ChinaChina’s engagement with Africa not just
in mega-infrastructure projects like the
SGR, but also trade, investment and aid,
there is no other country with such depth
and breadth of engagement in Africa.
In fact, twice as many African presi-
dents attended China’s Africa summit in
2018 than the UN General Assembly in
New York the same year, while Beijing
chose Djibouti as its first-ever overseas
military base. This is likely to be part
of China’s attempt to back its economic
interests in the region with military
might.
China Inc?
A 2017 report by McKinsey, one of the
most comprehensive to date, found that
Chinese investment operates across
many sectors. There are more than
10,000 Chinese-owned firms in Africa,
and an estimated 90 per cent of them
are privately owned, ‘calling into ques-
tion the notion of a monolithic, state-
co-ordinated investment drive by China
Inc’. These companies are nimble, ambi-
tious, and willing to take on a level of risk
that would discourage many Western
companies.
Chinese firms bring to African
markets new technologies, or famil-
iar technologies at a much lower price.
Ta ke C h i nese sm a r t phone m a nu fac-
turer Tecno. ‘What sets Tecno apart is
that it specifically and exclusively makes
phones for the African market,’ digital
strategist Mark Kaigwa tells me. Tecno’s
photo software is designed to capture
darker skin tones better as well as having
a louder speaker for a market where
radios are hugely popular.
The phones have a longer-life battery,
crucial in places that do not have regular
access to electricity, and the company
was the first to introduce an Amharic-
language keyboard in Ethiopia: all for
the price of less than $50. The contrast
between Kenya’s SGR and Tecno could
not be sharper, but it underscores that it
is important to consider China’s engage-
ment in Africa with nuance – it is not
monolithic nor does it look the same
everywhere. Criticizing one project
does not mean opposing China in Africa
in totality.
New futures
Even more important is for African
governments, and African people, to
centre themselves in these discourses,
as Nyerere insisted. Africa should not
be framed – nor should it see itself – as
a passive arena where the intentions of
others are projected. African govern-
ments need to define what they want
from the China-Africa relationship and
design a strategic plan to get there.
This should be a real partnership, not
one that is driven by short-term politi-
cal expediency on the African side and
geopolitical gamesmanship on the other.
‘Right now, the power dynamic is very
one-sided,’ journalist Paul Wafula tells
me. ‘If you are borrowing money from
a bank, they don’t come to direct your
business, as long as you are paying the
loan. But with Chinese infrastructure
investment, they loan you the money
but also do the feasibility study, procure-
ment, civil works, operations and super-
vision. How is that a partnership?’
African governments must strengthen
their capacity to negotiate deals that put
their countries’ long-term welfare first,
both that of the citizens and the envi-
ronment. Ultimately, this must go hand
in hand with broader reforms to make
African governments more democratic,
transparent and responsive to the needs
of citizens, instead of deals being negoti-
ated in secret and then their terms being
announced to citizens as a fait accompli.
A recent novel published by Kenyan
author Yvonne Owuor can help us reim-
agine the relationship between Africa
and China for a new century. The Drag-
onfly Sea reframes the East African coast
not as China’s arena in which to flex its
muscle, but as a thriving, autonomous
region that was in diplomatic relation-
ships with China as far back as the 15th
century.
The past, present and future all
mingled as I waved goodbye to my
grandmother – the oldest living member
of my immediate family – on this brand
new railway line. O
CHRISTINE MUNGAI IS A WRITER AND JOURNALIST
BASED IN NAIROBI, KENYA. HER WORK HAS
RECENTLY BEEN PUBLISHED IN THE ELEPHANT, THE
WASHINGTON POST, THE BOSTON GLOBE, CNN AND
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH. SHE WAS A 2018 NIEMAN
FELLOW AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY.
1 David Ndii, ‘SGR by the numbers: some
unpleasant arithmetic’, The Elephant, July 2018,
nin.tl/SGRNOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2019 33
VOICES
FROM
CHINA
CHEN QIUFAN,
SCIENCE-FICTION WRITER,
BEIJING
As told to Alec AshWhere do you see China’s position in the
world in 10 years’ time?I believe that in 10 years, China will become
a model for the world in its progress, with
science and technology as the core driving
force behind it. I want to use my own writings
to transmit the values of responsibility,
environmental protection and social harmony- values which are not yet mainstream today,
with more people caught up in the carnival
of consumerism. However, these new
technologies will have the power both to
mobilize and to control people, so we must
be alert and on guard against that. Everyone’s
political position is influenced by their
environment, and this trend could become
more serious in the future.