Africa-China Relationship: Old Struggles, New Aspirations - Essay Sample

Introduction

One of the major stories of the twenty-first involves the dramatic growth that has taken place in the relationship between Africa and China, and it forms a big part of the intense transformation occurring currently in the global economy. Two sides exist to this relationship; on one side, it represents a lasting partnership that erupted due to the classical harmony of human struggles against aspirations for development and western imperialism. On the other side, critics view it as a reminiscent of European colonization that occurred a century ago, with Africa being a lucrative export market to Chinese products and an inexpensive source of raw materials. Even though the relationship between Africa and China is complicated, understanding it is essential to bring perspective to a number of issues. One of the highly debated issues is China's lending habits to African countries because, in as much as it helps African countries economically, such huge debts make the relationship as neocolonial.

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The relationship between Africa and China has been threatened over the last few years by the inhuman treatment of Africans by the Chinese in Africa. Most recently, the racism and discrimination of Africans in China in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has raptured the Africa-china relationship, and it contradicts the Chinese policy agenda for stronger relations with African countries. The Chinese government should take African countries involved in the relationship seriously and design policies that ensure Africans are treated in fair and human ways by Chinese nationals. Deterioration of the Africa-China relationship due to issues such as inhumane treatment and discrimination may affect the economic magnitude as well as the opportunities that this relationship offers both sides. It is important to address this problem because it brings a fallout that will potentially undermine China's diplomatic efforts in Africa.

Even before the recent incident of racial discrimination of African in Guangzhou, instances of African mistreatment and discrimination by the Chinese had been witnessed. Such policies that allow human rights violations have no evident economic, political, or scientific basis, yet Africans in China have long experienced racial discrimination without their governments criticizing the Chinese authorities (Ado, 2017). The recent outcry by the African governments shows that they feel betrayed and mistreated by the Chinese government, and this will potentially rock their relationship. By addressing this problem, African governments can press china to enforce policies that prevent discrimination and human rights violation. It will go a long way to guide the nature of their relationship and ultimately determine whether China will continue to be a trusted economic and strategic partner as an alternative to western imperialism and the European Union.

Characteristics of The Problem Today

The relationship between Africa and China is mostly on economic aspects but also encompasses cultural, education, media, and political affairs. Most Chinese enterprises that operate locally in African countries have been on the frontline of numerous complaints. Such complaints include poor workers safety standards and low wages for those they employ in these Chinese owned and operated enterprises. Moreover, the Chinese are known to excessively use Chinese labor on local African initiatives and projects, and this is coupled with the failure to train African workers so as to absorb them into the workforce for their African projects (Lan, 2017). Only a few Africans are employed by the Chinese on a low level and low skill employment, this is a very non-subtle characteristic of discrimination of Africans in their own countries. Also, the Chinese are known for their racist attitudes, especially towards African immigrants in China; this is seen in the absence of free path to national residence due to their racist, nationalistic attitudes and archaic immigration laws.

The Chinese immigrants in some African countries are also known to treat their local workers in inhuman ways; some go to extreme ways to physically harass their workers. Most Chinese enterprises in Africa engage in discriminatory and unfair competition and investment practices, often leaving Africans out (Zeleza, 2014). Most of the corporate social responsibility initiatives are reactionary; hence their first option in as far as Africans are concerned is not being proactive. All these characteristics show how unbalanced the Africa-China relationship is, and what is more pressing is that both governments have been doing very little to find solutions to such discriminative attitudes. African governments have little sway in diplomatically championing policies that go against discriminative behavior because of the enormous debt burden from China.

On the other hand, China comes out as a rogue donor offering economic aid with an exceptionally opportunistic and self-serving attitude. What is clear is that the recent diplomatic rupture brought about by the racial discrimination of Africans in China as the world reacts to the Coronavirus pandemic should be handled before it damages the Africa-China relationship. Both sides need to work together to put policies in place that mitigate and eradicate human rights violations and racial discrimination.

Origin and History of the Problem

The origin of Africa-China relations gained more strength after the Chinese revolution of 1949 and the decolonization of African countries in the 1950s. As western countries left, China slowly began to offensively target its foreign policies and international relations to Africa (Zeleza, 2014). It sought to sustain good relationships with the governments regardless of the inclinations, and this was an early sign that they did not hold Africans in high regard. It advanced itself as an unconventional development model to western imperialism and championed for the Third world against the superpowers. Such promotions allowed African countries to trust China. Eventually, trade and aid increased to the point that Africa freely engaged with China in different dimensions, with each side benefiting in different ways. Over time as China became more involved in Africa, they started various initiatives and gave out loans; the Forum on Africa-China Corporation was formed, which unveiled new measures to deepen the relationship. Chinese enterprises operating in Africa brought a number of Chinese immigrants into Africa. At the same time, many Africans went to China to trade, and as experts in different fields. Between 2003 and 2008, close to a million Chinese nationals were residing in Africa, and the number has been rising (Lau, 2020).

On the other hand, more Africans also moved to China for higher learning opportunities and business ventures. Such migration and cultural interactions held so much potential for the strengthening of the relationship China has with almost all the 54 African countries. It promoted government to government, person to person as well as the sector to sector interactions. Still, it became evident that the nationalistic attitudes of the Chinese are racist and discriminatory. This deduction is due to the many incidences where Africans have been mistreated by the Chinese both in China and Africa. Most of the occurrences go unacknowledged; hence no little remedies are employed. The problem addressed originated not only from the trade interactions but also from the migration tendencies of individuals. It is challenging to associate fully with a government that does not respect the rights of Africans and hence to save Africa-China relationship from deteriorating. All governments have to be engaged in creating policies to this effect.

Previous Attempts at Solutions

China's economic investments in Africa have helped to create a prejudice that all Africans are poor and hence profiting from money and resources that should be invested in china. Over the years, African governments have not been keen on openly criticizing China against racism and discrimination by the Chinese. Most of the previous complaints receive little attention; hence little to no solutions are provided to prevent future occurrences. The Chinese government has, however, tried to solve a number of problems that touch on the person to person relationship between China and Africa (Alden, 2018). Africans have been forgiving of such attitudes, but this is not a lasting solution as it only increases the magnitude of the problem. Several individuals have tried to create awareness of the racial attitudes of the Chinese, but the government and its national have played ignorant to such tactics. To provide an objective decision to this problem, all stakeholders should be engaged from the Chines government, African governments, and Chinese nationals.

Other Stakeholders such as the World Trade Organization also champion for lack of discrimination in trade. The recent outburst by several African leaders is a call to action for policymakers and the Chinese government to design policies that improve on the observance of human rights, especially for black, whether of African origin or not. African governments should also champion for fair treatment of their nationals. China should view Africa as their partners and not people who are at their mercy. China ought to acknowledge that Africans are people with a diverse cultural inclination and a wealth of resources; hence should not feign ignorance on matters of racial discrimination by its nationals. Africa should also be strategic and clear on how it plans to pursue its long-term interest in its relationship with China. Coherent policies need to be enforced collectively by African states to ensure that diplomacy is used to solve problems arising from a lack of cultural and racial cohesion. The success of such policies will dictate future Africa-China relations as partners in trust.

References

Ado, A., Su, Z., & Wanjiru, R. (2017). Learning and knowledge transfer in Africa-China JVs: Interplay between informalities, culture, and social capital. Journal of International Management, 23(2), 166-179.

Alden, C., & Large, D. (Eds.). (2018). New Directions in Africa-China Studies. Routledge.

Lan, S. (2017). Mapping the New African diaspora in China: Race and the cultural politics of belonging. Taylor & Francis.

Lau, R. K. S. (2020). Africa-China Relations in the Context of Belt and Road Initiative: Realizing African-Chinese Dreams for Common Development?. In China's Globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative (pp. 157-178). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Zeleza, P. T. (2014). The Africa-China relationship: challenges and opportunities. Canadian Journal of African Studies/La Revue canadienne des etudes africaines, 48(1), 145-169.