China and Africa on new silk roads
By David Gosset |
Updated: 2018-08-29 16:59
Editor's note: This article is part of the Preview Policy Report for the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, to be published by China Watch, China Daily's think tank.
The notion of multipolarity captures the realities of the 21stcentury international dynamics. While the US operates to preserve its global supremacy, China and the relations it has built with the non-Western regions of the world have become increasingly significant.
In 2017, total trade between the second-largest economy in the world and the African continent was $170 billion. It is on path to surpass the more traditional economic exchanges between the European Union and Africa. As it is often the case with China, it is the speed of the change, not the change itself, which is the most remarkable.
Since 2005, China's foreign direct investment in 293 African projects was $66.4 billion, creating more than 130,000 jobs according to Ernst and Young’s Attractiveness Program published in May 2017.
A community of 20,000 African traders is active in the province of Guangdong, and more than 1 million overseas Chinese form a solid bridge between the two regions. In South Africa alone, more than 500,000 overseas Chinese contribute to the economy, while there are sizeable Chinese communities in Madagascar, Ethiopia, Angola and Nigeria.
More than 2,400 Chinese troops are active in seven United Nations peacekeeping missions across the African continent. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti formally opened on August 1, 2017.
Thanks to more than 50,000 African students who have chosen Chinese universities to study, mutual understanding and appreciation between China and Africa have reached unprecedented levels.
With a mechanism like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, governments can plan the future of a relationship which will certainly further develop.
Contrary to what is generally assumed, relations between China and Africa did not start in the years following China’s reform and opening-up.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the navigator Zheng He (1371-1433) sailed reached the African continent. On what is known as the Zheng He’s Navigation Map, or the Mao Kun map, East Africa is represented.
Following the Afro-Asian Conference of Bandung in 1955, the People’s Republic of China deepened its relations with the continent. From December 1963 to February 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) visited 10 African countries: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
It was a moment marked by the fight against imperialism and colonialism. But with an instrument like the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, the spirit of the Bandung Conference is still alive.
With the establishment of official relations between the People’s Republic of China and South Africa in 1998 (during the apartheid regime, Pretoria had a strong connection with Taiwan province), the economic dimension of Sino-African relations became increasingly important.
In the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative that President Xi Jinping launched five years ago, relations between China and Africa have reached unprecedented heights, and they have to be interpreted in broader geopolitical terms.
While the ancient Silk Road that Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833-1905) described connected Europe and China, or more specifically the Roman Empire and the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the 21stcentury silk roads connect 1.4 billion Chinese with 1.2 billion Africans.Taken as a geopolitical reality, “the Road” dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative is the realization of the significance of the Indian Ocean. In 2030, the population of Africa, India and China will make up half the world's population.
It is in this context that the notion of an Indo-Pacific region has to be understood. By linking the Pacific and the Indian oceans in its global strategy, US President Donald Trump articulates what can certainly be seen as an answer to the Belt and Road Initiative and, by doing so, defines a renewed role in the Indian Ocean.
As US Secretary of Defense James Mattis explained at the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 2, 2018: “So, make no mistake, America is in the Indo-Pacific to stay. This is our priority theater”.
Despite the regrettable US mistrust of the Belt and Road Initiative, Africa has embraced it with 20 countries already involved in what is the most ambitious international development project of our time.
In contrast, Beijing has been accommodating to the US' interests in the region and possible involvement with the Belt and Road Initiative, by saying that the Pacific Ocean is big enough for both China and the United States. But Beijing cannot accept an American hegemonic approach in the region.
Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa from 1999 to 2008, famously articulated the notion of an African renaissance in a speech at the United Nations University. However, better coordination and cooperation mechanisms between China, the African Union and the European Union, have to be established.
An annual summit bringing together the leaders of China and those of the African Union and the European Union would be in the interest of the three parties.
The only long-term solution to the migratory pressure that is dangerously fueling populism across the European Union is the stability and the prosperity of the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
A “China-India plus one” structure is in a preliminary phase so Beijing and New Delhi can work to coordinate their approach to Africa.
While some are tempted by the dangerous return to unilateralism, the synergies among China, India, Africa and the European Union are a concrete advancement toward the realization of “a community of shared destiny for mankind”.
The author is the founder of the Europe-China Forum (2002) and the New Silk Road Initiative (2015). He has contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.
All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.
Editor's note: This article is part of the Preview Policy Report for the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, to be published by China Watch, China Daily's think tank.
The notion of multipolarity captures the realities of the 21stcentury international dynamics. While the US operates to preserve its global supremacy, China and the relations it has built with the non-Western regions of the world have become increasingly significant.
In 2017, total trade between the second-largest economy in the world and the African continent was $170 billion. It is on path to surpass the more traditional economic exchanges between the European Union and Africa. As it is often the case with China, it is the speed of the change, not the change itself, which is the most remarkable.
Since 2005, China's foreign direct investment in 293 African projects was $66.4 billion, creating more than 130,000 jobs according to Ernst and Young’s Attractiveness Program published in May 2017.
A community of 20,000 African traders is active in the province of Guangdong, and more than 1 million overseas Chinese form a solid bridge between the two regions. In South Africa alone, more than 500,000 overseas Chinese contribute to the economy, while there are sizeable Chinese communities in Madagascar, Ethiopia, Angola and Nigeria.
More than 2,400 Chinese troops are active in seven United Nations peacekeeping missions across the African continent. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Support Base in Djibouti formally opened on August 1, 2017.
Thanks to more than 50,000 African students who have chosen Chinese universities to study, mutual understanding and appreciation between China and Africa have reached unprecedented levels.
With a mechanism like the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, or FOCAC, governments can plan the future of a relationship which will certainly further develop.
Contrary to what is generally assumed, relations between China and Africa did not start in the years following China’s reform and opening-up.
During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the navigator Zheng He (1371-1433) sailed reached the African continent. On what is known as the Zheng He’s Navigation Map, or the Mao Kun map, East Africa is represented.
Following the Afro-Asian Conference of Bandung in 1955, the People’s Republic of China deepened its relations with the continent. From December 1963 to February 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) visited 10 African countries: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia.
It was a moment marked by the fight against imperialism and colonialism. But with an instrument like the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization, the spirit of the Bandung Conference is still alive.
With the establishment of official relations between the People’s Republic of China and South Africa in 1998 (during the apartheid regime, Pretoria had a strong connection with Taiwan province), the economic dimension of Sino-African relations became increasingly important.
In the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative that President Xi Jinping launched five years ago, relations between China and Africa have reached unprecedented heights, and they have to be interpreted in broader geopolitical terms.
While the ancient Silk Road that Ferdinand von Richthofen (1833-1905) described connected Europe and China, or more specifically the Roman Empire and the Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the 21stcentury silk roads connect 1.4 billion Chinese with 1.2 billion Africans.Taken as a geopolitical reality, “the Road” dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative is the realization of the significance of the Indian Ocean. In 2030, the population of Africa, India and China will make up half the world's population.
It is in this context that the notion of an Indo-Pacific region has to be understood. By linking the Pacific and the Indian oceans in its global strategy, US President Donald Trump articulates what can certainly be seen as an answer to the Belt and Road Initiative and, by doing so, defines a renewed role in the Indian Ocean.
As US Secretary of Defense James Mattis explained at the Shangri-La Dialogue on June 2, 2018: “So, make no mistake, America is in the Indo-Pacific to stay. This is our priority theater”.
Despite the regrettable US mistrust of the Belt and Road Initiative, Africa has embraced it with 20 countries already involved in what is the most ambitious international development project of our time.
In contrast, Beijing has been accommodating to the US' interests in the region and possible involvement with the Belt and Road Initiative, by saying that the Pacific Ocean is big enough for both China and the United States. But Beijing cannot accept an American hegemonic approach in the region.
Thabo Mbeki, president of South Africa from 1999 to 2008, famously articulated the notion of an African renaissance in a speech at the United Nations University. However, better coordination and cooperation mechanisms between China, the African Union and the European Union, have to be established.
An annual summit bringing together the leaders of China and those of the African Union and the European Union would be in the interest of the three parties.
The only long-term solution to the migratory pressure that is dangerously fueling populism across the European Union is the stability and the prosperity of the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
A “China-India plus one” structure is in a preliminary phase so Beijing and New Delhi can work to coordinate their approach to Africa.
While some are tempted by the dangerous return to unilateralism, the synergies among China, India, Africa and the European Union are a concrete advancement toward the realization of “a community of shared destiny for mankind”.
The author is the founder of the Europe-China Forum (2002) and the New Silk Road Initiative (2015). He has contributed this article to China Watch exclusively. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Watch.
All rights reserved. Copying or sharing of any content for other than personal use is prohibited without prior written permission.
