Paris, 07/03/2008 (Agence Europe) -Chinese investments in Africa are increasing in scale every year, with major repercussions for Africa, but also for the European Union. The scale of the phenomenon recently led the European Commission to start a reflection on an EU-China partnership in Africa.
The role of China in Africa was the subject of the sixth “Point de veille” session of the association International Focus (IF), which was held at the Military Academy of Paris on Thursday 28 February, in collaboration with the French Institute of National Higher Defence Studies (IHEDN). The colloquium brought together a dozen participants and a hundred-strong audience from the military and civil security, university, industrial and journalism sectors, with the title “Economic Intelligence and Foreign Affairs”, with particular emphasis laid on the practices and strategies of China in Africa.
The first to take the floor, General Daniel Schaeffer - a senior consultant for China and South-East Asia at IF- started by stressing the increasing energy needs of China. The country, which has been a net importer of hydrocarbons since 1993, depended on other countries to supply 47% of its requirements for fossil fuels in 2006, a figure which is expected to rise to 80% by 2030. China “is hunting throughout the world”, General Schaeffer stated, but it has set its heart on Africa, particularly to compensate for its own shortfalls in natural resources. This dynamic is also reflected in the expansion of diplomatic relations: with the forthcoming opening of the embassy in Malawi, China will have 48 embassies on the African continent; this influence will necessarily limit relations, diplomatic and otherwise, between the African countries in Taiwan. China does not just exploit natural resources in Africa- it also depends on this emerging market to sell its finished products, particularly in the textiles, electronics and household appliances sectors. Furthermore, Chinese stakes and investments have tripled in volume since 2004, General Schaeffer reports. This also includes considerable support to several nuclear programmes; China supports the development of research reactors in Ghana and Nigeria, and a generator in Angola. It also supplies South Africa with slightly enriched uranium.
Should the Europeans worry? Patrick Sevaistre, an adviser to the chair of the French Council for Investors in Africa, stressed the requirement for a “new policy” towards Africa, at the very least. He explained that it is necessary, above all, to avoid giving the Africans the impression of “immobility” or of a “lack of interest”. General Schaeffer pointed out that Europe's obligations towards Africa are not restricted to economic affairs- there is every interest in developing a European strategy to counter the rising tide of Chinese influence, he explained, due to the “historical precedent” which links the European countries to their respective former colonies. “Otherwise, we will be laminated” by the Chinese, he added, as they have adopted competition practices which “often exceed the scope of the rules… by a very, very long way”. The General noted, among the elements used by the Chinese authorities to gather competition information: several ministries; the Exim China Bank; diplomats and representatives to other countries; and “all Chinese nationals overseas”. However, there are few international standards on foreign investments, and none which is binding on China.
Many of those who took the floor at the colloquium stressed that the Chinese way of investing contributes little or nothing to the development of the African continent. Dominique Bangoura, president of the Political and Strategic Observatory of Africa, stated that extracting primary resources, then reselling finished products to Africa, prevented the development of the secondary sector (the manufacturing industry). The Chinese contribution to the development of infrastructure is targeted at the facilitation of exports to China, not towards an improvement of the network within the country. Furthermore, most construction workers are imported from China. They often live in dormitory boats; many of them are underpaid soldiers. In either case, the indigenous workforce does not get the work, and the salaries are channelled back into China rather than injected into the local economy. The environmental standards of the Chinese building sites are also a cause for concern to observer organisations.
The Chinese approach to the developing countries is also leading to a change on the international development and investment scene. Funds, loans, Western subsidies, be they from the World Bank, a State or a charitable organisation, are often linked to conditions of governance, and to certain commitments by the beneficiary State as regards development. China has flounced this trend and these practices, which just delay and impede the transactions with these countries, which are rich in resources it urgently needs. According to Tanguy Struye de Swielande, a researcher at the Centre for the Study of International Crises and Conflicts at the University of Louvain, and professor at the Royal Military Academy of Brussels, Chinese practices may undermine the coordination of efforts by the international community aiming to help Africa to surmount its problems with development and, at the same time, corruption. “Whilst everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet, everything is fine”, he said. But he has observed a trend towards a change in the rules: having lost an important contract to the Chinese in Nigeria, the Indian investors are becoming less and less interested in the “development” planks of their activities in Sudan, for example. (C.D.)