China’s foreign minister began a six-nation African tour on Wednesday, which analysts say will focus on boosting energy ties and forging stronger global political alliances to counterbalance United States dominance.
In keeping with a more than decade-old tradition of showing solidarity with developing nations, China has kickstarted its diplomatic schedule this year by sending its first high-level official delegation to Africa.
Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing will visit Cape Verde, Senegal, Mali, Liberia, Nigeria and Libya during the trip, set to end on January 19.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said ahead of the tour that Li would sign a range of bilateral agreements on economic and technological cooperation.
“We stand ready to work with the African nations through bilateral channels and through the China-Africa Forum… to enhance our cooperation in various fields, including the field of energy exploration,” he said.
China in recent years has increasingly looked to Africa as a source of energy and natural resources, including timber, as it attempts to broaden the number and range of suppliers to feed its booming economy.
The Nigerian leg of Li’s trip will be especially in the spotlight after China National Overseas Oil Corp said on Monday it had agreed to buy a 45% stake in an oil block off Nigeria’s coast for almost $2,3-billion.
Nigeria is Africa’s biggest source of oil, producing 2,6-million barrels per day last year, and the world’s sixth biggest exporter of crude.
Li is scheduled to meet Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo during the trip.
But Barry Sautman, political scientist at the University of Science and Technology of Hong Kong, said Li’s trip was as much about seeking broader strategic influence and cooperation in Africa, as China’s energy quest.
“[It’s] to make some progress on economic connections but more importantly it is to shore up political and cultural connections,” said Sautman.
Strategically, China needs as many political alliances worldwide as it can get to help challenge US dominance, Sautman said, and it has successfully fostered friendships with various African countries over recent years.
“China needs to create a kind of loose united front with lots of countries around the world to counterbalance the influence of the United States, and particularly to disabuse large sections of the world population from the idea that China represents a threat,” he said.
A US study sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations last month warned undemocratic China was challenging US interests and values in Africa.
It said China was shielding “rogue states”, harming the environment, competing with the United States for oil and thwarting anti-corruption drives.
But China argues that its interest in Africa benefits the continent, covering areas such as the training of thousands of local professionals each year, as well as providing technology to the continent’s agricultural sector.
He Wenping, deputy director of the African Studies Section of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China’s cooperation with Africa would benefit the continent’s overall development.
“In agriculture, Chinese technology is probably more suited to Africa. American and European technologies might be too advanced, Africa would find them hard to adopt,” she said.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Qin said: “I believe all this cooperation will be helpful for the development of Africa itself.”
But the cautionary view of China in Africa is not just restricted to the United States.
Pierre-Antoine Braud, a researcher at the European Union Institute for Security Studies, wrote in a recent analysis that China’s African push was having a broad range of negative consequences.
He said China’s low-cost exports tended to weaken local industries, hindering the diversification of African economies and obstructing sustainable development.
“Moreover, Beijing can become an alternative so that some African leaders can reject changes of governance requested by Western countries,” he wrote. – AFP