Page 1 of
3 CHINA ON
SAFARI Emperor Hu's new clothes for
Africa By Bright B Simons,
Evans Lartey and Franklin Cudjoe
ACCRA,
Ghana - On Saturday, Chinese President Hu Jintao's
whirlwind visit to eight African countries in 12
days will come to an end, marking a bold new foray
into the "Dark Continent".
Six centuries
ago, another Chinese dignitary touched on the
shores of Africa; he returned to Beijing with a
giraffe, an exotic gift no doubt, but so
underwhelmed were the occupants of the Forbidden
Palace about such returns on their massive
investment
that
Admiral Zheng He's Treasure Fleet, loudly hailed
when it set sail, was grounded by the Ming
emperor, and no more global expeditions were again
sanctioned by the imperial court.
A fine
eunuch Admiral Zheng may have been, and a pious
Muslim, too, as far as one can tell, but he was
still only an emissary; whereas Hu is nothing
short of the emperor himself.
He may lack
the charisma of some previous visitors to the
continent who are said to have left an indelible,
and enduring, impression on its inhabitants, such
as former US president Bill Clinton, say, but this
lack Hu has made up for with gifts, and plenty of
them.
Liberia received US$25 million, in
cash. The impoverished West African country was
also promised three schools for its underdeveloped
hinterlands, a couple of new structures for its
crumbling university, and bales of anti-malaria
drugs to stock its empty hospital cabinets.
Zambia had $61 million in debt wiped off,
and was promised a hospital, a new stadium and a
range of assistance packages in emergency relief
and food security.
Everywhere he went, Hu
left a glittering trail of gratitude and
affectionate praise. Everyone seemed urgently to
need something, China always seemed perfectly
willing and ready to oblige. Which raises the
question: What influenced the selection of
countries?
From what one can gather, it
was apparently random. This is Hu's fifth visit to
the continent since he joined the Politburo (the
inner sanctum of the Chinese Communist Party), his
third since he became president in 2003. Apart
from South Africa, all the countries on his list
had until this week never benefited from a visit
by Chinese delegations at this level. In that
context, commentators reading too much into the
decision not to include such countries as Zimbabwe
and Nigeria on the list are missing the point.
No specific political statement is being
sent out. On his last visit, another set of
countries, including Algeria, Kenya and Nigeria,
enjoyed the privilege; now it is the turn of the
current eight - Cameroon, Liberia, Mozambique,
Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan and
Zambia. If there is a political strategy at all,
it is most likely based on a desire to visit as
many African countries as possible, in as many
different regions as possible.
So back to
that Zheng He allusion, then. What is Hu hoping
for? Does this trip offer anything of interest to
Sino-African-relations addicts or not? Is it
merely a rehash of boring old themes of "buying
friendships" and "spiting the West"? Has Hu - to
put it colorfully - any new clothes? There may be
something worthy to look at.
Is the
honeymoon over? That bit about Hu having
been feted everywhere he went is all true. But
only if you are content with the choreographed
public relations displays on official news
bulletins on the various state televisions. Allow
yourself to be distracted ever so slightly away
from the drumrolls and footlights, and darker
patterns emerge.
In Liberia:
Hu's visit coincided with and was mired in
some controversy. The Speaker of the West African
country's Senate was reported to have been meeting
with Taiwanese officials in Gambia, a neighboring
country, just around the same time that
preparations were being made to receive Hu in
Monrovia.
The embarrassment was naturally
palpable. Government supporters in the Liberian
legislature scrambled to express their outrage.
The Speaker - Edwin Snowe - was promptly
impeached. He appealed the decision to the law
courts on procedural and constitutional grounds
and won the case. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,
a Harvard-educated former minister in a number of
past governments, nevertheless decided to hold her
State of the Union address outside Parliament and
the national capital in contravention of custom
and protocol.
The controversy continues to
rage. Snowe won't resign and the government's
supporters in the legislature won't back off. In
possible recognition of the constitutional
uncertainties surrounding the impeachment issue,
Snowe's opponents have decided to try another tack
- they are seeking his prosecution on corruption
grounds regarding some transactions he was privy
to in his days as a top executive in the country's
oil monopoly.
It is far from clear what
the outcome of all this will be. What is certain,
though, is that relations with China these days
carry
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
