That Vision Thing

I’m just recovering from nine days of chasing a two-year-old (babysitting is much too mild a word to describe the experience), so my brain cells are still not fully settled back into place, but I did have the opportunity I sometimes don’t of reviewing several conflicting views on a topic that’s growing warmer by the minute in policy circles – the effect on U.S. policy of China’s growing presence in Africa.  A standard position among hawks is that China, for malevolent political vote-getting purposes in the UN and to exploit Africa’s huge mineral resources, is engaged in a carefully planned opportunistic  storming of the 57 African nations just now emerging from colonialism, to achieve political and economic dominance over them. Proof is offered in the emphasis of the Chinese on "get in - get out" infrastructure development.  A somewhat divergent view is expressed by Deborah Brautigam, a real expert on the topic and the director of the International Development Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.  Dr. Brautigam, in a talk delivered to our foreign policy discussion group back in January, seemed to be saying that China was really engaged in a rush toward globalization similar to that of the U.S. itself, with Chinese companies racing for business with only loose support of the Chinese government.  In many ways, Dr. Brautigam’s description of Chinese activity in Africa, though much more complex than I am making it out to be, was like viewing U.S. activity in a slightly warped mirror.

And the Chinese describe the scene from an entirely different angle.  Much more a picture of deliberate government action than Dr. Brautigam seemed willing to concede, it is also much more ideological than the hawks’ perception and based on a long-term explicitly stated vision, not of the 57 individual African nations but of Africa as a whole.  In several articles in the China Daily newspaper, admittedly a self-promoting exercise of the Chinese government, Chinese writers focus on the African infrastructure development, one of the more puzzling aspects of China’s African activities.  American hawks, wearing capitalist glasses, view the Chinese emphasis on infrastructure (versus the American emphasis on individual business building) only as a sign of China’s goal to build roads and bridges between mines and ports in order to cart away minerals as rapidly as possible.  The view stated in China Daily is a much longer term focus on creating a Pan-African network of roads and highways to stimulate overall economic growth of the continent.  China built the first between-country railroad in sub-Saharan Africa forty years ago.  It serves China’s needs to have Africa both as a source of imports and exports, and it is based on China’s self-evaluation of its development as a continent spanning nation.  Even if it is a self-serving depiction, the fact that it was arrived at in the first place is significant.

People forget China’s beginning as a conglomeration of “warring states”, the name given to the several-hundred year period when almost a billion people were killed by incessant warfare.  The conquest by the Mongols under Kublai Khan led to the first real unification, strongly promoted by the roads and postal services of the Mongols.  Then in the 20^th century, with the Communist Revolution, China was once again unified and modernized by infrastructure development.  The Chinese see infrastructure development as the key to development of stable economic and political arrangements over large areas, good both for them and for Africa.  It is that model that China looks to for its emphasis on African infrastructure.  China’s President Xi explicitly addressed this Pan-African vision at the recent summit of African leadership he attended, and his emphasis was warmly received.  Xi, like his predecessors, was visiting Africa as his first international visit after taking office.  People also forget that China has been working closely with African countries since the 1960’s, and a big part of the success of China in Africa results from the long-term “mutual benefit” relationships they have built.

So, which accounts of Chinese activities should we take seriously.  There is truth in all three competing visions.  China obviously wants to benefit politically and economically in Africa, and both the Chinese government and Chinese businesses are scrambling to do so.  The keys are the Chinese long-term relationships and their Pan-African vision, which American policy makers have not yet picked up on.  We tend still to focus on Africa’s past as a backward, fragmented colonial area of small nations with crippled economies.  We see a relationship mainly in selling them goods.  We need to shift our gaze away from seeing only Africa’s past.  Africa is emerging as a 21^st century giant, and without vision we risk losing participation in its future.