Africa -China Review Africa -China Cooperation and Transformation
By Gerald Mbanda
I have been reading the 2020 US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Report, a 575 page document that was presented to US Congress in December 2020. The annually report to the Congress, presents the commissions mandate which is to “monitor, investigate and report to the Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.” The hearing of the Commission’s report focused on the following 7 key areas:
- China’s Quest for capital
- China’s power Projection and US National Interests
- A “China Model?” Beijing’s promotion of Alternative Global Norms and Standards;
- China’s Evolving Healthcare Ecosystem: Challenges and Opportunities;
- China’s Strategic Aims in Africa
- The Chinese View of Strategic Competition with the United States; and
- US-China Relations in 2020: Enduring Problems and Emerging Challenges.
In a nutshell, the whole report starts and ends with whining about China’s growing global influence economically, militarily, technologically and diplomatically. For that matter, the US finds all reasons to blame China for everything going wrong from US diminishing global influence to the spread of COVID-19 in their country. Finding an external enemy- China to blame, is a standard play of a weak government, especially when the problems at home seem too complex to solve with sound policy.
I will not be able to analyze the whole report in this article, but I will focus on only two key elements of the report. The first one is the “China Model” referred to as “Beijing’s promotion of alternative Global norms and standards”. As one of its key findings, the report mentions that, “Beijing has long held the ambition to match the United States as the world’s most powerful and influential nation. Over the past 15 years, as its economic and technological prowess, diplomatic influence, and military capabilities have grown, China has turned its focus toward surpassing the United States. Chinese leaders have grown increasingly aggressive in their pursuit of this goal following the 2008 global financial crisis and General Secretary Xi’s ascent to power in 2012.”
Every nation in the world has ambitions to grow, economically, militarily, technologically, etc, to become the best in everything and offer good life to its citizens and also share the benefits with other countries. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs also tells u that even individuals strive for higher needs when their lower-level needs have been fulfilled and satisfied. In the same way, that is how developing countries are able to catch up with the developed ones. There are no countries that were created as developed while others have to stay under-developed or keep in the league of developing countries permanently. For a country to aspire to grow to the level of one which is better off, is healthy ambition and competition that could not be seen as creating rivalry between nations.
The US policy makers have two fundamental shortcomings I can say. The first, is the belief that the US capitalistic model, values and norms must be the world’s standards and everyone else pursuing a different model is considered as an enemy. Nations must be free to choose any form of governance model, economic development, values and norms that work for them and in resonance with their people’s choices and culture. Imposing the “American” model has failed in the past through reinforcement with threats of economic sanctions and deprivation, and it will never succeed in the prevailing shift of global economic realities.
The Second problem is that of superiority complex. “we are at the top of the world and no one else should dream to get there”. Yes. Everyone one knows that this is a fact, but how did the US get there? Is it impossible for others to get there? is it a crime to get there? China is being demonized for its own success whereas the US feels it has to always be at the top of the world in everything! Those who are bashing China for its success, which is slowly but surely climbing the ladder to the top of the world, know very well that the US economy was smaller than that of the British empire in the 1820s, and only became the largest economy at the end of the 19th century under Teddy Roosevelt. 20 years before, the US working class was basically slaves, forced to work more than 60 hours a week in dangerous and dirty conditions.
If the US overtook other countries to be where it is today, it’s not a reserve for one country. Others can make it as well through hard work. I have previously quoted Dambisa Moyo in her book; “How The West Was Lost,” where she observes that, “by the end of this century, most of the world will be developed: the era of western exceptionalism will be over. Moyo writes that the west will lose out in the scramble for finite resources, and as, “the rest” rise “the west” will decline, not just relatively but absolutely. The US today, is lost in complacency and fails to accept and embrace change.Moyo continues to say that, “Americans are in for an analogous shock as other economies become dominant, and as other societies offer higher living standards: if you want to see the future visit Singapore, not New York. The divisive and dysfunctional politics of America may become increasingly reminiscent of Britain in the 1970s.”
Regarding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the report to the Congress says that, “The Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative is both a blueprint and a testbed for establishing a Sinocentric world order. The initiative has no membership protocols or formal rules but is based on informal agreements and a network of bilateral deals with China as the hub and other countries as the spokes. This framework lets Beijing act arbitrarily and dictate terms as the stronger party.” To the contrary, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) introduced by China has received global acceptance as the best model of shared prosperity and development, whereas the US looks at the project as a threat to its economic interests. If BRI was an economic threat the countries involved, they would have the option to drop out because membership is voluntary rather than conditional. Many more countries are embracing BRI as a good model for multilateral development cooperation. China’s world view has never supported hegemony or a Sino centric world order. China’s cooperation is based on a win-win principle, and a world view of a community with a shared future for mankind.
When it comes to the relationship between China and African countries, the US does not hide its frustrations that African countries have embraced China rather than US as the preferred development partner. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Report, states that, “Over the last two decades, China has reinvigorated its longstanding ties to African countries, placing the continent squarely at the center of its ambitions to become a global political and economic leader. Beijing views Africa as a testing ground for the export of its political and economic model and believes that if more African countries emulate China’s system of governance, it will be easier for Beijing to advance its strategic objectives across the continent and globally….. The CCP has used the influence it gains from its political engagement with African countries to enlist African support for its geopolitical objectives, diminishing the impact of U.S. diplomacy in African countries and in the international system.”
China has remained Africa’s largest trading partner for more than a decade, with the volume of trade reaching over $ 192 billion in 2019. On the other hand, Africa trade with the US was only $39billion in 2017, making the US Africa’s third-largest trading partner behind China and the European Union according to figures from USAID. This is the real problem that US has lost Africa in terms of trade and also as a source of projects for American companies. When US finds itself on the losing end, it has to find scapegoating reasons to destroy its competitor and that’s how African countries are told to be ‘careful while dealing with China’. The terms “Debt trap” and “China recolonizing Africa” {when in real sense China has never colonized any country}, are deceptive tendencies by the US to tarnish the image of China in Africa.
Africa has realized more infrastructure development under the cooperation framework with China through the Forum on Africa China Cooperation (FOCAC). The Kenya Standard Gauge Railway and the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway are just two typical examples, that support Africa’s economic development, in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) launched recently by the African Union. Actions speak louder than mere words. The COVID- 19 global pandemic has further shown the increased cooperation and friendship between China and Africa. Although China was the first country to suffer from the effects of COVID-19, and could be overwhelmed with responding to domestic challenges, it has been at the forefront of supporting African countries in accessing the required materials and equipment for diagnosis, preventing and treating COVID-19. Almost all developed countries paid less attention to Africa, focused largely consumed by their own domestic challenges. No one will blame them for that. However, as they English saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed.
US-China Economic and Security Review Commission Report, fails to acknowledge that China is a country with its own development model that is working for their aspirations, catching up or even surpassed the US in some areas, with no intentions of undermining the US global position or take away its allies. Unfortunately, China’s rise is neither unstoppable and nor irreversible. When one reads the report, it creates an impression that China is trotting outside its territory, doing bad things for US similar to eating America’s lunch, and some day will be made to pay the price dearly! Will the new American administration under President Joe Biden make a difference in the US-China relations?
Gerald Mbanda is a Researcher and publisher on China and Africa.
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