'Win-win' deals at China-Africa summit
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - A flurry of trade deals worth US$2 billion were signed during an
unprecedented China-Africa summit aimed at forging closer links with the
resource-rich continent. But while talking business in Beijing, China showed
susceptibility to criticism that it was behaving like a modern colonial power.
The announcement of the deals on Sunday came after China pledged to double its
aid to Africa from the 2006 level by 2009.
Speaking at the summit, President Hu Jintao promised $3 billion in preferential
loans, $2 billion in export credits, and the setting up of a $5 billion fund to
encourage Chinese investment in Africa.
Hu declared that China's newly forged strategic partnership with Africa would
be based on "political equality and mutual trust". He also emphasized "win-win
economic cooperation", noting that China and Africa conducted $40.6 billion of
trade in the first nine months of the year, up 40% on a year earlier.
"Common destiny and common goals have brought us together," Hu said, evoking
China's and African nations' shared fight against colonialism.
Acknowledging China's rise as an economic powerhouse, Hu promised that Beijing
would forgive more debts owed by the poorest African countries and grant more
of their goods tariff-free import status. China has so far written off the
debts of 31 countries and given an estimated $5.5 billion in assistance.
Yet Beijing refused to link its aid and growing investment on the continent to
human rights or democracy as the United States and other Western countries have
demanded.
"Chinese assistance to Africa is sincere, [is] unselfish and has no strings
attached," Premier Wen Jiabao said at a gathering of Chinese and African
entrepreneurs held as part of the two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
Human-rights groups have been concerned about China's willingness to turn a
blind eye to the unethical policies of some African governments while looking
for oil and raw materials to supply its burgeoning economy.
Among the African leaders China welcomed to the summit was Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe, who is largely ostracized in the international arena for his
authoritarian and racially discriminatory policies.
Beijing is also a staunch supporter of Sudan's government, which has been
accused of allowing genocide in the country's Darfur region. At least 200,000
people are said to have died as a result of Khartoum's policies, but Sudan's
economy is booming largely on the back of oil exports to China.
Both Mugabe and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir were among the 48 African
leaders and representatives who attended the Beijing summit. It prompted New
York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) to appeal to Chinese leaders to stop
supporting their regimes by providing aid and supplying them with electronic
surveillance technology.
"A truly revolutionary approach for any power in Africa, and particularly one
that prides itself on its solidarity with the developing world, would be to
stand with the people of Africa and support their basic human rights," HRW said
in a statement.
China has been averse to making overt diplomatic interventions in other
countries' domestic politics. However, as China's influence on the
international arena has increased, its policy of "non-interference" has come
under fire as self-serving and inappropriate for an emerging global player.
But at a press conference with the foreign ministers of Ethiopia and Egypt,
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing rejected such criticism, saying his
country respected the choices made by African nations and would not impose
China's development model on the continent.
Chinese commentators have also described the forum as an unprecedented
opportunity for African leaders to get their voices heard in the international
arena.
"No matter how highly you value the importance of the summit in this regard,
you cannot overrate it," said Liu Naiya, an Africa expert with the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
Beijing has pledged to lobby with the United Nations to pay more attention to
the economic development of Africa, and to promote "South-South" cooperation.
The $1.9 billion worth of trade deals signed during the November 3-5 summit
cover cooperation in a wide range of areas such as natural resources,
infrastructure, finance, technology, textiles and communication.
The largest among them are a $938 million deal for China's state-owned CITIC to
set up an aluminum plant in Egypt and a $300 million deal to upgrade a highway
in Nigeria.
Fending off criticism that its large investment projects bring with them
expatriate Chinese workers and do not leave any legacy of skill transfer,
Beijing announced it will train 15,000 African professionals while sending
agriculture experts and youth volunteers to work on the continent. It also said
it would double to 4,000 the number of scholarships given to African students
by 2009.
