take H.E. Sonko on his word to come to this conclusion, as rather than being mere mantras that politicians mention when appearing before cameras, the three principles are well supported by activities happening on the ground. In this regard, a clear example of Beijing’s genuine desire for the continent to develop has been its heavy investment in infrastructure.

In addition to President Lourenço’s remarks, as alluded to earlier, he affirmed that China had committed to building the biggest hydroelectric power dam anywhere in Africa in his country. As it stands, the world’s second-largest economy has already been involved in over eighty-seven of this kind in this part of the world! Other massive commitments include the revolutionising of railway systems. On this, even the Brookings Institute agrees that the benefits to the areas of their building are “obvious.” In their words, the same ensures that “transportation is made easier, faster and cheaper.”

Still, there are those who insist that that is not enough or even that it is misleading. Take the claims that the investments only continue to exist because they provide employment to Chinese nationals. What this reasoning neglects, though, is that the premise on which it is stands is not sufficient. Because Beijing is more advanced technology-wise, for instance, its workforce is better placed to handle some of the situations that these demanding projects come with.

Given also that McKinsey, The Economist, China Africa Research Initiative and countless other institutions have long established that China funded activities have at least 70% (sometimes as high as 89%) of employees being natives, one understands the Senegalese PM’s frustration when he wondered whether it never occurs to Europe and America that Africa well understands her interests and that what it is doing is act in their pursuit rather than be manipulated or coerced.

The Prime Minister touched on another equally important point when he said that this rhetoric is motivated by “anxiety” and “discomfort” stemming from how smoothly it is that China and the fifty countries are getting along. To put it in different terms, the said partnership threatens the global order as envisioned by the United States and its traditional allies, so they have to run a smear campaign as part of the effort to thwart it.

We know this because it does not stop there. Things are so bad that the Central Intelligence Agency (which is the authority of the United States’ federal government responsible for gathering intelligence worldwide) has for years now considered China to be a national security threat. Otherwise, how many things do Steve Bannon and Hillary Clinton or Mike Pompeo and Secretary Blinken, look eye-to-eye on apart from their disdain for Beijing?

So yes, the pushback that continues to be met on the Asian superpower is unfair. Unfortunately, we should continue to expect it because nations lookout for their priorities first and are often willing to go to the end of the earth to fight any presumed obstacles. By knowing this, we will have empowered ourselves not to fall for the ongoing trickery.

The writer is a research fellow at the Sino-Uganda Research Centre.