Africa’s ties with Asia set to grow stronger

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe recently concluded an official visit to Japan. While in Tokyo, both Mugabe and Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo expressed dissatisfaction with the structure of the United Nations Security Council. Both believe major reforms are necessary, and that the number of permanent members needs to increase.

This is an issue Tokyo has been pushing for some time, although of course, Shinzo wants Japan to be the council’s newest permanent member. Mugabe was able to secure some economic assistance, totalling about $5m and promises of Japanese investment in future.

Multiple media organisations including the Guardian and the Japan Times, framed Mugabe’s visit to Tokyo as a Japanese attempt to counter Chinese influence in Africa.

Pretty much everyone knows Beijing and Tokyo don’t always see eye to eye, to put it mildly. They have long-standing disagreements over history and maritime territory. In particular, Beijing feels the Japanese state has not sincerely apologised for its colonial-era annexation of Manchuria and other territories, and its wartime atrocities, such as the infamous Rape of Nanjing. In addition, Beijing and Tokyo both believe they own a small collection of uninhabited rocks in the East China Sea, respectively referred to as the Diaoyu or Senkaku islands.

Whenever Tokyo does something Africa-related, headlines tend to conjure up grand narratives about the Sino-Japanese rivalry coming to Africa. One blogger even worried that changes to Article 9 of Japan’s pacifist constitution would result in China-Japan proxy wars in Africa — harking back to good old Cold War binaries. Given the academic and media attention paid to Chinese engagement with Africa and the generally frosty relations between Beijing and Tokyo, it’s not that surprising, therefore, that media analyses often stress geopolitical competition as a driving force in East Asia-Africa interactions.

However, this narrative misses a far more interesting trend towards greater multilateralism in AfricaAsia, as opposed to China-Africa, relations. Writing in 2014, Dr Sven Grimm, then director of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Chinese Studies, noted that African leaders, media and policy makers generally had a “myopic” perspective of Asia.

Chinese engagement dominates, but other Asian actors are also significant in Africa. Japan, South Korea and India are all important in terms of aid, trade, and diplomacy, and poorer developing states, such as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are all present on the African continent.

According to Grimm, Malaysian investment, especially in the energy sector, occasionally topped Chinese investment, and total trade between Africa and Thailand was higher than the continent’s trade with Russia.

Also, while China has outright banned the sale of ivory, Vietnam remains a top destination for poached horns and tusks.

Given China’s slowing economy and declining demand for raw materials, this year will likely see more African multilateral engagement with Asia as a continent — if African policy makers seek it out — rather than the Beijing-centrism of previous years. This trend is already evident in diplomatic exchanges.

Recently, Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang wrapped up his Africa tour in which he visited Mozambique and Tanzania and pledged to increase trade with the latter to $1bn by 2020. Another interesting trend is for some leaders, such as Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, to exalt the late Lee Kuan Yew, who was instrumental in Singapore’s economic transformation. In particular, Kagame emphasises Lee’s “development first, democracy later” approach to development.

Multilateral engagement with Asia as a region rather than just, or primarily, China is better for African long-term growth and stability.