China recently conducted the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), an event held every three years. Politically, the forum was established in 2000 to formalise the strategic partnership between China and African nations.
However, this has however turned out to be a platform for Beijing to propagate an agenda that is contrary to its own actions in the African continent.
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Although, on the surface, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has, for over two decades declared the Forum as an avenue for collective dialogue and cooperation on a wide range of issues, including trade, investment, infrastructure development, health, education, and peace and security, beneath this narrative lies an imperialistic design meant to exploit the voice of Africa for geopolitical purposes.
Through debt diplomacy, resource extraction, and strategic political influence, Beijing has weaponized FOCAC to exploit Africa’s resources, markets, and political landscape to advance its own interests.
Take the member countries of the forum for example; the FOCAC counts 53 African nations as its members; essentially the entire continent, except Eswatini which has diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Beijing has been trying to persuade the country for years to break-off ties with Taiwan in exchange for recognition, however the African country has stood its grounds so far.
A Masquerade of Economic Assistance
The true intentions of the CCP however come to light when one assesses the economic stronghold that Beijing seeks to exercise over the African continent. China has over the years become the largest bilateral creditor to African countries and has provided financial loans for developmental projects to more than three dozen African nations including Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, Cameroon, Zambia and Republic of Congo amongst many others in recent years. These financial loans have led to the continent owing Chinese creditors a little over $93 billion dollars until 2022 and is expected to reach an all-time high figure of around $153 billion in the upcoming year. Moreover, in its expansionist quest, China has overtaken the World Bank, the IMF and other traditional creditors all together and is the world’s largest official creditor presently. It also has an outstanding claim of more than 5% of the globe’s total GDP and more than a dozen under-developed and developing countries own finances of at least 20% of their GDPs to China.
This year’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was the first to be held since the pandemic as well as Beijing’s own economic turmoil. This has thus invariably led to the deployment of colonial tactics that could potentially kick-start Chinese economy back into its growth trajectory, albeit on the backs of Africa’s resources. Analysts of China-Africa relations have noted that Chinese business operations often exist in a regulatory grey zone, taking advantage of weak governance and corrupt officials to bypass environmental laws, labour standards, and community rights.
The destruction of ecosystems, displacement of local communities, and limited transfer of skills and technology highlight a form of exploitation that bears striking resemblance to the extractive colonial practices of the 19th century. For the CCP, FOCAC is less about genuine partnership and more about securing a cheap and steady supply of resources.
Similarly, under the pretext of developmental projects, China has masqueraded their economic assistance to nations that have been financially volatile due to various concurrent reasons. For instance, countries like Zambia, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya amongst others have been pushed in to economic crisis more so due to high interested loans that have been granted by China’s developmental banks. The practice of ‘hidden debts’ in loan agreements has also caused major setbacks to volatile economies of African countries.
The BRI project alone has caused lower and middle-income countries with hidden debts amounting to around $385 billion until 2020 and is expected to far exceed the figure in the coming years.
The announcement of Beijing pledging US 51 billion in financial support for Africa in the next three years is a larger design of a similar imperial strategy it has deployed in the continent for over two decades.
Under the disguise of an ‘all-weather China-Africa community’ the CCP is seeking to manipulate African countries to give up its much-sought market share to Chinese companies, thereby propelling the Chinese economy into a stronger global position as compared to its current debacles.
Preventing the making of a Chinese Empire through Scrutiny and Accountability
Through the FOCAC, the CCP has also expanded its political influence across Africa, utilising financial aid, infrastructure development and investment (as announced during the Summit) as tools for political patronage. This strategy has allowed China to secure political loyalty from African nations, often in exchange for diplomatic support on the global stage.
Many African countries have backed China in international forums and on contentious issues such as the human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
China’s construction of African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, and subsequent allegations of surveillance, also suggest a deeper geopolitical strategy aimed at consolidating its influence over the continent.
It is high time for African leaders, civil society, and international organizations to scrutinize China’s engagement on the continent more closely. While Chinese investment has undoubtedly contributed to infrastructure development, the financial, environmental, and political costs are becoming increasingly apparent. If left unchecked, the CCP’s misuse of FOCAC could leave African nations in a new form of dependency, unable to chart their own course in a rapidly changing global order.
Rather than a partner in development, China, through FOCAC, appears to be positioning itself as a new imperial power, one that hides its ambitions behind a mask of friendship and cooperation. The international community must ensure that Africa’s future is determined by Africans, not dictated by foreign powers seeking to exploit their resources and vulnerabilities for their own gain.
