Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
Published : November 22,2024
“Think of the Long March; if you feel tired, think of our revolutionary forebears. The message has been drilled into us so that we can accomplish any goal set before us by the party because nothing compares in difficulty with what they did. Decades after the historical one, we have been spurred on to ever more Long Marches – to industrialize China, to feed the largest population in the world, to catch up with the West, to reform the socialist economy, to send men into space, to engage with the 21st century.”
The above is one of my most favorite quote of the Chinese Struggle for liberation, Very few people know that it took close to 20 years for the Communist Party of China (CPC) to liberate China and create modern day China that, is currently the second largest economy in the world.
Additionally, as a Rwandan and founder member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, and a member of the Rwandan Patriotic Army, I know what it feels like to suffer a serious defeat, but also rise from the ashes. We lost our top leaders including the commander in chief, General Fred Rwigyema, on October 2, 1990. The agent of western capitalist thought we were done. But like the Chinese we soldiered on.
We lost hundreds of combatants, the CPC, lost hundreds, the bottom line is “if you feel tired, think of our revolutionary forebears… we can accomplish any goal set before us by the party because nothing compares in difficulty with what they did. We can accomplish any goal set before us by the party because nothing compares in difficulty with what we went through.”
Many people know that modern China starts with the 1949 CPC capturing power, but it stared long back in 1930. Thus a protracted struggle that took close to 20 years, China therefore, is an epitome of the liberation movements against imperialists world over, an epitome of determination and sacrifice. Deaths of combatants willing to die so that their descendants would be free forever.
The guerrilla wars are largely over but the ECONOMIC War is still on, that is why Africa is so attracted to China.
The impact of China Africa cooperation
Role model
China is a role model for Africa, it represent, death, despair, defiance and refusal to give up no matter what.
China is a hybrid economy; they don’t go for western cut throat capitalism which benefits the few. To quote Tanzania’s founding father, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, who once referred to such capitalism as “man eat man societies.” China does not go for the old communism modelwhere the state controls everything, nor leave the economy to private sector like the US where one per cent rich people own more than the entire national economy.
After so much struggle 40 years ago, China population was generally poorer than that of most developing countries. Yet Thanks to her resolve, as the record shows her achievements are unprecedented. Below I quote the western records, not because I value them than our own records but because I want to avoid neo liberal challenges:
According to the World Bank and the Development Research Center of the State Council, over the past 40 years, the number of people in China with incomes below US$1.90 per day has fallen by close to 800 million, accounting for close to three-quarters of global poverty reduction since 1980. At China’s current poverty standards, the number of poor people in China fell by 770 million. By any measure, the speed and scale of China’s poverty reduction is historically unprecedented. So does it surprise anyone that Africa and the global South would be looking to China as a role model? China was a role model for political liberation and now a role model for economic liberation.
Below are what we Africans see in China. Africa integration
Besides being a role model, China brings the old dream of Africa integration with superhighways running from Cape to Cairo, Zambia to Gambia, Mali to Malawi, Rwanda to Luanda.
Reliability and Concrete programs
China partnerships and assistance to Africa are based on concrete programs and financing resources without any strings attached or lectures. (they don’t tell us to accept LGBT, transgender etc:
Concrete projects that will help integrate Africa:
As the saying goes, charity begins at home. Africa can only be integrate if only countries are integrated internally before integrating with neighbors and finally continentally. Below are some specific achievements and programs.
Ethiopia: The Grand renaissance Dam (GRD) built with the support of China
At full capacity, the huge hydroelectric dam – 1.8 kilometers (1.1 miles) long and 145 metres (476 feet) high – could generate more than 5,000 megawatts. It is projected that GRD will not only empower Ethiopia, but will export electricity as far as Rwanda, and other great lakes region, thus facilitating industrialization.
Kenya: Nairobi-Thika Superhighway highway and several other Nairobi by passes:
Thanks to the Thika Superhighway completed by China years ago. Travels have become much more comfortable. The 50 km road is Kenya’s first superhighway and one of the most modern road infrastructures in East and Central Africa. The highway is seen as strategic to Kenya’s economy as it connects Nairobi to the fertile central highlands. There are also three other bypasses reducing the notorious traffic congestion in Nairobi.
The bypasses are aimed at reducing congestion in the capital city which has seen an exponential increase in the number of vehicles.
The Southern Bypass is a 28.6 km road that will be built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation and is 85 percent financed by the China Exim Bank.
The 39 km Eastern Bypass will be partly financed by the Chinese government and is being built by Chinese construction firms.
China contribution to promote Africa continental Free Trade Area
Linking East and West Africa ( Trans African highway)
Chinese investment in African infrastructure through Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), may help create expanded sub-regional linkages, particularly in East Africa, that could help facilitate the emergence of an eventual, true East-West link in the long term.
in West Africa, China helped with the one completed highway, Highway No.5, which runs for 4,500 km through seven countries; Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad.
The LAPSSET Corridor Program
This has been identified as one of the key drivers to regional integration through infrastructure as it forms part of the envisioned Equatorial Land Bridge that traverses from LAPSSET Port to Douala in Cameroon. This link across the central Africa would undoubtedly rival the Suez Canal, carrying oils, minerals and merchandise between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
Horn Africa: The clearest case in point is Ethiopia. The railway line between Addis Ababa and Djibouti was funded by Chinese lenders and constructed by Chinese contractors.
Southern Africa -TAZARA railway (1860) kms long
In February 2024, China proposed to spend $1 billion to rehabilitate the rail line and upgrade it to a Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) through a public-private partnership model. The aging single-track TAZARA railway was built between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan from China, offering a cargo transport route from Zambia’s copper and cobalt mines to the sea on Tanzania’s coast that bypasses South Africa and the former state of Rhodesia.
The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport [LAPSSET)
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on intra-regional dynamics.. Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport [LAPSSET] The Lamu Port South – Sudan Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Project is the single largest, Integrated, Transformative, and Game-Changer infrastructure Project in Africa. The Project focuses on inter-connecting the East African countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda amongst others.
The case of Rwanda
Infrastructure: Rwanda is known for her excellent road network. Thanks to China- Rwanda infrastructure partnership. Between 2018 and 2024, The People’s republic of China assisted in Projects meant to upgrade (54km) urban network, leading to reduced congestion as motorists got several alternative tarmacked key roads.
Upgrading Works
The 66 km Huye-Kibeho-Munini-Ngoma Road Project was completed. Kibeho is an international Catholic pilgrimage shrine and serves as a religious tourism destination.
Hydropower infrastructures
Hydropower infrastructure projects have been developed and the latest one being Nyabarongo II Hydropower Plant Project. Nyabarongo II (43.5MW) is a multipurpose project expected to cater for water supply, irrigation as well as electrical power generation, thus not only enabling power generation but also supporting agricultural projects and ensure food security. China Geo –Engineering Corporation (CGC) is implementing the Giseke irrigation project located in Gisagara district Southern province.
Skills Transfer
If a country acts smart, there is high level skills transfer. In Rwanda, Chinese companies building roads often partner with reputable local construction companies such as NPD COTRACO and Horizon group, this means that the local company enhances its skills but also is empowered to refurbish these roads once they need repair.
Health
China’s Projects currently under implementation comprise of the Masaka Hospital Renovation and Expansion Project. The project is so important and well known to the extent that ordinary peasants reefed to it as “ ibitaro byabashinwa.” The current bilateral cooperation agreement covers projects worth US$ 600 million and they cover key socio-economic activities.
Education
Completed infrastructure projects under this agreement include the extension of IPRC Musanze. This year, the Chinese government provided 80 scholarships to Rwandan students to pursue their tertiary education in China. China also facilitates parents who wish to send their children to study in China with easy visa application process.
Since the 1980s, more than 1,500 Rwandan students have completed their studies in China after being awarded Chinese government scholarships, according to official data.
These are but a few examples which help to compare the 100 years of western domination with 24 years of SINO-Africa Cooperation. If you were a statesman not a neo colonial agent which way would you go?
Mweusi KARAKE is a regional integration advocate formerly with COMESA
