Those that follow Chinese foreign policy know that China has made a staple of their foreign policy the building of massive infrastructure and public works projects in Africa. Part of this goes back to cold-war history where China and many African countries were part of the non-aligned movement, a group of countries that did not want to pick sides between the United States and the Soviet Union. This has expanded in last 15-20 years with China building stadiums, roads, railways, and other projects across the continent.
The new US$200 millon African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Their most recent two projects have been in the news over the last few days. The first one is the new Headquarters of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The project was unveiled today as the annual AU leaders meeting took place in the city. At a cost of US$200 million, it certainly demonstrates the commitment China has made to Africa in terms of economic aid. The other is the new soccer stadium complex in Libreville, Gabon. It has been on TV the last few weeks as it is the site of the Africa Cup, the premier soccer tournament for African nations. It is an impressive complex. All of these projects come at a time when the U.S. Congress is cutting foreign aid for countries around the world and cutting back on “friendship” projects such as these.
Newly built Soccer stadium in Libreville, Gabon
These projects are not without their own set of controversies. African leaders, many of them not democratically elected, like the aid they receive from China because it comes with no human rights or political strings attached like aid from Western countries. Populations in their countries are of mixed feelings — sure they love the stadiums, but at least in the early stages of this policy, China would bring their own state-owned companies, workers and materials to finish the project. This essentially cut local companies and workers out of any economic benefits that building a massive project normally brings to a community. In Azerbaijan (not Africa, I know), the town of Lankaran where my brother was a Peace Corps volunteers was the recipient of a pedestrian walkway in the early 2000′s. The people still talk about it today with a certain amount of distaste given that the Chinese did not add anything to the local economy — many didn’t even eat in the local restaurants. Needless to say it didn’t help the Chinese image in this country that already did not have a very good opinion of them.
Pedestrian Walway in Azerbaijan built by the Chinese
That has started to change as China has realized it needs to win, to paraphrase George W. Bush, the “hearts and minds” of the African people. New projects, not just government sponsored, but those of private industry as well have started to utilize more local labor and companies to complete investment projects.
But are there really no strings attached? The cynical still continue to trace out the map of Chinese stadiums and infrastructure projects across Africa and claim that there is a certain amount of economic interest in their investments ala a stadium for continued access to mines, oil, and other natural resources that China needs to feed its growing economy. Over the next 10 years it will be interesting to see how China manages its Africa policy.
The news today also had an interesting piece on Chinese workers that have been captured in South Sudan — it is unclear what the motivation behind the attack perpetuated by anti-government forces. The workers were doing road construction in the area of the attack. This clearly demonstrates the high-risk investment some of these infrastructure projects can be. A smart foreign policy will hopefully ensure that in addition to resource access, China also will ensure the economic livelihood of the people in African countries from whence their resources come. In this way, they also could reap huge long-term benefits — selling products to a rising middle class.
