Beijing woos ‘neglected’ Commonwealth nations
China is exerting increasing power and influence over Commonwealth countries by exploiting the ‘‘often neglected’’ relationship they have with Britain.
These countries are taking out high-interest loans and becoming reliant on Beijing as part of an alleged Chinese attempt at the ‘‘wholesale destruction’’ of international organisations.
British think tank Civitas, in a new report shared exclusively with The Times, says that although China has been engaging with developing Commonwealth economies for decades, this has ‘‘risen dramatically’’ in the past 10 years.
It says that especially among nations in the Caribbean, Africa and the South Pacific, China has ‘‘greater diplomatic and military advantages’’ as it has used its Belt and Road initiative, a global infrastructure investment programme, to boost its influence.
Civitas found that between 2010 and 2020, China exported more than 1.5 times the amount to African Commonwealth countries than to non-Commonwealth countries. During the same period, British exports to these nations decreased by an average of 21%.
It warns that Barbados, Jamaica, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, the Seychelles, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Zambia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh are most at risk from ‘‘malign’’ Chinese economic policies.
The report says Britain has ‘‘often neglected’’ its relationship with Commonwealth countries, and has ‘‘de-prioritised’’ trade.
‘‘More recently, these systems of trade reliance and dependency by African nations have resulted in an emergence of diplomatic leverage by China,’’ Civitas says. It points to the United Nations General Assembly, at which developing Commonwealth economies have voted in line with China on ‘‘revisionist and normsbreaking’’ positions.
China has also brokered security partnerships, helping to train local police forces in the South Pacific and Africa. Civitas claims: ‘‘Often, this training includes ideological indoctrination, and a heightened risk that these forces will return and demonstrate an erosion of democratic values.’’
The ‘‘high likelihood’’ that the Chinese army would establish a permanent military base in the Gulf of Guinea, probably in a Commonwealth west African nation, also poses ‘‘significant security repercussions’’, Civitas says.
Robert Clark, director of the defence and security unit at Civitas and the report’s author, said: ‘‘The Chinese Communist Party is engaging in the wholescale destruction of international organisations steeped in liberal values, norms and objectives. The Commonwealth of Nations – the world’s largest international organisation that does not include Russia and China – has been targeted by Beijing for some time.
‘‘In many cases, using developing economies to flood Chinese exports and creating systems of trade dependency and debt dependency, China is utilising many of these developing economies for diplomatic favour at the United
Nations, and increasingly for military benefits to further Beijing’s revisionist global agenda.’’
Britain’s government is finishing a review of its defence and security strategy.
Liz Truss, during her short tenure as prime minister, ordered the review with the intention of reclassifying China as a threat. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is not likely to use that language, however, instead referring to China as a ‘‘systemic challenge’’.
Clark said the United Kingdom ‘‘must take the opportunity of the integrated review refresh to reprioritise . . . relations with Commonwealth partners’’.
Civitas recommends that the British Government boost expedited trade deals with Commonwealth nations with £9 billion (NZ$17.3b) that Truss set aside for this. It also says the Foreign Office should open trade offices in Fiji and Guyana, and reestablish the British embassy in Gabon and the high commission in Kiribati.
‘‘China is utilising many of these developing economies for diplomatic favour at the United Nations.’’ Civitas report