Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Africa bearing the usual gifts of money for soccer stadiums and interest-free loans, but is also acknowledging tensions over mounting trade imbalances, the practices of some Chinese investors and the risks of investing in rogue states.
Unmentioned, as Beijing adds lustre to Africa’s renewed status as a strategic ally, is the possibility of a clash with the United States as the two vie for resources and influence on the continent.
Another source of possible conflict is China’s sale of arms to countries accused of human rights violations.
Hu’s eight-nation, 12-day tour has taken him to Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa. On Thursday, he headed for Mozambique, then wraps up his tour on Friday and Saturday in the Seychelles.
Hu was met by flag-waving crowds and standing ovations.
But he also had to deal with pressure to influence Sudan’s government about the murderous conflict in Darfur. In Liberia, there were rumours a leading legislator received a handout from Taiwan, China’s rival. Clothing manufacturers in Zambia charged cheap Chinese goods were destroying their business.
As synthetic fabrics displace cotton prints in street markets across the continent, South Africa’s textile union says about 100 000 jobs have been lost and last year threatened to boycott anyone selling Chinese products.
Hu’s delegation cancelled a visit to Zambia’s Copperbelt, where Beijing is setting up an economic cooperation zone expected to draw $800-million in new mining investments, fearing protests.
While many Zambians welcome the Chinese presence, there has been a backlash fuelled by workplace accidents, poor working conditions and low pay at Chinese-run copper mines. Fifty-one Zambian workers died in a 2005 mine explosion, and dozens of protesters were fired on by Chinese security guards last year.
”They are not here to develop Zambia, they’re here to develop China,” said Zambian legislator Guy Scott.
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki last year warned against allowing Chinese forays into Africa to become a neo-colonialist adventure, with African raw materials exchanged for shoddy manufactured imports, and little attention to developing an impoverished continent.
Hu was at pains to change that perception. In a speech to South African university students, he emphasised ”economic win-win cooperation”.
In Namibia, he counselled managers of Chinese companies on bearing social responsibility and promoting harmony with local people, China’s state television reported. It appeared to be the first time Hu has addressed issues facing Chinese companies operating in Africa.
Most Chinese business in Africa is conducted by state companies.
Hundreds have invested in thousands of projects including oil exploration and refining, mines, fishing, precious woods, telecommunications and major infrastructure, especially roads.
China says its trade with Africa soared to $39,7-billion last year, overtaking former coloniser Britain to become Africa’s third largest trading partner after the United States and France.
China’s biggest African trade partner is South Africa. Their trade climbed to $240-million last year while South Africa’s trade deficit with China mounted from $24-million in 1992 to more than $400-million now.
Importantly, Hu promised on Wednesday to increase imports of African products to balance the deficit, though it was hard to see how that would be feasible.
”He’s got a proliferation of important folks on the continent raising questions: ‘At what price is this expansive engagement [with China] going to be delivered?’,” said J Stephen Morrison, Africa programme director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, which on Thursday published a report on Chinese-Africa relations and how they affect the US.
Chinese officials ”are beginning to recognise that they have some problems in Africa”, he said.
Morrison said China’s policy of non-interference, such as in Sudan’s Darfur conflict, is untenable. There, the government is accused of funding militias and allowing its military to brutalise civilians in a conflict that has killed about 200 000 people and left 2,5-million homeless since 2003.
Until recently, China resisted using its economic clout to influence Sudanese officials. But Hu ”took a big step, for the Chinese”, Morrison said, when he visited Sudan last week and urged its leader to allow the United Nations a bigger role in Darfur, where poorly equipped African peacekeepers have failed to defend civilians.
Hu probably was responding to pressures, including threats from American human rights activists to damage Beijing’s image as it prepares to host next year’s Summer Olympics.
China opposes any sanctions against Sudan and would be sure to fight a new proposal for the US to sanction companies that do business in Sudan. China buys two-thirds of Sudan’s oil, sells it weapons and military aircraft and is its biggest investor.
World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has accused Chinese banks of ignoring human rights and environmental standards in Africa. He warned that the Chinese surge in lending could fuel corruption and debt burdens.
Just as China is having to rethink its strategy in Africa, so should the United States, Morrison said in the report he co-authored.
”China’s ambitious, new high-profile role in Africa challenges the US to think far more comprehensively and strategically,” the report says. ”A part of that challenge, for both the US and China, will be trying to avoid the trap of a damaging and unnecessary strategic competition in Africa.” — Sapa-AP