China�s dream inspires the African dream
Correspondent | Wednesday October 25, 2017 13:52
On the African continent, the Chinese Dream mantra has since inspired the African dream, especially given the fact that in the last five years, China’s gross domestic product rose from 54 trillion to 80 trillion yuan –about 12.1 trillion USD. In that time frame, the country also lifted 60 million people out poverty.
Salah Hammad, a Senior Human Rights Expert with the African Union’s Department of Political Affairs was quick to say that the Chinese experience must inspire the African people to do more in order to achieve the goal of a peaceful, prosperous and united continent.
“The Chinese experience made it clear that there is nothing impossible under the sun. In fact, Africa is richer in minerals and natural resources, and therefore, it is possible to achieve the African dream in a shorter period, if good governance is applied,” said Hammad.
During the three and half hour long speech delivered by Xi, all the milestones for China in the immediate future of being a moderately prosperous society by 2020, basically modernised nation by 2035 and being a rich and powerful socialist nation by 2050 were stipulated.
Xi Xingping’s speech however espoused the idea that with great-power status comes greater responsibility. It emboldened the reality that China has gained enormous confidence in their economic and technological capabilities, together with a better understanding of the pressure and urgency of expectations of various other nations about China. Xi was quick to emphasise that the ‘dreams of the Chinese people and those of other peoples around the world are closely linked and that the realisation of the Chinese dream will not be possible without a peaceful international environment and a stable international order.
He admitted that no country alone can handle all the challenges that mankind faces and that no country can retreat into self-isolation as we live in a shared world and face a shared destiny. Whether or not China will pursue its happiness and rejuvenation at the expense of the African people is another question, but Hammad assured Africa it had nothing to fear.
“Trade between China and Africa is generally balanced, but there is need for more investment in Africa in order to create jobs for the African youth. This partnership is important for Africa, but it is the responsibility of the governments to make sure that it will not be at the expense of the African peoples,” he advised.
Adding that, China is fighting corruption and putting the Chinese people in the centre of the development processes, putting the wellbeing of its citizens on the top of the government priorities. So, he said, the African continent should learn from the Chinese’s successful experience and try to focus on the development aspect of Agenda 2063.
Hammad sees Xi’s call for his nation to transform itself into a mighty force that could lead the world on political, economic, military and environmental issues, which constitute the China Dream as a positive development that will support the African call for considering the right to development as a human right, bringing balance to world order.
Though Dr Mmoloki Gabatlhaolwe, an Independent Scholar on Africa-China Engagements agrees with Hammad, he reminded that Africa is a continent and China is a country.
“First Africa is not a country, so asking a continent without intergovernmental processes and systems to emulate a country with the same is flawed. Second, if we talk of African countries, each country should figure out its own unique model which will work well within the local reality; own traditions, own ways of life, that can solve its own problems its own way,” advised Gabatlhaolwe.
His advice is inspired by the fact that as early as the 1960s, many African leaders considered China an economic partner with a development model sensitive to local cultures and conducive to the needs of societies that had limited foundation for industrialisation.
During China’s widespread famine and economic troubles during the Great Leap Forward, the Chinese model of gradual but rigorously planned industrialisation appealed to many African leaders eager for development but aware of their limited technological capacity.
Julius Nyerere implemented the “Ujamaa” project in Tanzania, and it was about collective farming and self-reliance.
Nkrumah also had plans to accelerate Ghana’s industrialisation without sacrificing the agricultural sector; all these were examples of African leaders’ attempts to emulate China. Nevertheless these attempts did not catapult Tanzania or Ghana to the heights of China.
“China is a great example on how a country can grow from rags to riches, how African countries can safeguard their sovereignty, revitalise their African cultures, oppose “erroneous” ideology and promote religion that is “African in orientation”. Without doing these, Africa cannot find its own path and will remain a victim and a follower forever,” said Gabatlhaolwe.
While there will still be much talk in the next five years, particularly from China, of win-win relationships with Africa – and of Chinese neo-colonialist exploitation from Africans –, Gabatlhaolwe observed that patterns of engagement which will emerge in the next decade will be much more complex, even messier, than in the last, hence the need for China to define its intentions and national objectives in a fluid world, and to ask themselves what role and responsibility they should assume in Africa besides just doing commercial business. Especially that Xi Jingping noted that people maybe missing out on what China is doing, simply because they grade China’s domestic affairs, global positions and influences according to Western benchmarks.
In the case of Botswana, with President Ian Khama Seretse Khama at the helm, China has struggled to have influence over the country, and the relationship took a nosedive when Botswana seemed to have wanted to roll out the red carpet for the Dalai Lama.
Also, Botswana’s trade statistics also show via Global Edge that China is Botswana’s fifth import partner but is not in the top 10 export partner, which means China makes more money from Botswana than Botswana does from China. It also implies that there have not been many business opportunities for Batswana in China, like there are in Botswana for Chinese citizens.
Less Botswana exports to China imply that there is less demand for Botswana products in China. However, with deepening mutual engagement this can change in Xi’s next term.