Society takes seat at Sino-African table

With a relationship forged by official entities, it was time for civil groups to occupy their place, which they did in Johannesburg

A careful analysis of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in December shows that the relationship is beginning to take a more natural course with regard to culture and society.

The event scored a first in terms of the participation of civil society organizations in side events.

From one point of view, it is virtually impossible for a geopolitical relationship such as that of China and African countries to be initiated and sustained without the involvement of governments. However, once leaders have signed on the dotted lines with regard to a multiplicity of bilateral and multilateral agreements, the people they represent will always want to be involved in one way or another.

This appears to be the natural course of international relations: governments - represented by their leaders - meet and agree to enhance partnerships. This serves as a strong signal and indeed an impetus for the populace that seeks to benefit economically, politically or culturally from the relations. In turn, governments come back into play to try to influence the "people" aspects as relations develop. This seems to be the path that Africa-China relations have taken, especially with regard to people-to-people aspects.

What is our evidence for the above claim? For an answer, we need to retrace our footsteps to 2000, when the first FOCAC conference was convened in Beijing. The inaugural event was essentially a state-to-state affair. The key development of the first FOCAC was the launching of a partnership between country (China) and continent (54-nation Africa).

One may argue that civil society and non-governmental organizations should have been involved even at this inaugural FOCAC conference. But a more realistic view would be that governments were at the time testing a new idea, and the core of this testing was to reach broad consensus and let bits and pieces fall into place over time.

The FOCAC in 2000 proved serendipitous, perhaps far beyond its founders' imagination. Only six years later, the Beijing Summit of FOCAC was convened, attracting some 48 African leaders, a show of confidence in a fast-paced geopolitical relationship. In parallel to the confidence at the political leadership level or perhaps because of it, economic engagements were growing robustly.

What had perhaps been left behind in the FOCAC architecture was the cultural and social sphere. The meteoric rise in the political and, especially, economic spheres meant that non-state actors were being drawn in. Whether academic observers or migrant traders on either side of the Indian Ocean, this byproduct of economic and political confluence was the realization that ties that bind needed to go beyond officialdom.

Beginning 2006, China-Africa media engagements were enhanced essentially because government officials seemed to be on the same page but information in the public sphere was discordant. In 2009, China-Africa civil society and academic linkages were boosted. The result was increased contact and bonding between non-state or non-government actors. These included journalists, academics and civil society practitioners. A step in the right direction - but more needed to be done.

Returning to where we started, the Johannesburg Summit last year stands out as the one in which many more civil society organizations - broadly defined - participated either before or during the summit. Examples abound.

The Wits University's China-Africa Reporting Project trained journalists on how to cover FOCAC; the South African Institute of International Affairs held a series of workshops addressing issues such as Africa-China structural, policy alignment and institutional synchronization; the Law Society of South Africa and the Chinese Law Society and the National Prosecution Authority worked on the issue of trade arbitration; and the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University was busy throughout 2015: in partnership with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, academics met to prepare diverse issues for FOCAC.

In China, the China Public Diplomacy Association brought together Beijing-based African diplomats to launch a book, China-Africa 500: Facts About China, Africa and Relations Between the Two in Beijing. The book was published by ChinAfrica magazine.

In South Africa, think tank the Human and Social Research Council led a discussion on the governance of China and Africa relations, with substantial intellectual effort focused on the Belt and Road Initiative. Civil society organizations the Action Support Centre and the Southern African Liaison Office joined with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies to discuss FOCAC summit expectations. These are but a few examples among many.

Given increased non-governmental contacts, one can expect that challenges to Africa-China relations will be discussed candidly with an eye on ensuring that Chinese and African citizens benefit.

The author is a postdoctoral fellow at University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 02/26/2016 page10)