Trade, empires, and subjects - China-Africa trade: a new fair trade arrangement, or the third scramble for Africa?

• Author: Ofodile, Uche Ewelukwa

ABSTRACT

Since 2000, the interest of the People's Republic of China (China) in Africa has grown steadily. Trade between China and Africa has grown exponentially. China-Africa trade volume increased from $10 billion to $18 billion between 2000 and 2003. In 2005, total trade between Africa and China surged to $40 billion, and in 2006 China-Africa trade was valued at $55.5 billion. A third of China's crude oil imports come from Africa. In the West, reaction to China's involvement in Africa has bordered on suspicion and paranoia. Policy makers and analysts are concerned that China could gain control over Africa's vast and untapped natural resources. The current struggle over Africa's resources evokes worrying memories of an earlier scramble for pieces of the continent. This Article examines the opportunities and pitfalls that Sino-African trade relations present for Africa. Instead of paranoia, this Article calls for guarded optimism regarding the deepening relationship. While there is much that Africa could gain from the relationship, African leaders and Africans must guard against imperialism of any sort and shy away from arrangements that threaten sustainable development or undermine respect for human rights. Most important, African leaders must push past Beijing's rhetoric of anti-hegemonism and develop clear policies to guide the continent's engagement with China. Drawing on the rich but sad lessons from the scramble for Africa in the nineteenth century, African leaders must avoid the economic, political, and legal pitfalls of the past and position the continent to benefit from strategic relations with countries that could become future partners.

TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION II. THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF CHINA-AFRICA TRADE RELATIONS A. The Bandung Conference of 1955 (Bandung I) B. South-South Cooperation Discourse 1. The First South Summit 2. The Second South Summit C. Asia-African Summit 2005 (Bandung II) D. Conclusion III. LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORK OF SINO-AFRICAN TRADE AND INVESTMENT RELATIONS A. The Core Framework Documents B. Patterns of China-Africa Trade and Investment Flows IV. CHINA'S AFRICA POLICY, AFRICA'S CHINA POLICY: A CRITIQUE A. China's Africa Policy B. China 's "Real" Interest in Africa 1. Political Motivations 2. Economic Motivations C. Africa's China Policy 1. African Leaders and China 2. Africa's Regional Organizations and China D. Conclusion V. THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE A. The General Act of the Conference at Berlin (The Berlin Act) B. The Period of Treaty-Making C. Response of Africans and African Leaders to the Nineteenth Century Scramble D. Lessons Learned VI. CHINA-AFRICA RELATIONS: CRITICAL APPRAISAL AND A MODEST PROPOSAL A. China-Africa Relations: Potential Gain for Africa 1. Africa's Need for New Trade Opportunities 2. Africa's Need for New Investment Opportunities 3. Africa's Need for Trade-Related Technical Assistance B. Africa's China Policy: A Modest Proposal 1. Proactivity 2. Disaggregated Data 3. Interrogate Reciprocity 4. Maximizing Opportunities, Addressing Supply-Side Constraints 5. Private Sector-Led Relationships 6. Enabling Environment for Trade and Investment 7. Respect for Human Rights 8. Examining Readiness VII. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION

The year 2006 was dubbed "China's Year of Africa." (1) Since 2000, the People's Republic of China (China) has become increasingly interested in Africa. (2) In October 2000, Africa and China created and formally launched the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Forum or FOCAC) to serve as a vehicle for promoting China-Africa friendship and cooperation. (3) During the same month Beijing hosted the ministerial conference of the Forum (First Ministerial Conference). (4) The first of its kind in the history of China-Africa relations, (5) the First Ministerial Conference drew over five thousand attendees, including China's Foreign Minister (Tang Jiaxuan), a representative of China's Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (Shi Guangsheng), and about eighty ministers of foreign affairs, international trade, and economic cooperation from forty-four African countries. (6) Even countries that did not have diplomatic relations with China, such as Malawi and Liberia, sent observers to the meeting. (7) Since 2000, several other conferences have been organized. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia hosted the Second China-Africa Forum on Cooperation on the 15th and 16th of December 2003. More recently, the Beijing Summit and Third Ministerial Conference on China-Africa Cooperation (2006 Beijing Summit) took place in November 2006. The Chinese Government issued an African Policy Paper for the first time in January 2006. (8) Since then, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have paid friendly visits to at least ten African countries. (9) For example, on January 30, 2007, President Jintao embarked on a twelve-day tour of Africa, his second trip to the continent in less than a year. (10)

Emerging discourse on the China-Africa relationship depicts China as either the new imperial power or as Africa's benefactor. (11) In the West, reaction to China's involvement in Africa has bordered on suspicion and paranoia. (12) Policymakers and analysts in the West are concerned that China could gain control over Africa's vast and untapped natural resources, particularly the continent's energy reserves. (13) The current struggle over Africa's resources (14) evokes worrisome memories of earlier scrambles for pieces of the continent by Western European powers in the late nineteenth century (15) and Eastern powers, principally China and Russia, in the 1950s and 1960s. (16) China's involvement in Africa has serious implications not only for Africa and Africans, but also for the security and energy interests of Africa's traditional trading partners. (17) This Article examines the opportunities and pitfalls of renewed Sino-African trade relations, traces the evolution of discourse concerning the China-Africa partnership, identifies the basic legal and policy frameworks of the unfolding relations, and calls for a clear African policy towards China. This Article will also seek to identify the core characteristics of China's partnership with Africa, with an emphasis on the trade and investment dimensions of Sino-African relations.

Instead of paranoia, this Article calls for guarded optimism regarding the deepening relationship between Africa and China. With China's confident emergence onto the global stage as the economic empire of the future, it would be ill-advised for African leaders to turn their backs on the sleeping giant. (18) While there is much that Africa could gain from the relationship, African leaders and their constituents must guard against imperialism of any sort and shy away from arrangements that threaten sustainable development on the continent or undermine respect for human rights and dignity. Most importantly, African leaders must push past Beijing's rhetoric of anti-hegemonism and develop clear policies to guide the continent's engagement with China. Drawing on the rich but sad history of the scramble for Africa in the nineteenth century, African leaders must avoid the economic, political, and legal pitfalls of the past and instead position the continent to benefit from strategic relations with countries that Alpha Oumar Konare, the President of African Union (AU) Commission, rightly refers to as "partners of the future." (19)

This Article has six parts. Part II maps out the history and evolution of Sino-African trade and investment relations. (20) Part III examines the current framework for relations between China and Africa, including the core documents guiding the unfolding relationship. Part IV discusses the motivation behind China's foray into Africa and analyzes China's policy toward Africa. Part V focuses on the present struggle for control of Africa's energy resources and draws lessons from the history of the scramble for Africa in the nineteenth century by the Western European powers. Part VI critically appraises Sino-African trade and investment relations. It evaluates the opportunities that the relationship presents for Africa and offers proposals for maximizing those opportunities. The Article concludes in Part VII with a look at the future of Sino-African trade.

2. THE HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF CHINA-AFRICA TRADE RELATIONS

   The year 2006 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the onset of diplomatic relations between China and Africa. (21) However, China's contact with the continent existed centuries before. (22) Indeed, the idea of a Chinese invasion of Africa is not new. For example, in his 1965 book East Wind Over Africa, John K. Cooley announced, "Red China has moved into Africa, and it intends to stay there. By the beginning of this decade, it had become clear that Communist China's moves to win allies, subvert adversaries[,] and gain influence in Africa formed a significant part of its design for global recognition and power." (23) The foundation for China-Africa relations was established at the Asia-African Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia from April 18 to April 24, 1955. (24) Trade agreement between China and Egypt concluded in August of 1955, shortly after the end of the Bandung Conference marked "the beginning of Peking's search for markets and vital raw materials in Africa." (25)

   1. The Bandung Conference of 1955 (Bandung I)

      Organized by Egypt, Indonesia, Burma (now Myanmar), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), India, and Pakistan, the stated objectives of the Bandung Conference (Bandung I) were "to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism or neocolonialism by the United States, the Soviet Union, or any other imperialistic nation." (26) Bandung I brought together African and Asian nationalist leaders for the first time, including such prominent personalities as Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India; Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt; Chou...