China branches out
WHEN PRESIDENT Bush meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao on April 20, will he raise the issue of China's role in Africa? He should. China's rising and underreported influence in Africa is posing a direct challenge to American influence and undermining U.S. policy.
At the U.N. Security Council, China -- with Russia and Qatar -- is reportedly discouraging talk of U.S.-backed sanctions targeted against Sudanese officials responsible for the carnage in Darfur. Beijing also is providing food aid directly to the government of Zimbabwe -- notorious for doling out food to supporters while letting suspected political opponents go hungry -- instead of following Washington's example of channeling food aid directly to Zimbabwe's people through international and nongovernmental organizations.
In February, Hu warmly welcomed Faure Gnassingbe, the new Togo strongman, to Beijing, and the two signed a China-Togo cooperation agreement. The United States keeps Gnassingbe at arm's length as it presses for long-needed reforms.
The Chinese have been important actors on the continent since the 1960s, but the scale of their current involvement is unprecedented. "All across Africa today," according to a Council on Foreign Relations report in January, "China is acquiring control of natural resource assets, outbidding Western contractors on major infrastructure projects and providing soft loans and other incentives to bolster its competitive advantage." China's trade with Africa is soaring -- up by well over a third in the first 11 months of 2005 alone. Chinese businesspeople are seen everywhere, and in country after country, Africans are riding Chinese motorcycles and wearing Chinese-manufactured jeans and jewelry.
A main driver in the relationship is China's insatiable need for energy. Its oil imports are surging, and African oil now accounts for nearly 30% of the total. The China National Petroleum Corp. has invested billions of dollars to take control of Sudan's oil production, estimated at 150,000 barrels per day and growing. Another Chinese oil company agreed in January 2006 to pay $2.3 billion for a major stake in a Nigerian oil field.
Africa is certainly benefiting. China's demand for resources has driven up prices, propelling significant GDP gains in many countries. China has educated thousands of African university students, and it sends Africa hundreds of doctors and advisors each year. Chinese firms are building roads, rehabilitating infrastructure and bringing cellphone service to places that land lines never reached.
