Two weeks ago, China hosted the board meeting of the Africa Development Bank (ADB) in Shanghai. Economist Jeffry Sachs attended the meeting and wrote an opinion piece for
I had the chance to participate in high-level meetings between Chinese and African officials at the ADB meetings. The advice that the African leaders received from their Chinese counterparts was sound, and much more practical than what they typically get from the World Bank.
Chinese officials stressed the crucial role of public investments, especially in agriculture and infrastructure, to lay the basis for private-sector-led growth. In a hungry and poor rural economy, as China was in the 1970s and as most of Africa is today, a key starting point is to raise farm productivity. Peasant farmers need the benefits of fertiliser, irrigation, and high-yield seeds, all of which were a core part of China’s economic takeoff.
Two other critical investments are also needed: roads and electricity, without which there cannot be a modern economy. Farmers might be able to increase their output, but it won’t be able to reach the cities, and the cities won’t be able to provide the countryside with inputs. The officials stressed how the government has taken pains to ensure that the power grid and transportation network reaches every village in China.
Of course, the African leaders were most appreciative of the next message: China is prepared to help Africa in substantial ways in agriculture, roads, power, health, and education. And the African leaders already know that this is not an empty boast. All over Africa, China is financing and constructing basic infrastructure. During the meeting, the Chinese leaders emphasised their readiness to support agricultural research as well. They described new high-yield rice varieties, which they are prepared to share with their African counterparts.
Sachs is a controversial figure. This opinion piece is again treading on controversial ground. You can browse the comments at the bottom of Sach’s piece (linked above) or the comments on this Peking Duck post about the article to get an idea of typical Western reactions.
Your correspondent can’t get rid of the feeling that Westerners, smug because they recently granted their African colonies independence after hundreds of years of exploitative colonialism, may not have the right to lecture China on how to behave in Africa.
In response, below is a transcript of a part of a Channel 4 news piece by Lindsey Hilsum that was broadcast during the China – Africa summit in Beijing in November last year. While the report did note global concerns about China’s role in Africa, it also included quotes from interviews with the presidents of Uganda and Botswana.
Yoweri Museveni has been president of Uganda since he took power in 1986 as the head of a national guerilla movement. Initially hugely popular in Uganda and among foreign donors, in more recent years he has attracted criticism from the West because he amended the constitution to allow him to run in the 2006 presidential elections and and imprisoned his main rival.
On the other hand, Botswana’s president Festus Mogae and his country — probably the best managed in Africa with a booming economy and highly transparent government — are the African darlings of the West.
This is what the two of them had to say to Lindsey Hilsum about China’s involvement in Africa on the Channel 4 news clip:
Hilsum: African presidents and prime ministers, and many of the business people I have been speaking to love the sense that they are being honored, feted by the Chinese. They say it makes such a contrast from the reception they feel they get in the West, as representatives of a failed continent.
This is the Ugandan president, criticized by the West for extending his 20 year rule:
“The Western ruling groups are conceited, full of themselves, ignorant of our conditions, and they make other people’s business their business. Whereas the Chinese just deal with you, you represent your country, they represent their own interests, and you do business.”
Hilsum: Even the president of democratic Botswana, praised by the West, feels it.
“I find that the Chinese treat us as equals. The West treats us as former subjects. Which is a reality. I prefer the attitude of the Chinese to that of the West.
But there’s bugger all I can do about it.”
Note: The sentence “It seems that Westerners, smug after granting their African colonies independence…” was amended to its current form several hours after posting.
Links and Sources
- Channel 4 website: Lyndsey Hilsum’s blog
- Channel 4: Rise of China special section
- Africabeat: a blog about Africa and China
- Granta Africa issue: We love China by Lindsey Hilsum
- Danwei: African opinions about the Beijing summit
- Danwei: Posts about China and Africa