Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Old relationship still based on goodwill
By Ni Tao |
May 23, 2012, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ONE of the most significant changes in international politics in recent years is the tremendous growth of China-Africa ties.
In the 1960s, China built the famous Tanzania-Zambia Railway, a lasting symbol of the friendship. Today, the relationship has been cemented with burgeoning trade between China and Africa, which in 2011 totaled US$163 billion - up from US$10 billion in 2000.
China's growing influence in Africa has created uneasiness in some Western countries that have long perceived the continent as their backyard and sphere of influence. Due to the fact that China buys vast stocks of its oil supply and commodities from Africa, some Western pundits have labeled the nation a "neo-colonial master."
Such labeling is ridiculous given the reciprocal nature of China's ties with Africa, according to experts who spoke last Friday at a symposium at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS).
China's economic involvement in Africa is hugely different from the practice of former colonial powers that subjugated the continent for their benefits, said Professor K. Mathews of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.
By strengthening ties with Africa, China has spurred others to do the same, said Zhong Jianhua, China's special envoy on African affairs.
One major reason China is often slammed for its Africa policy is that it attaches no strings to its aid, whereas the West often links aid with so-called good governance and human rights.
China doesn't have rules on aid conditionality because it has a dual identity, said Zhang Haibing, a researcher of SIIS. The country is itself both a recipient and donor of aid. As such, it is naturally empathetic toward Africans pleading for largesse from condescending Western donors. For this reason, China seeks no selfish interests in Africa. Rather, it is a bona fide advocate and supporter of African development.
Besides its enormous investment in Africa's most-needed infrastructure, China has invested in local well-being. It sends medical personnel and youth volunteers to Africa to provide public health services, education and training. These efforts are meaningful in reducing poverty, said Mao Xiaojing, a researcher affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.
Civil wars are a constant threat to stability and prosperity in Africa. Security is one area that has seen evolution of China's role on the continent. Since it began to contribute peacekeepers in 1989, the number of People's Liberation Army troops on peacekeeping missions in Africa now equals that of the four other UN Security Council permanent members combined, said Dr John Pham of the Atlantic Council in the US.
Chinese peacekeepers are welcomed in Africa not just because they ensure public security, but because they are engaged in local engineering and logistics projects seldom undertaken by other blue-helmeted UN troops, he added.
While the West enjoys pointing a finger at China for its perceived inaction in stopping the war in Darfur, China actually has been an active mediator, said Professor Lu Jianxin of the PLA Nanjing Institute of International Relations.
In 2003 when the war broke out in Darfur, the African Union asked the UN to send military observers to the country.
The proposal was strongly opposed by Sudan. It was only due to China's mediation that it later became possible, said Lu.
In the 1960s, China built the famous Tanzania-Zambia Railway, a lasting symbol of the friendship. Today, the relationship has been cemented with burgeoning trade between China and Africa, which in 2011 totaled US$163 billion - up from US$10 billion in 2000.
China's growing influence in Africa has created uneasiness in some Western countries that have long perceived the continent as their backyard and sphere of influence. Due to the fact that China buys vast stocks of its oil supply and commodities from Africa, some Western pundits have labeled the nation a "neo-colonial master."
Such labeling is ridiculous given the reciprocal nature of China's ties with Africa, according to experts who spoke last Friday at a symposium at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS).
China's economic involvement in Africa is hugely different from the practice of former colonial powers that subjugated the continent for their benefits, said Professor K. Mathews of Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.
By strengthening ties with Africa, China has spurred others to do the same, said Zhong Jianhua, China's special envoy on African affairs.
One major reason China is often slammed for its Africa policy is that it attaches no strings to its aid, whereas the West often links aid with so-called good governance and human rights.
China doesn't have rules on aid conditionality because it has a dual identity, said Zhang Haibing, a researcher of SIIS. The country is itself both a recipient and donor of aid. As such, it is naturally empathetic toward Africans pleading for largesse from condescending Western donors. For this reason, China seeks no selfish interests in Africa. Rather, it is a bona fide advocate and supporter of African development.
Besides its enormous investment in Africa's most-needed infrastructure, China has invested in local well-being. It sends medical personnel and youth volunteers to Africa to provide public health services, education and training. These efforts are meaningful in reducing poverty, said Mao Xiaojing, a researcher affiliated with the Ministry of Commerce.
Civil wars are a constant threat to stability and prosperity in Africa. Security is one area that has seen evolution of China's role on the continent. Since it began to contribute peacekeepers in 1989, the number of People's Liberation Army troops on peacekeeping missions in Africa now equals that of the four other UN Security Council permanent members combined, said Dr John Pham of the Atlantic Council in the US.
Chinese peacekeepers are welcomed in Africa not just because they ensure public security, but because they are engaged in local engineering and logistics projects seldom undertaken by other blue-helmeted UN troops, he added.
While the West enjoys pointing a finger at China for its perceived inaction in stopping the war in Darfur, China actually has been an active mediator, said Professor Lu Jianxin of the PLA Nanjing Institute of International Relations.
In 2003 when the war broke out in Darfur, the African Union asked the UN to send military observers to the country.
The proposal was strongly opposed by Sudan. It was only due to China's mediation that it later became possible, said Lu.
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