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Africa has enjoyed tremendous economic aid from the United States,
though some of the aid were given on conditions and were squandered by
corrupt African governments. Political observers think that with the
improved relations between
Africa and
China, Africa, a continent marred by corruption, civil wars, poverty,
and AIDS is likely to face some repercussion from the west that is noted
for coming hard against countries that are deeply involved with rival
nations of the west.
China has been accused by the west for selling arms to African countries in a
move to cement relationships with African leaders and help
counterbalance the costs of buying oil from them.
China does not have the
same human rights concerns as the United States and European countries,
according to experts. The sales of arms by China pose a moderate menace
to U.S. interest, according to two U.S. analysts, Robert Cliff and
Daniel Byman.
Some
Critics said, according to CNN online,
China’s arms exports to Sudan Darfur region have helped fuel the conflict,
which has claimed at least 180,000 lives and forced more than 2 million
people from their homes over the past three years.
Chinese officials, however, are saying that their country’s
participation has improved the lives of ordinary Africans without being
intrusive in their political affairs. Chinese officials told CNN that
China adheres to its diplomatic policy of noninterference.
Former Chinese communist leader, Zhou Enlai,
touring ten Africa countries from 1963 to 1964 put forward five
principles: safe guiding China’s relations with African and Arab
countries.
According to the Chinese online magazine, International, the five
principles include:
1.
China supports the African and Arab peoples in their struggle to oppose
imperialism and old and new colonialism and to win and safeguard
national independence.
2.
It supports the pursuance of a policy of peace, neutrality and
non-alignment by the Governments of the African and Arab countries.
3.
It supports the desire of the African and Arab peoples to achieve unity
and solidarity in the manner of their own choice.
4.
It supports the African and Arab countries in their efforts to settle
their disputes through peaceful consultations.
5.
It holds that the sovereignty of the African and Arab countries should
be respected by all other countries and that encroachment and
interference from any quarter should be opposed.
What led Africans to China?
China is economically growing and does not have the record for overthrowing
governments in
Africa nor set radical preconditions for economic aid and
diplomatic relations in Africa according to some African political
scientists.
According to one political science professor at a university in Nairobi,
it appears that African leaders are fed up with the United States and
Britain’s interferences in African internal affairs. The professor said
while it is true that African leaders are corrupt and are abusers of
human rights, the act of using violence to change these regimes has
helped to ravage the lives of the very people they claim to be
defending.
He
said, in fact, most of the coups and rebel incursions in
Africa are
instigated by the west. He made references to the late Sekou Toure of
Guinea who died before his actual time as a result of his socialist
ideology.
Kwame Nkrumah’s overthrow was masterminded by the west as a result of
his ideology (Pan Africanism); Somara Machel’s plane crash was staged by
hidden hands from the west. Dr. William Richard Tolbert’s assassination
was the work of hidden hands from the west because of his nonalignment
policy, especially when he favored Palestinian right to sovereignty.
But
some analysts think African leaders’ new route would not free them from
their human rights records with the west.
Will China Make a Difference?
The
question many observers are asking is, will
China make a difference in Africa? There's a "growing perception that China's
interests in Africa are very self-serving, if not predatory, that China
is interested in making inroads into markets that are good for its
energy needs -- especially with countries that are not paragons of
democratic virtue," said Garth le Pere of the Institute for Global
Dialogue, a think tank based in Midrand, South Africa (CNN).
In a declaration read at the end of the Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation, China and 48 African nations pledged a
partnership based on "political equality and mutual trust, economic
win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges."
"We hold that the world today is undergoing complex and
profound changes, and that the pursuit of peace, development and
cooperation has become the trend of the times," Hu said after the
meeting.
The event included heads of state from 35 of the 53
African nations, and top officials from 13 others.
"In a new era, China and Africa have common development
goals and converging interests which offer a broad prospect for
cooperation," Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in reading out
part of the declaration.
The declaration also called on developed nations to
increase their aid to Africa.
"We urge the developed countries to increase official
development assistance and honor their commitments to opening markets
and debt relief," the Ethiopian leader said.
The increased assistance from the developed world would
include greater financial and technical help to boost Africa's capacity
to fight poverty and disasters.
The declaration also called for a bigger role for
Africa in
the "Priority should be given to increasing the representation and full
participation of African countries in the U.N. Security Council and
other U.N. agencies,” it said.
China and Africa had shown their economic potential
earlier Sunday by signing more than a dozen trade deals worth $1.9
billion, while a Chinese company announced an $8.3 billion contract to
build a railway in Nigeria.
Chinese companies signed 14 agreements with African
governments and companies at the conclusion of a parallel conference of
Chinese and African entrepreneurs in Beijing, the official Xinhua News
Agency said.
The deals cover infrastructure, resources, construction,
telecommunications and finance, Xinhua said.
Separately, China Civil Engineering Construction Corp.
said it signed a deal on Oct. 30 with Nigeria's transport ministry to
build a railway in the West African country, the continent's largest oil
producer.
Africa had received
over trillions of dollars from her former colonial powers, but remains
poor. China says she will make a difference, because according to the
Chinese government, most of their aid to Africa will be in human
resources-and Chinese engineers will be on the ground to build
infrastructures while scholarships will be given to African students in
different areas with concentration in technology. |
