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China holds sway in new 'scramble for Africa': Experts

Chinese influence in Africa – political, economic and in terms of 'soft power' – now appears unstoppable, experts say

03.08.2015 - Update : 03.08.2015
China holds sway in new 'scramble for Africa': Experts

TUNIS, Tunisia

In recent years, China has emerged as the largest commercial investor in Africa, taking advantage of its massive economic expansion to impose its political will on the continent, experts say.

“China has become very powerful and indirectly influences the policies of its African partners,” Evariste Ngarlem Tolde, a Chadian economist and researcher at the University of N'djamena, told Anadolu Agency.

In this way, Tolde said, China “has been able occupy a place that has been neglected by the West.”

Citing one recent example, he noted that China, the largest investor in South Sudan's crude oil industry, had presented itself as a mediator in that country’s ongoing conflict.

Soft power

China has also used education effectively to deepen its foothold in Africa.  

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, the Confucius Institute – which boasts a presence in over 22 African countries – is now pushing China's soft power across the continent. 

The Confucius Institute is a cultural institution that offers foreigners the opportunity to learn the Chinese language and understand Chinese culture. 

China also has a policy of granting educational scholarships to thousands of African students. 

According to Tolde, African students studying in China are able to communicate with their Chinese partners, thus fostering better Chinese-African ties.

In some recent cases, the expert pointed out, this soft power has translated into hard policy changes.

“In 2006, for example, China compelled Chad to slow down its relations with Taiwan in order to strengthen its relations with China – a policy that was later extended to the entire continent,” Tolde said.  

‘Scramble for Africa’

The Global Times, a Chinese English-language daily, has asserted that U.S. President Barack Obama's recent visit to Kenya and Ethiopia constituted an attempt to counterbalance Chinese influence in Africa.

According to Tolde, Obama's visit confirmed that world powers were now engaged in a new “scramble for Africa”.

Along with political and diplomatic activity, China has also begun investing in Africa militarily.

“China is the partner of choice for African countries that tend to plunge into conflicts, many of which buy weapons from China,” Tolde said, citing the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

David Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to Somalia and Burkina Faso, who is also an expert on Chinese-African relations, recently told French daily Le Monde that 25 percent of conventional weapons in Africa (not including small arms) are of Chinese origin – up from about only five percent in the 1960s.

China is also involved in several peacekeeping operations in Africa.

According to Shinn, China is the primary contributor in terms of peacekeeping troops, with 2,664 Chinese peacekeeping personnel currently deployed across the continent in countries such as Mali and South Sudan.

“Through these policies, China has succeeded in imposing political and economic dominance that ultimately serve its interests,” Tolde said. “China has gradually made African rulers dependent on the new master.”

Economic impact

This has also had an undeniable economic impact.

According to the World Bank, business ties between China and Africa have seen extraordinary growth, with bilateral trade rising by 30 percent annually in recent years, reaching $222 billion – a new high – in 2014.

Since 2012, China has also granted numerous loans to Africa – worth a total of $30 billion – to support development projects in numerous fields, including infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing, along with special loans for the development of local small-and-medium enterprises.

Between 2001 and 2009, it also established the $605-billion China-Africa Development Fund, while also writing off $3 billion in debt for 35 heavily-indebted African countries, according to the World Bank.

China is currently involved in more than 1,000 projects in Africa, while more than 2,500 medium-size Chinese firms are operating – in a variety of sectors – in more than 50 African states.

Of particular note is a 2,233-kilometer railway – along with 3,530 kilometers of road – that China is building in Kenya that will eventually link the countries of East Africa.

China has opened Africa to the global economy, Tolde said, “and has no plans to stop at this point.”

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