China- Africa relations redefine foreign aid
There is nothing new about communications and exchanges between China and Africa. What have been making news recently are the changes in geopolitics as a result of China’s entry into Africa and its ensuing partnership with the continent.
China first approached Africa with opportunities for trade, investment and to nurture a struggling natural resources industry.
The partnership has since expanded to the media, agriculture, peace and security, infrastructure as well as manufacturing.
Recent developments further show that there is a commitment from both sides to explore joint ventures in the arts and film industry.
It is, therefore, an engagement that is broad and has the potential to advance crucial sectors of the economy.
But even more importantly, the engagement enables the continent to provide more employment options while strengthening the livelihoods of the millions who live in Africa.
In the last five years, China has provided solutions to the many infrastructural and industrial challenges that the continent has faced.
Africa has been in dire need of better connectivity in keeping up with the demands of the modern world, especially with the breaking down of borders through globalization.
For Africa to survive, it needs to have better roads, affordable highspeed Internet connectivity, and rapidly growing industries.
China provided the best opportunity for many African countries to achieve these objectives.
Initially, many observers and critics saw the China- Africa relationship as a more developed and economically strong nation looking for an opportunity to enter into an imbalanced partner- ship with a struggling continent. Yet with time, the partnership has grown in leaps and bounds and both parties have continued to show an enthusiasm to keep the relations going. These ties have had a ripple effect and are redefining how aid is given and received, while also changing how other countries relate to both China and Africa. The partnership is providing a solution to existing obstacles in how aid is given, its sustainability and capacity to meet the growing needs of a developing continent like Africa. Experts have for many years questioned the manner in which many developing countries, particularly in Africa, receive aid and the conditions set by the developed nations offering aid. There are indeed many flaws in traditional aid provision as many economic experts deem it unsustainable since donor countries themselves are facing challenges in their economy. Granted, aid is a political issue and there are many geopolitical dynamics that come into play when countries are given aid. But China has shown that “aid” can be offered as a package in a give and take dynamic where each party has an opportunity to extend one resource while receiving another. Although China is much more developed than Africa with significant economic muscle, its foreign policy has put the emerging global powerhouse in the best position to work with emerging economies in Africa in a sustainable manner.
Within the China- Africa relationship, all participants bring some kind of resources to the table so that Africa is not simply receiving without investing into the partnership.
This means that Africa has strong vested interests that align with its development challenges and needs.
The China- Africa partnership is consequently displaying a much more effective way in which developing countries can receive aid, but in a manner that speaks to the challenges that both the developing and developed countries are facing.
Within this context, there has been a mellowing in the ways in which the West deals with Africa. There are indications of a willingness to drop some hard- line positions.
This is largely due to the fact that there are now more interested parties who have discovered that Africa can be a resource and not just the grantee in an imbalanced relationship.
The African continent has long been misunderstood. It continues to face many challenges, but through relations with China, the world has seen a more positive side of this continent.
China, on the other hand, is receiving mostly positive reviews for its engagement with Africa in mega projects that has improved many economies and provides more stable livelihoods.
The ongoing expansion of the economy in many African countries has shown that more African countries are reaching crucial socio- economic milestones. This growth is the key to repositioning the continent on the global map as an emerging economy worthy of the kind of mutually beneficial partnership that China has offered.