(5 minutes read)
· The visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who is on a five nation mission to Africa is important
· During the crucial visits undertaken during the pandemic days, the Chinese foreign minister have covered/will cover Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Tanzania and Seychelles
· This is in line with the diplomatic tradition of paying new year visits to Africa
The visit of Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, who is on a five nation mission to Africa is important. During the crucial visits undertaken during the pandemic days, the Chinese foreign minister has covered/will cover Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Botswana, Tanzania and Seychelles. This is in line with the diplomatic tradition of paying new year visits to Africa. The Chinese government has been continuing with the tradition for the last 30 years or so.
The Chinese foreign minister’s visit is coming at a time, when Africa is in dire problems. Low growth and impact of the pandemic have affected almost all economies. The World Bank Report says that the pandemic would let loose severe growth compression, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. This has to be seen against the World Bank’s prognostication that the impact of the pandemic did not have any impact on China, rather the growth figures are better than what it was expected.
That conveys two thing;. one, China’s growth prospects for the year 2021 is very high necessitating heavy import of raw materials from Africa, which has been a source of acquiring a sizable part of its requirements including some rare earths used for the production of delicate electronic items. Also, China has a considerable quantum of investments in most parts of the African countries in varied sectors including infrastructure, manufacturing, mining etc. To keep the growth tempo high, it has to continue investing in these economies, which can also leverage its exports to these destinations.
For instance, Nigeria has a sizable investment from China in the infrastructure sector, though it (China) is not importing oil from the West African country. No one knows when the Asian giant can change its mind to start importing oil from Nigeria to ensure a smooth entry not only in infrastructure but also to partake in the growing ICT segment in the continent. It may be worth noting that Huawei, the Chinese tech company recently decided to relocate its regional headquarters from Democratic Republic of Congo to Ethiopia to become a major vendor to the state owned Ethio Telecom, which is on a privatization mode. Also, Ethiopia will issue two licenses for setting up telecom companies, which many feel, Chinese are going to quote, given their close proximity with the present dispensation in Ethiopia.
The other area of concern for Chinese is the ill-treatment of its citizens in some African countries. Nigeria has seen an increase in
anti-China sentiment, after reports that Africans in Guangzhou had been discriminated against. That had prompted the African envoys to send a joint letter to Beijing demanding an explanation for the maltreatment of Africans in China. The speaker of Nigeria’s parliament then summoned China’s envoy to Abuja and berated him publicly.
At the end of April, Nigeria’s House of Representatives passed a motion targeting Chinese immigrants and businesses in the country before another representative, Ben Igbakpa tabled a motion calling for a review of Chinese lending to the country since 2000 with a view to cancel those deemed costly. The Chinese foreign minister obviously has taken the opportunity to assuage the feelings to build a new ecosystem of trust and bonhomie between the two countries.
Tanzania, where the Chinese envoy would be visiting has its task well defined. Coming close on the heels of President John Magufuli’s re-election, which did not go well with the western countries on account of the alleged extra constitutional measures deployed during elections, Chinese may find the opportunity to gravitate towards that country. There are also business deals that are awaiting the Chinese including the Bagamoyo port deal which has been stalled for a long time.
Democratic Republic of Congo, the other country in his schedule of visit, is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, accounting for
roughly 60 percent of global production, which is a critical element used to make batteries for electric vehicles. Wang’s visit to Kinshasa, which is perceived to be closer to the US, is designed to catalyze its entry into the country’s mines.
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has been a Chinese roader all though. Many feel that the visit to that country is aimed at becoming a partner to some of the important development projects being implemented by the government. The agenda in Seychelles is said to be more geopolitical than economics since Mauritius and Seychelles are said to be closer to New Delhi because of their ethnic affinities.
