There for 50 years, there for the next 50

Notions that China is a 21st-century blow-in in Africa defy facts and history

Reading newspaper articles, trawling the Internet or listening to electronic media on Sino-African relations, you could be excused for thinking the two discovered each other only in the past 10 years or so. In fact, the African Union jubilee celebrations that concluded in Addis Ababa on May 27 could have doubled up as commemoration of 50 years of China-Africa cooperation. This is evident in the fact that the People's Republic of China moved speedily to establish diplomatic relations with most African countries when they attained independence from European powers.

In a number of cases, diplomatic relations pre-date the May 1963 formation of the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union. In this category are Egypt (1956), Tanganyika (1961) and Ghana (1960), to name but three.

Indeed, if one goes back in time, it is clear that China-Africa relations are truly ancient, going back as many as 600 years as archeologists from Peking University and the National Museums of Kenya have recently confirmed.

During the early 1960s when independence struggles were bearing fruit, some African countries maintained relations with Taiwan. However, these remained in the minority and indeed, most African countries would recognize the PRC when it was readmitted into the United Nations in 1971. It was African countries that tipped the balance in favor of the PRC at the UN, moving Mao Zedong to famously say: "We were carried back into the United Nations on the backs of our African friends".

The key goal for the establishment of the OAU was for the total liberation of the African continent from colonialism. This is because while some African countries were attaining self rule, some colonial powers were not keen to let go of their colonies. One of the leaders who played a pivotal role in this push for liberation of the continent was the late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. China-Africa experts such as Deborah Brautigam and Jamie Monson have documented how China morally and materially supported the liberation struggles in Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Dar es Salaam, the Tanzanian commercial capital, was designated by the OAU as the base for liberation movements. Because Nyerere was close to the top Chinese leadership, Dar es Salaam became the hub for liberation movements, and China offered ideological and hardware support.

Indeed, China's support for the leaders such as Jonas Savimbi (Angola), Samora Machel (Mozambique), Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) and Sam Nujoma (Namibia) who were clamoring for independence seems to have emanated from the Bandung Non-Aligned Movement conference of 1955. It was during that momentous "third world" conference that the then premier Zhou Enlai first presented an eight-point China foreign policy hinging on self determination, sovereignty and non-interference, tenets that must have sounded like music to African leaders. Shortly after the formation of the OAU, Zhou undertook a nearly two-month tour of Africa, the length of that historic trip itself testifying to China's desire for close relations with Africa.

Besides the political objectives undergirding the OAU's establishment, the independence generation of African leaders also had their sights trained on "economic liberation". Though China had its own economic challenges in the 1960s and 1970s, it still provided aid and support for African countries in this period. The most outstanding initiative from that era is the 1,800-kilometer Tanzania-Zambia Railway, building of which began in 1970 and was handed over ahead of schedule in 1975. Today it is hard not to find an infrastructure project built with Chinese aid or concessionary loan.

The 1970s was a period of intense geopolitical rivalries between the West and the East. While some countries such as Zambia, Guinea Bissau and Tanzania embraced socialism, others such as Kenya and Ghana, South Africa and Nigeria were more inclined toward capitalism. It is in this Cold War context that China-Africa relations might not have reached the peak they enjoy today. However, China's reform and opening-up policies from 1978 at the behest of Deng Xiaoping saw to the strengthening of relations. A review of high-level visits by African leaders to Beijing shows a spike from 1980 onward.

The major milestone in Sino-African multilateral, bilateral and multi-level relations was minted anew in October 2000 when the first landmark ministerial meeting that engendered the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was held in Beijing. The idea for the forum had been floated during then Chinese president Jiang Zemin's visit to Africa in 1996. Indeed, this is the turning point for the so-called Look East policy first coined by Zimbabwe's Mugabe and embraced by virtually all African countries except Swaziland, the only country on the continent that does not adhere to the one-China policy.

It was during the year 2000 event, dubbed "the first (gathering) of its kind in the history of China-Africa relations", that Jiang, then premier Zhu Rongji and then vice-president Hu Jintao expounded on a continent-wide strategy for relations over and above bilateral approaches. The mooting of the cooperation forum was expressed to create a one-stop-shop mechanism for smooth cooperation no doubt borne of the difficulties of multi-level engagement with the then 53-nation continent-sized Africa (South Sudan became the 54th nation in July 2011).

The China-Africa cooperation forum was established against the background of declining Official Development Assistance to Africa from traditional Western sources, while China had already made great strides in economic development and had accumulated huge foreign currency reserves.

Within six years of establishment, the forum had grown by leaps and bounds, such that when the third summit was held in 2006, China-Africa relations were attracting immense debate globally. Convened in Beijing in November 2006, the summit showed the might of China as then president president Hu hosted 48 African presidents and heads of government, the largest single congregation of African leaders outside African soil.

Such has been the success of China's engagement that the concept "Angola Mode" has been coined to underline the resources-for-infrastructure approach to development on the continent.

Symbolically, China built the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa, a skyscraper that cost $200 million and which was completed on schedule and officially opened early last year. Indeed, it is at this ultra-modern venue that the African leaders met to celebrate the AU's 50 years. Equally symbolic are China-built presidential palaces, conference centers, government office blocks and stadiums that dot the African continent as brick and mortar exemplars of deep diplomatic ties.

In 2009, trade been China and Africa reached $91.07 billion, making China Africa's largest trade partner, thus surpassing the US. Statistics show that last year trade was worth in excess of $200 billion, with more than 2,000 Chinese companies on the continent. China remains in an unassailable position as the continent's key trading partner. In the next couple of years, economic ties are bound to grow further as African countries utilize the $20 billion credit facility announced at the cooperation forum in July last year.

African governments have been unequivocally thumbs-up on relations with China, as many recent statements during high level exchanges show. Undoubtedly, this is because China is seen as a force for attaining the African Union's aim of "economic liberation". Accelerating economic renewal on the continent is evidenced by the fact that many African countries are today registering economic growth rates well above 5 percent. On the geopolitical front, African governments have coalesced with China on the need for reforms in international governance. African governments have largely ignored charges of neo-colonialism that Western powers have leveled against China.

China-Africa engagements in the diplomatic and economic fields are perhaps the most telling of the tight relations to the extent that relations at this level have an impact on all other areas. However, narrowing that down to fields as diverse as peace and security, culture, education media, agriculture and natural resources , reveals longstanding partnership. During the celebrations, the African Union unveiled its new strategy for the next 50 years. There is no doubt that China will have a more than passing role in the implementation of that strategy.

The author is a PhD candidate at Communication University of China and visiting researcher at Witwatersrand University, South Africa. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/31/2013 page11)