China’s Power Display for America in Africa
China’s power display for America in Africa was held last week at the eighth major meeting finalizing the eighth round of activities of the China-Africa Joint Cooperation Group. This major and key meeting was designed and executed with the presence of high-ranking officials, mostly in a virtual format, and under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China showcased a new perspective of its global policy approach in Africa to the world.
This meeting, held at the ministerial level of the member countries of the China-Africa Cooperation Group, was essentially a celebration of Xi Jinping’s leadership and the announcement of the start of the ninth phase of cooperation between this country and the countries of the African continent. In this specific framework, Chinese officials, led by Wang Yi, announced a plan to forgive part of the African debts.
This debt forgiveness will take place in the form of China waiving 23 interest-free debt items in 17 African countries. Initially, this event seems attractive and promising for African countries, but in reality, only a very small portion of the Chinese claims from these countries have been cleared in this specific program.
China, Africa, and Money
The financial reports released at this meeting regarding China’s financial and economic interactions with African countries contained interesting points. For example, Chinese officials explicitly reported a slowdown in the process of providing capital to African financial institutions. The statistics they presented indicated that out of the 10 billion dollars China had committed, only 3 billion dollars had been paid to African banks and financial institutions.
China continues to boast about its COVID-19 aid to African countries, and despite everyone being aware of the inefficacy of Chinese vaccines against new strains of the virus, the official report of the meeting made extensive reference to the provision of millions of vaccines to African countries. China’s economic exchanges with African countries, if not expanded, have not simply declined. China needs the various resources available in Africa, and the amount of China’s imports from Africa in the recent period has exceeded 70 billion dollars.
It should be noted that since the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak and the emergence of signs of a crippling economic crisis in China and globally, China began revisiting its global development investment plans. The results of this review and policy change gradually manifested themselves in the step-by-step reduction in the provision of capital, financial support, guarantees, and loans to various countries. In parallel with this trend, experts and researchers have once again sparked discussions about Chinese investment trends in less developed countries.
The so-called Belt and Road Initiative, a project with a history of over a decade, has directed billions of dollars of Chinese investment in various forms to different countries, especially less developed nations, and it is one of the important paths of China’s investment routes in the world, though not the only one.
The new phase of cooperation between China and African countries, as narrated by Chinese officials, is the strengthening of their warm relations with Africans. However, it should be said that despite official statements and promises, these investment routes, although maintained, are seeing a decrease in the amounts of capital flowing into the continent, and instead, the preservation and development of specific trades and collaborations in particular fields are the main goals of the Chinese.
One notable example of the reduction in the inflow of Chinese capital in Africa is Kenya. The amount of credit loaned by the Chinese to Kenya in 2016 was over 12 billion dollars, which has astonishingly decreased to only 255 million dollars in the last fiscal year. Chinese cash for borrowing has been replaced by Japanese money in Kenya, and this year Japan has provided the most loans to Kenya. Nevertheless, Kenya’s total debt to China is close to 7 billion dollars, which is five and a half times the country’s debt to Japan.
The Shadow of China-U.S. Economic Rivalry over the Cooperation Working Group
Naturally, serious discussions on very sensitive topics in Chinese relations with specific African countries are not included in the work of this joint working group. Various Chinese companies are active in different fields in Africa, and specific issues of disputes, conflicts, and sensitivities have arisen in each of the countries involved. Disputes involving Chinese mining and industrial companies in countries like Congo have been highly sensitive.
However, China’s cooperation in this area with Africans is so extensive that even the most serious disputes are considered peripheral issues. A country like the United States is significantly lagging behind the Chinese in such interactions with Africans. The recent trip by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken included various countries, and important behind-the-scenes negotiations on political and economic issues took place.
These are the first steps in the new phase of the U.S. approach to Africa, and officially, with the announcement of this country’s new strategic plan for Africa, Blinken unveiled this new phase.
China, in the China-Africa Cooperation Working Group Ministers’ Meeting, demonstrated that it has a favorable position in Africa. The joint statement by China and the continent’s countries, which included strong African support for Chinese policy, indicated the depth of Chinese influence. The mentioned statement, clearly crafted by the Chinese and seemingly signed by Africans without scrutiny, astonishingly addressed recent developments in China-U.S. relations and the Taiwan issue.
This statement not only supported the long-standing One China policy, which implies tacit but not official acceptance of Taiwan’s non-independence, but also explicitly emphasized Xi Jinping’s main policy and real goal of reuniting China and Taiwan, meaning the occupation of Taiwan.