Opportunity Issue 88 - Sept-Oct 2018
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CHINA-AFRICA<br />
Maximising<br />
African agency<br />
The importance of understanding the complex<br />
ties between African countries and China<br />
The complex relationship between<br />
Africa and China has become<br />
even more complicated this year.<br />
Initially, <strong>2018</strong> was set to reaffirm the<br />
bond through the latest Forum on China-<br />
Africa Cooperation summit held in Beijing<br />
in <strong>Sept</strong>ember. The summit delivered<br />
its usual pageant of African leaders,<br />
side deals, and the announcement of<br />
a USD$60 billion financing package.<br />
The year also saw the recurrence of<br />
misgivings about the relationship.<br />
The most explicit theme of this conversation<br />
was debt. Donald Trump’s<br />
US administration added fuel to smouldering<br />
anxiety, and China found itself<br />
having to defend its lending to Africa—<br />
at home and globally. At the same<br />
time, African governments are battling<br />
rumours that they are about to hand<br />
over state assets to the Chinese.<br />
The debt debate is flawed—not least<br />
for underestimating Western contributions<br />
to African debt. Nevertheless,<br />
it is revealing. In particular, the<br />
debate reflects an anxiety that has<br />
haunted relations between China and<br />
the continent since the beginning<br />
of this century: the massive power<br />
gap between China and individual<br />
African countries.<br />
Power imbalances<br />
The constant rhetoric of win-win<br />
cooperation between China and Africa<br />
has never adequately answered the<br />
simple structural question at the heart<br />
of the relationship. That is: how is an<br />
economy the size of Benin’s or Togo’s,<br />
for example, supposed to meaningfully<br />
engage with the Chinese behemoth?<br />
It’s a bit like trying to speed up your<br />
bicycle by grabbing on to a passing<br />
jumbo jet. It can take you to the<br />
30 | www.opportunityonline.co.za