Developing Africa is good for everyone

Global Times

The leaders of more than 50 African countries gathered in Beijing last week for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation—then came the inevitable Western criticism, said the Global Times. In recent years, China has poured billions of dollars into African businesses, infrastructure, and education; bought cobalt and copper mines on the continent; and opened some 10,000 Chinese-owned firms there. Westerners try to spin this investment as “neocolonialism,” accusing Beijing of plundering Africa’s resources and leading its countries into “a debt trap.” Such slurs are an expression of the West’s “sour grapes.” Beijing has pledged to invest some $175 billion over a decade in Africa,

dwarfing the U.S. commitment of $14 billion. But then, the U.S. and Europe were always content to treat Africa as a subordinate colony, not as a main player in the global economy. China, though, recognized that “African countries do not want to be enslaved,” and they have welcomed China’s mutually beneficial business. China has “creatively positioned the continent as the new opportunity for the world economy.” Would African leaders keep signing agreements with Beijing if it weren’t in their countries’ interests? Of course not, and it is condescending to suggest otherwise. In Africa, and elsewhere, “the West seems like a loser covering up its own problems by cursing others’ progress.”