China not laying ‘debt trap’ in Africa

Governments of both sides must make the good intentions of their engagement clear

Afew years ago, I found myself on the platform of a train station in Tanzania. There, under the ubiquitous photograph of the country’s then president, were two fading portraits of two statesmen from an earlier time, late Chinese leader Mao Zedong and Julius Nyerere, the first president of independent Tanzania.

These two political giants were the main architects of the TanzaniaZambia Railway, or TAZARA, which was completed in 1976. The Chinese-built railway allowed Zambia to circumvent apartheid South Africa and white-minority-ruled Rhodesia and export its copper out of the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.

The 1,860-kilometer-long railway remains an enduring symbol of Chinese solidarity with Africa. It also serves to emphasize that China’s much-debated arrival on African soil is nothing new.

An important trivia: When Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the starting point of the torch relay in Tanzania was the grand terminal of the TAZARA.

In recent months, riots, coups and elections across Africa have once again put the spotlight on China’s role on the continent where it has accumulative investments of about $120 billion. This has prompted some commentators and politicians to say the Sino-African relationship is too one-sided and needs rebalancing to assuage public fears — fuelled by Western misinformation campaigns — that China’s strategy is a new form of colonialism aimed at gaining control of Africa’s rich mineral resources.

Regional analysts and China experts dismiss this view, because it misrepresents Beijing’s political, historical and economic approach to the developing world.

Since the 2000s, China’s trade with Africa has multiplied by 20 — it exceeded $200 billion in 2019. And its investment is estimated to account for 20 percent of Africa’s economic growth.

“China plays a long game. Beijing is not looking for immediate results or to own infrastructure; it is looking at trade flows as far away as 2045,” said Henry Tillman of China Investment Research.

Today, there is barely an African country where China has not invested heavily, partly but not solely as a result of the Belt and Road Initiative. Admittedly, much of this has taken the form of loans for infrastructure projects — deepwater ports, roads, railways and dams. But there is no evidence that this is a wily scheme to try to “buy” the continent.

Since July 2020, even a number of Western institutions have offered research showing no evidence at all of the much-touted “debt trap” scenario.

“Hard facts debunk that argument totally; the debt trap fear simply does not exist. There has not been one case of that, not one single case,” Tillman added.

China’s aim remains primarily development without which Africa cannot play the role it should in the global trading system — a point not lost on many of Africa’s leaders.

In September, a hotly contested election in Zambia saw an incumbent president toppled. During the campaign, China was repeatedly targeted for “acquiescing in highlevel corruption”.

Incoming President Hakainde Hichilema lost no time in saying that he intended to restructure Zambia’s external debt — officially pegged at some $13 billion, with the bulk of it owed to China.

Some argue that given the “opaque nature of debt contraction” under the previous government, the figure owed to China could actually be higher. Hichilema will need to have a frank discussion with Beijing on how to tackle this thorny issue.

“China’s commitment to Africa has been long-lasting … The trick is to create a partnership of equals and Africa has an important (role) to play in that,” said respected Zambian political commentator Buchizya Mseteka. “Africans need to grow up and stop blaming China for their own inadequacies. China wants reliable and honest partners,” he added.

According to Mseteka, Zambia, Africa’s second-largest exporter of copper, should avoid the trap of feeling it has to choose between the West and China. Instead, the new president, a businessman, needs to do what is best for his country.

“The fault lies with Zambia itself and particularly the previous regime. Why is it that the same Chinese State-owned and private companies operate above board when working in countries such as Botswana, South Africa, Mauritius or Rwanda? It is because these countries have prioritized national interests above personal ones, and have invested in institutional capacity,” Mseteka told China Daily in an interview.

China, however, must play its part in changing perceptions that it is only motivated by narrow selfinterest. It must make more efforts to make its dealings with African governments more transparent and better explain its presence on the continent to the young local populations, eager for economic growth and employment.

Since July 2020, even a number of Western institutions have offered research showing no evidence at all of the muchtouted “debt trap” scenario.