Developing Agenda:Understanding China’s role in Africa and Rwanda

As China increases its role as a development conduit in Africa, how will China’s efforts expand in order to ensure effective aid allocation and how will China work with government agencies and local communities in Rwanda? This question is posed due to last week’s commitment by the People’s Republic of China to provide $37 million USD to fund development in Rwanda. Most of these funds ($32 million) will go directly toward infrastructure in the form of the Kigali road network rehabilitation project. The loan agreement signed by the Rwandan Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning was with the Exim Bank of China. Such agreements have become commonplace between China and African nations in recent times. Many news releases have been put out giving short descriptions of investments or trade agreements in newspapers across the continent. However, it seems that most of us just see the news flashes and aren’t provided with the details behind such specific development arrangements or China’s future plans on the African continent. In contemporary Sino-African relations there has been a move away from the distant relations of the 1980s. This was a period when China focused heavily on domestic reform and even witnessed “anti-African” demonstrations on its own soil in 1988, which began in Nanjing. This period, however resulted in a reevaluation and ushered in a new approach in engagement with African nations. This new approach that has influenced today’s policies as well, focused on self-reliance and the pursuit of mutual benefit through trade and not aid or large infrastructure projects. Obviously, the contemporary policy now includes large amounts of aid as was seen during the Mao years, but China has developed into a unique participant in African business, finance, and trade as well. China is truly multifaceted in their development approach on the continent and uses a specific and sometimes questionable rhetoric to achieve success in this. Chinese officials fancy deploying historical references when accounting for and attempting to develop modern relationships in Africa. Centuries old tales of the Chinese explorer Zheng with his emphasis on trade rather than colonization are referred to by officials to underline what they see as a stark difference with the western legacy on the continent. However, the fact is that the few ancient contacts China did have with the African continent can by no means be used as evidence for relations with Africa as a whole. By grouping Africa in this way for diplomatic arguments and relationship building across the continent, China is exaggerating and in fact demeaning the cultural differences and significance of the diverse nations constituting Africa. There are many nations it never had a thing to do with until diplomatic ties made within the last century. Regardless of all of this, whether taken in a positive or negative light, there have been strong commitments made by President Hu Jintao’s government on the continent that have now been further extended in Rwanda. The driving principles were outlined in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006 by eight promises that we here in Rwanda should hold the Chinese to. They are as follows: 1. To double development assistance to Africa by 20092. To provide $3 billion USD in preferential loans and $2 billion in preferential buyer credits toward Africa over the next 3 years 3. To set up a China-Africa Development Fund to reach $5 billion to encourage Chinese companies to invest in Africa and support firms investing there4. To build a conference center for the African Union 5. For the most indebted and least-developed African countries with diplomatic relations with China, to cancel all debt relating to interest-free government loans that matured at the end of 2005 6. For the least-developed African countries with diplomatic relations with China, to increase from 190 to more than 440 the number of export items exempt from entry tariffs in China 7. To establish between three and five trade and economic cooperation zones in Africa over the next three years 8. Over the next three years, to train 15,000 African professionals; send 100 senior agriculture experts to Africa; set up 10 agricultural-technology demonstration centers (one of which was included in last week’s agreement with Rwanda); and many other malarial, education, and volunteer related activities constituting an extensive list of commitments. So far, the promising thing is that China has been fairly reliable when following through on development promises. However, Rwanda must make sure that it seeks full transparency in this process and that timelines are met. Rwanda must also learn from the examples of Chinese business as the relationship between the two nations becomes inevitably closer over time. One example that can be seen is the fact that China will need to move away from the cheap labor insistent manufacturing sector toward high-technology products that require fewer laborers with more skilled capabilities. This is a sector of the economy that Rwanda should make advancements in due to the size of the country and limited comparative strength in agriculture with its neighbors. If paired with the right training and educational advancements this could be a sector that Rwanda can develop alongside China with and create sustainable partnerships for business. The recent contribution of the aforementioned $37 million investment will be key to Rwanda, but it must first realize the reality of the Chinese partnership and how to move forward in order to take advantage rather than the opposite. Email: nickafiore@gmail.com