China: Engagement for Africa
June 23, 2006 17 46 GMT
Summary
China has ramped up strategic relationships with African countries over the past two years to secure energy and mineral resources and geopolitical influence, as evidenced by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's June 17-23 tour through seven resource-rich and politically influential African countries. Wen's visit -- the latest in a series of high-level Chinese emissaries' trips to Africa -- underscores the degree to which China is outdoing the United States in efforts to build political capital in Africa.
Analysis
On June 17, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao began a seven-day visit to seven African countries: Egypt, Ghana, the Republic of the Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Wen's visit began just two months after Chinese President Hu Jintao's trip to Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya. Over the past 18 months, nearly a dozen senior Chinese officials have completed more than 36 visits to 25 African countries. The trips have all been part of a twofold strategy for China: to seal lucrative agreements for strategic resources and secure a position of geopolitical prominence rivaling that of the United States.
No other country can match China's prolific deal-making in Africa. Beijing has deployed senior government officials to Africa to secure concessions critical to China's economy. Oil concessions acquired in Nigeria, Congo and Angola help fulfill China's domestic energy demands; combined, deals reached over the past two months provide China direct access to the kinds of strategic resources necessary to meet ever-increasing domestic energy and consumption demands. Arms sales to Nigeria, Tanzania, Sudan and Egypt generate jobs within China. Relations with strategic and influential African countries -- such as Morocco, and U.N. Security Council (UNSC) members Ghana and Tanzania -- give China access to port facilities in north, west and east Africa to project its interests.
Chinese officials' visits have resulted in major deals for oil, minerals, trade and geopolitical influence. Hu's April visit to Nigeria concluded with a $4 billion agreement for new oil drilling licenses, and other agreements on building power stations and giving China a controlling stake in Nigeria's oil refinery. Hu's visit preceded talks with Zimbabwe, which wanted to purchase Chinese fighter aircraft. Wen's visit to Africa is also proving productive for China. A $2 billion deal was struck June 21 in Angola to finance the development of new oil fields. Oil, gas and communication deals were signed days earlier in the Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Ghana. Wen departed South Africa on June 22, having reached a deal encompassing nuclear technology cooperation and uranium concessions, in addition to an agreement on trade in textiles and clothing. A June 23 visit to Uganda will result in copper and infrastructure agreements.
Not all visits by senior Chinese officials are driven by economics, however. Other high-level visits aim to gain China geopolitical influence among African powerbrokers at the United Nations, where China is a veto-bearing, permanent member of the UNSC. Congo, Ghana and Tanzania -- all currently serving two-year terms on the UNSC -- were the focus of multiple senior-level Chinese visits in 2005 and earlier in 2006 as China sought to recruit them as reliable voting allies.
Furthermore, China has designed its visits to gain influence among African countries and leaders with continental and regional leadership responsibilities. Presidential- and premier-level visits with Congolese President and current African Union (AU) Chairman Dennis Sassou-Nguesso and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who held the AU chairmanship in 2005, have put China in a position to influence continent-wide decision-making. China's already-close relations with Sudan will get even tighter as Sudanese President Omar al Bashir assumes the AU chairmanship in 2007. China has committed senior-level attention to South Africa, as Beijing is acutely aware that South Africa is not only the continent's economic powerhouse, but also a political and diplomatic hegemon that the United States relies upon in Africa. A China-Africa summit that Beijing will host in November will propel China's reputation among African countries as a core backer of African interests.
However, China's economic and political dealings in Africa have struck a chord among African politicians who fear a Chinese takeover of African interests. South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and South African trade unions have sought reassurances that trade between China and Africa flows both ways. During his visit to Africa, Wen has carefully countered accusations of self-interest with explanations that China's considerable economic and political clout, its developing-country status shared with African countries and its permanent seat at the UNSC would be used to promote African and Chinese interests on a global stage.
China's deployment of senior-level representatives to Africa highlights the considerable amount of political capital China devotes to achieving its economic and geopolitical interests in Africa. China has sent more senior delegations to Africa more frequently in the past 18 months than to any other country. Two-thirds of the Chinese visits to Africa were to secure energy and geopolitical agreements. Goodwill and mediation efforts made up the remaining one-third of the senior-level Chinese visits to Africa during 2005 and 2006.
During the same period, U.S. foreign policy toward Africa has involved selective engagement. Washington has paid some attention to supporting anti-terrorism activity in the Horn of Africa and to Nigeria's democratic consolidation, but most of U.S. involvement in Africa has been to support and consolidate conflict-resolution efforts. Seven senior U.S. officials completed 27 visits to 19 African countries and, in further contrast with China, Washington's delegations to African have served only goodwill and conflict-mediation purposes. Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's Jan. 16 inauguration attracted a prominent U.S. delegation led by first lady Laura Bush and including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Mediating Sudan's Darfur crisis monopolized U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's engagement with Africa. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, the most frequent senior U.S. visitor to Africa, has largely concentrated on goodwill and conflict mediation such as talks with Kenya and Ethiopia and post-conflict consolidation in Rwanda and Burundi. U.S. President George W. Bush traveled to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria, but that was in June 2003.
Though the United States has largely taken a low-key approach to Africa, China will exploit a perceived U.S. absence from the continent in order to show how Beijing is committed to high-level deal-making in Africa. The United States, in turn, is likely to deploy fresh political and economic resources in order to counter China's Africa policy --to have Africa "Look East" -- a strategy designed to garner strategic resources and geopolitical support.
The frequency and type of official Chinese and U.S. visits to Africa illustrates how different methods drive different foreign policies. The net result of U.S. foreign policy in Africa, while basically serving to avoid entanglements in the continent, will be a response to China's advances toward resource control and geopolitical influence. China, on the other hand, will seek maximum advantage for as long as possible during the lull in U.S. attention toward Africa.
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