The China Factor

I remember in my youth when Communism was portrayed with two faces. The Russia face, which was aggressive and seeking world domination. And the China face, which was home grown and contained its interests within its own borders. This was, purportedly, how the world was and why Moscow was the big bad wolf during the Cold War.

Of course this view was simplistic. It is our nature to hope for simplistic solutions to everything. In point of fact, Chinese Communism was likewise vigorous, with tentacles in South America and Africa as well as Southeast Asia and even connections to the Middle East.

The June issue of Fast Company magazine has a detailed feature story by Richard Behar called "China Invades Africa." It’s an eye opening account of current events in the African subcontinent as multi-national corporations and Chinese opportunists battle for natural resources. According to Behar, “The sub-Sahara is now the scene of one of the most bare-knuckled resource grabs the world has ever seen.”

In the 1800’s European Colonialism divvied up Africa and exploited the peoples there, but rebellions and persistence with a pinch of conscience mixed in helped to peel back the blanket. Perhaps journalism contributed by revealing what was going on in the “dark continent” just as journalists helped reveal British brutality in the face of Ghandi’s non-violent uniting of disparate groups in India.

The situation in Africa today is this: the Continent has natural resources that the world needs. And preserving the environment, or helping the vanquished masses, is not on the agenda here.

What follows here is a brief intro to a longer backgrounder by the Heritage Foundation. It’s a good read, and gives a measure of insight into why there will continue to be problems in Africa in the 21st Century.

China's Influence in Africa: Implications for the United States
by Peter Brookes and Ji Hye Shin

Amid growing concerns about the People’s Repub­lic of China’s burgeoning influence around the globe, Beijing has now set its sights on Africa. China’s inter­est in Africa is not new. In the 1960s and 1970s, Beijing’s interest centered on building ideological sol­idarity with other underdeveloped nations to advance Chinese-style communism and on repelling Western “imperialism.” Following the Cold War, Chinese interests evolved into more pragmatic pursuits such as trade, investment, and energy.

In recent years, Beijing has identified the African continent as an area of significant economic and stra­tegic interest. America and its allies and friends are finding that their vision of a prosperous Africa gov­erned by democracies that respect human rights and the rule of law and that embrace free markets is being challenged by the escalating Chinese influence in Africa.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) aids and abets oppressive and destitute African dictatorships by legit­imizing their misguided policies and praising their development models as suited to individual national conditions. Beijing holds out China’s unique develop­ment model—significant economic growth overseen by a disciplined, one-party totalitarian state with full authority, if not control, over all aspects of economic activity—as an example for others to emulate.

Moreover, China rewards its African friends with diplomatic attention and financial and military assis­tance, exacerbating existing forced dislocations of populations and abetting massive human rights abuses in troubled countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe. As a consequence, Chinese support for political and economic repression in Africa counters the liberalizing influences of Africa’s tradi­tional European and American partners. China’s vigorous campaign to develop close ties with indi­vidual African nations also reflects Beijing’s global quest to isolate Taiwan diplomatically (seven of the 26 countries that have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan are African).

If interested in more, you can read it here

EdNote: I am not encouraging you to lose sleep over this, but as the future unfolds, you might find it helpful to have seen some of it coming.