Business

Saturday September 19, 2009

A study of Sino-African ties

Review by ERROL OH


China Safari: On the Trail of Beijing’s Expansion in Africa
Authors: Serge Michel and Michel Beuret
Publisher: Nation Books

SO what does a giant do after it has been roused from a long, deep slumber? In China’s case, it embraces capitalism and globalisation – selectively, of course – with a blend of fervour, single-mindedness and savvy. Nowhere is this more evident than in its moves in Africa this decade.

The rapid thickening of ties between China and Africa is one of the biggest, and perhaps most unlikely, stories in international trade and politics in recent years.

According to a February report from the Xinhua News Agency, China’s official press organ, Sino-African trade reached a record US$106.84bil in 2008, up 45% from the year before. In 2007, the number of African countries with which China had more than US$1bil in trade was 14. Last year, it was 20.

This is an astonishing rise in economic relations considering that trade between China and Africa first rose above the US$10bil mark only in 2000.

On the political front, it is clear that China believes in the wisdom of forging stout alliances with the African nations. Between April 2006 and February 2009, senior Chinese officials, including President Hu Jintao, have embarked on seven tours of Africa, covering 31 countries.

It was China that mooted the creation of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. The forum’s first ministerial conference was held in October 2000. Two more such events have since been organised.

Beijing’s widening influence in Africa is an intriguing development. At a time when most Western countries are ambivalent about their relationships with the many resource-rich African states troubled by violence and corruption, China steps in unhesitatingly with friendly assistance and a willingness to overlook such problems.

China Safari attempts to shed light on this phenomenon, not just by focusing on China’s policies and strategies, but also by providing revealing glimpses into the lives of some Chinese and African individuals who are part of the story.

That requires some intrepid legwork. To write this book, French-speaking Swiss journalists Serge Michel and Michel Beuret travelled to a dozen African countries and to Taiwan and China as well.

They spoke to government officials, diplomats, company executives, entrepreneurs and workers. Equally important, they saw first-hand China’s impact on Africa – the projects undertaken and the businesses run by the Chinese, the Africans’ sentiments over the inflow of Chinese capital and labour, and the social changes that flow from these.

China Safari is a dogged piece of reportage that works well as a study of how Africa and China’s destinies have intertwined. It is a portrait of mutual dependency that has still to find an equilibrium.

The rationale for China’s big bet on Africa is not at all hard to understand. It is about economic positioning and business opportunities. The Chinese economic juggernaut has a huge appetite for fuel and raw materials, and with its growth comes the need to venture abroad to seek jobs, contracts and markets.

Thus, China wants access to Africa’s wealth of commodities (oil, bauxite, copper, uranium, timber). In return, it offers the Africans financial support, cheap consumer goods and expertise in developing infrastructure.

The authors describe Africa’s reliance on China for the construction of highways, railroads, houses, utilities, hospitals and schools as “essentially outsourcing the very duties that traditionally fall to national governments”.

The Sino-African bonds are not built entirely on laissez-faire, of course. Many of the Chinese corporations operating in Africa are government-controlled, and projects awarded to Chinese builders are often linked to developmental aid.

Beijing’s apparent indifference to the spotty human rights track records of certain African nations, is a factor too.

“The only adjective that properly describes China’s attitude towards lending money is seductive. Borrow from the Chinese and you are drawn into the bosom of its – highly profitable – family,” claim Michel and Beuret.

Not everybody is glad about China’s success in Africa. The Western world is anxious that its presence in the continent is waning. Some Africans have not responded well to the Chinese style of management and doing business. Some believe that the two cultures will eventually clash.

Originally published in French last year, China Safari examines the issues with reasonable intelligence and objectivity, although occasionally the tone is patronising and you do get a whiff of sour grapes here and there.

Also, at times, this international edition does suffer from the pitfalls of translation – the writing can be stilted and pedestrian – but overall, Raymond Valley has done a decent job presenting China Safari in English.

There are even several biting comments. A grim example: “Although Angola has technically experienced peace for the past six years, it is a peace during which an Angolan child under five dies of hunger or illness every three minutes.”

And here is how the book describes a Zambian minister: “He had the politician’s knack of answering the question he wished he had been asked.”

A comprehensive coverage of the Sino-African sphere has to be as vast as China’s ambition, but China Safari, with excellent photographs by Paolo Woods, is a great starting point to understand this tectonic shift in world trade and politics.

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