Henry Zakumumpa
25 April 2008
opinion
'First we were afraid of the wolf, then we wanted to dance with the wolf now we want to be the wolf' a Chinese Central Bank official used this analogy to describe China's world trade rivalry with the United States. Chinese industrialisation is unfolding at an unprecedented speed while driving an enormous demand for raw materials and new markets.
China has become the 'factory of the world' for dominating global production of all goods imaginable from safety pins to domestic appliances because of its cheaper prices and low labour costs.
Pick up a souvenir from any western capital and chances are that beneath it will be the label 'Made in China'.
According to Thomas Friedman in his The world Is Flat, Wal-Mart, the world's largest supermarket chain, in one year imported goods worth $18 billion from its 5,000 Chinese suppliers. (This means that of Wal-Mart's 6,000 suppliers, 80 percent are in China.) And it's not only safety pins that should worry the west. China recently announced it would begin production of commercial jets, long the domain of Boeing of the USA and Airbus of Europe.
Petro China is now the third largest company in the world having displaced General Motors of USA. The USA has for long battled China because of an unfavourable balance of trade position. China exports much more to the United States than it imports from the United States. The Chinese avalanche has not spared Africa either.
It's scramble and partition of Africa again, only this time it's China's turn. It has been widely reported that China now lends three times more money to Africa than the World Bank. Take a moment and think about that. We are in the midst of a shift in balance of power in Africa with the Chinese coming in as the new kids on the block.
Considering that the west has long dominated financial inflows into Africa as well the IMF/World Bank system and therefore called the shots in these parts, China's new investments and lending to Africa give it formidable influence and clout on the continent. Indeed when the west wants a change in Sudan's Darfur policy, it's Beijing they run to. China is the leading export destination of Sudanese crude oil.
Recently, a billion dollar infrastructure loan to DR Congo was announced by China which has a keen eye on Congo's rich mineral wealth. For a country that has known conflict for most of its post-independence history, the prospect of finally having financing to build basic roads and railways is an offer Congo can't refuse.
President Mogae of Botswana has already remarked publicly that the Chinese treat them as partners for a change compared to the Europeans who treat them as subjects.
A Ugandan entrepreneur is doing brisk business exporting recycled mineral water bottle material to China at very lucrative rates. Consider that Uganda's State House was built by a Chinese contractor and that the biggest conference centre in Dar es Salaam is to be built and funded by the Chinese.
So, what does China's new scramble for Africa portend for the continent?
China doesn't have the imperial ambitions that came with the earlier players in the scramble and partition of Africa. However, the fact remains that African nations are largely raw material exporters and markets for Chinese Industry and until that changes, true partnership would be anything but achieved.
The writer works with Makerere University.
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