Great optimism with Sino-Africa partnership

In the last decade there has been a terrific surge in the trade and economic links between China and Africa, Nigeria in particular. The links are growing. Today there are more than 2,000 Chinese companies, most of them state owned, in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, while the trade between China and the African continent is more than $200 billion. China gets about a third of its oil and many other important natural resources such as solid minerals and woods from African countries. Among others, these are assets that have helped to fuel and propel China’s remarkable economic growth over the period.
Consequent upon its burgeoning economic growth, China has in return pledged to overtake the World Bank as Africa’s main finance provider. Only a few years ago, China pledged US$5 billion to set up a China-Africa development fund to encourage Chinese companies to invest in and provide financial support to Africa. It also committed itself to training 15,000 African professionals; send 100 senior Chinese agricultural experts to Africa and to set up 10 agricultural technology demonstration centres across Africa.
Western political and economic pundits posit that few issues have generated as much heat in recent times as China’s engagement in the African continent. They posit that China, in its engagement with Africa, aims to build a political constituency for its much-touted “peaceful development.” But its primary interest is petroleum and raw materials. And, if Beijing’s goal of quadrupling the size of its economy by 2020 is to be met, energy consumption, and therefore demand, will climb even higher. If anything, it is only Africa that has the resources that China needs in abundance but has almost no capacity to process the resources and it is a perfect opportunity for a rising economy like China. Africa can supply China’s raw inputs and as well provide a market for China’s manufactured products.
That is why today, China is either drilling or exploring for oil in Nigeria, Sudan, Angola, Algeria, Chad, Gabon, Mauritania, Kenya, Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, and Ethiopia, among others. Angola contributes half of the oil China buys from Africa. Beyond oil, China is extracting copper and cobalt from Zambia and Congo. It is buying timber in Gabon, Cameroon, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, and Liberia. It buys platinum and chrome from Zimbabwe and iron ore, coal, nickel, and aluminum from several other locations.
On their part, western countries have repeatedly criticized China for its interest in Africa, saying in essence that China is only interested in Africa because of its raw materials. But, Chinese leaders have always replied that “China is committed to helping Africa develop in all sectors of the economy.”
In Nigeria, many well informed people including the present Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, have written and cautioned African countries on their increasing trade and economic relationship with China. “China’s interest in Africa is not our development. America’s interest in Africa is not our development. Europe interest in Africa is not our development. China’s interest is China’s development. Our interest should be Nigeria’s development,” the emir said.
He argued that if the Chinese are going to come back and set up textile factories in Nigeria and buy cotton from our farmers and employ Nigerian workers and produce these textiles and sell to us, they are welcome. But, if they are going to produce textiles in Shanghai, subsidize them, bring them here, bribe our Customs Officers and come to our markets and destroy our industries, we must say no sir!
He added that if China is lending us money, and we are going to pay back that money to import equipment from China, we should please check that
the equipment are properly and transparently priced; that we cannot get them cheaper from another part of the world; and that they are of high
quality.
China is hungry enough for oil and minerals to overlook corruption and conflicts when making decision on investment in Africa. Still, China’s indifference does not mean that governance and related factors are not important for Africa’s economic development.