Part I
China-Africa Partnership: The context
Africa forged cooperation and partnership with major economies like EU, USA, China, Japan, France, Germany, Russia, the Arab League, India, Turkey, South America, and Korea, among others. No other partnership has attracted as much attention and as much scrutiny as the China-Africa one. It may take some one by curiosity to eagerness to understand the interest behind such attention. It, however, is not my intention to delve much into it now. No doubt, it would be worthwhile to have evidence based analysis as to why this partnership has received much attention compared to others.
Partnership and cooperation are undertaken on the political will of both sides to promoting mutual benefits of both participants from the synergy it creates. It is on that premises, I intend to briefly look at China-Africa cooperation through the prism of the current challenges posed by the pandemic and well beyond. Let me give the matter the proper context it deserves.
To begin with, this is an intergovernmental process and as such it is assumed that both sides articulated not only the purposes and objectives but also defined goals as to what they both desire to achieve from the cooperation. And successful cooperation is best when there is strong political commitment, organizational framework and well defined areas of cooperation further enable both sides to make an optimal use of their cooperation.
China and Africa enjoy long standing and historical relations which were elevated to Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership couple of years ago. The formation of Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) two decades ago enhanced the existing relations between Africa and China to a new height. The institutionalization of the cooperation framed not only areas of cooperation but it also made it predictable and measurable.
The Narrative
Many analysts, policy and news makers have been preoccupied in narrating their perceptions and views on this particular partnership. Some tend to sound ideologically driven, while others fell short of evidence and some are even gravitated to be based on perceptions. As a result, many lacked balance, objectivity and suffer from some elements of prejudice.
To the astonishment of many, much of such dominant narratives about China- Africa are set not by those who own the partnership but by outsiders. I am not in any way implying that others cannot hold or share their opinions on the matter, as all of us are entitled to air out our notions and we should respect the diversity of opinions as well.
Some two decades ago, The Economist Magazine came out with a headline, “Africa-A hopeless continent”. That is when FOCAC came into existence. The time is very interesting to note. The same magazine in a matter of 10 years later wrote another headline, “Africa rising.” That is how narratives are set about Africa- Africa a huge and diverse continent to make such a hasty generalization. The recent narrative that China is ‘recolonizing Africa’ economically is strongly refuted by African leaders and apparently not corroborated by evidence. To talk about recolonisation in 21st century, in whatever form or shape, is just mind boggling. Africans are mature enough not to allow recolonisation by China or any other power for that matter. Nor, does China have any intention of such a sort. It is also a puzzling paradox for many observers that those who criticize Africa for its engagement with China and those who gratify such a prejudice against the partnership do by far more businesses with China than Africa.
The Essence of China -Africa Partnership
“If you want to go fast, go alone and if you want to go far, go together,” is the African wisdom of expressing the imperative of unity and solidarity. I believe that China- Africa Cooperation is a choice to go together and to go far.
Many global geopolitical observers tend to agree that the current global situation is volatile, complex and uncertain. No country big or small, developed or developing, south or north or east or west can address the enormous challenges facing human kind in its own. Hence, to navigate through uncertain global situations, the need for partnership and strong multilateralism cannot be overemphasised. Therefore, China-Africa partnership should also be seen in this context, as a levelled platform of purpose and of action to forge a concerted intercontinental approach for mutually beneficial partnership and responses. And judging from complementarities of multifaceted areas of interactions and convergences of interests, partnership between China and Africa is not only important but it is absolutely necessary.
Let me explain. Africa, a continent of 55 nations, with a voting block of 28% at the United Nations (UN), with a population of 1.2 billion, of which majority are young and productive, a continent endowed with huge natural resources; to partner with China, a country of 1.4 billion
people, second largest economy, the largest manufacturer and exporter and second largest importer, inter alia, is unmistakably unavoidable.
Principles Governing The Cooperation
The partnership between Africa and China is based on core principles of equality, mutual trust, respect and interest. Both sides uphold the rights of sovereign nations to choose their development and governance models and policies. Unlike the liberal world order that prescribed one set of development and governance models for all countries or “ one-size-fits-all”, without taking into account the socioeconomic, political, cultural and historical contexts of each country, the China-Africa partnership respects policy independence for each partnering country to make its own policy choice as it finds it fit to its own situation. An Ethiopian saying to this effect goes like this; “only a witchcraft knows better than oneself.” It is also democratic to respect the rights of nations to make their own choices, chart their courses forward and determine their own destinations. In other words, no one knows better what is good or bad than oneself.
Such guiding principles are the solid foundations for a cordial friendship and political trust that created ample economic, social, and political benefits to the peoples of China and Africa. Let me hasten to stress here that only mutually beneficiary partnerships can be sustainable, and conversely, an unsymmetrically skewed partnership stands little chance of survival and is deemed to yield dismal results. It must also be noted that as much as Africa needs China, China also needs Africa. Therefore, there is convergence of interests for the two sides to cooperate, collaborate and partner on issues of common interest.
Go Global, Go Africa
China achieved what can be described as a phenomenal fast social and economic transformation over the past 40 years that marked a successful path of reform and opening up. During this period, China lifted up over half a billion of its citizens out of absolute poverty, unparalleled in a recent history of development. The government declared to make poverty the thing of the past in 2020. Whether this will be achieved under the current circumstances of COVID 19 is to be seen.
Inspired by this profound social and economic success of China, other emerging economies and developing countries, including Ethiopia, have been attracted by China’s economic progress and made efforts to adapt some of its best practices to their own settings. This is a very sensible and rational decision as China stands out as a lodestar for impressive structural transformation to many countries in the world.
The long standing relations between the two created a fertile ground for the “Go Global” Chinese policy that encouraged Chinese enterprises to engage in outbound investment. Africa, considered as one of the new frontiers for Chinese outbound investment, was one of their destinations. In this case, China is partnering with African countries in sharing opportunities and experiences of its success stories and best practices. While the Chinese enterprises found market and investment opportunities in Africa, Africans also benefit from Chinese investment in manufacturing and infrastructure development, trade, tourism. technology transfer and human resource development, making the engagement a win-win one. The capital inflows to Africa have placed China firmly at the wheel of the discourse of development in numerous countries in Africa.
*Author’s Profile and Disclaimer: Teshome Toga Chanaka is currently Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the People’s Republic of China. The author contributed this article on his personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the government and the organization that he represents.
The Ethiopian Herald May 22/2020
BY TESHOME TOGA CHANAKA
(AMBASSADOR)
