The Times - UK - 04.12.2021

44 2GM Saturday December 4 2021 | the times

Wo r l d

China is increasingly turning to the
military and political indoctrination of
ruling elites in Commonwealth
countries as criticism grows of its
coercive use of foreign investment and
debt diplomacy.
Military officers from Common-
wealth countries who might once have
earned their stripes at British military
colleges such as Sandhurst are joining
China’s foreign training programmes in
record numbers. Several African
nations, including Ghana, Uganda and
Tanzania, have opened “politico-mili-
tary schools” sponsored by China.
Civitas, the think tank, said the mili-
tary training “should be understood in
the context of Beijing’s growing efforts
to train foreign elites generally” to gain
influence over developing countries.
China hosts thousands of foreign
political party members for governance
and “ideological” training every year,
seeking to promote its Communist
Party rule as a superior alternative to
western democracy. Commonwealth
democracies that have participated in-
clude Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia and
South Africa — some at their own insti-
gation. Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic
Party asked for help to “deepen its
ideological skills”.
Officers from Barbados, which
became a republic this week after re-
moving the Queen as head of state, are
joining military training courses in
China along with soldiers from Guya-
na, Sri Lanka and Fiji. Barbados is one
of several Commonwealth nations
whose militaries have benefited from
multimillion-pound Chinese grants.
The China-Africa Action plan in-
creased training places for African offi-
cers from 2,000 to 5,000 over the past
three years. By contrast Sandhurst
trains 1,500 foreign officers every year.
Charles Parton, a former British dip-
lomat and China expert, said Beijing

was emulating and expanding a mili-

tary training model that Britain had

used successfully for many years. “Why

wouldn’t the Chinese do this? We do,”

he said. “Military links are part of any

good outreach to other countries, but

for China, with the domestic power and

importance of the People’s Liberation

Army, this is an important part of rela-

tions, particularly in countries where

the military is itself important.”

China has already systematically tar-

geted the countries involved in military

training with infrastructure investment

funds through its Belt and Road Initia-

tive (BRI) to win influence and diplo-

matic backing in international institu-

tions such as the United Nations, and

against wider recognition of Taiwan.

Almost every Commonwealth country,

and many others outside, have signed

up for the BRI, the signature foreign

policy project of President Xi.

Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the

Commons defence committee, said:

“China has ensnared dozens of coun-

tries, now equating to a quarter of the

world’s GDP, into long-term economic

programmes they can ill afford while

progressively reshaping the inter-

national landscape. It is no surprise to

learn China’s increasing influence now

extends to military training academies,

with Sandhurst and Shrivenham [the

UK Defence Academy] being replaced

by elite military institutes in China.”

Parton said the spiralling cost of

infrastructure investment may be one

reason behind the shift: China simply

cannot afford to continue to issue vast

loans at its present pace, especially with

the high rate of default. Xi’s shift from

the state towards the private sector to

finance international projects under-

lines China’s increasingly precarious

bottom line. But the country is also fac-

ing growing resentment and backlash-

es in some of the smaller nations it has

sought to influence with extravagant

economic promises it cannot fulfil.

This week Australia and New Zea-

land sent troops to quell anti-Chinese

riots in the Solomon Islands. Anger has

also flared in Kiribati over Beijing’s

broken aid promises and the open-door

policy towards Chinese citizens enter-

ing the capital whereas Kiribati locals

are locked out by Covid laws.

That mirrors the resentment evi-

denced in other Commonwealth island

nations, such as Barbados: showered

with Chinese largesse only for Chinese

workers to flood in and take all the

building jobs. Such developments led to

Helmut Kohl’s widow has been accused
by the family of the former chancellor
of going on a “ghoulish judicial ram-
page” for compensation, amid claims
that she is blocking a public foundation
to honour him in Berlin.
The Federal Court of Justice ruled
last week that Maike Kohl-Richter will
not inherit €1 million formerly awarded
to Kohl against his former ghostwriter
Heribert Schwan, who wrote a damn-
ing book about him in 2014.
She is now set to appeal against the
decision, continuing a long-running
battle to control the former chancellor’s
legacy as well as a fierce public feud
with the rest of his family.
Kohl’s nephew, Hans-Christian

Republican

governor

plans own

state militia

Xi lures Commonwealth

with military diplomacy

questions over whether Barbados had

simply shed one colonial master, the

British crown, to take on a new one.

Small, impoverished island nations

represent easy prey for China,

especially when it is seeking support in

arenas such as the UN general assem-

bly, which operates a “one country, one

vote” system. Both the Solomons and

Kiribati were persuaded to break diplo-

matic ties with Taiwan and align with

China after extravagant promises of aid.

Kiribati’s opposition leader told The

Times that her party planned to sever

links with Beijing if it was returned to

office. “To be frank, I don’t trust our

government when it comes to dealing

with the Chinese government. I also

don’t trust the Chinese government,”

Tessa Lambourne said.

Analysts fear that Beijing’s courting

of military elites in developing coun-

tries may hamper the growth of young

democracies and stop voters having the

final say on outside influence.

One of China’s most enduring gradu-

ates was Robert Mugabe, who ruled

Zimbabwe for three decades before he

was ousted in a party coup suspected to

have Chinese backing. His successor,

President Mnangagwa, has since

cooled on pleas for the return of west-

ern investment, speaking of a “hybrid

economy” along Chinese lines. Zim-

babwe, which was suspended from the

Commonwealth in 2002 before storm-

ing out in protest, is seeking readmis-

sion to the 54-member association.

Those who make the trip to China for

training have subsequently shown the

required fealty to the Chinese Commu-

nist Party. Challenged on his participa-

tion, Raphael Tuju, secretary-general

of Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party, said he

did not see anything wrong with “learn-

ing from the most successful and best

run” party in the world.

Ellwood said: “Slowly but surely Brit-

ain is being nudged out of ‘favoured

nation status’ across the Common-

wealth. Until we wake up and face up to

China’s emerging grand global strategy

the West will continue to shrink in size,

as more and more nations look east.”

China
Catherine Philp
Diplomatic Correspondent
Bernard Lagan Sydney
Jonathan Clayton

Florida’s Republican governor has set

out plans to establish a state militia

consisting of trained civilians “unen-

cumbered by the federal government”.

Ron DeSantis said the Florida State

Guard, which would answer solely to

him, would be a 200-strong military

unit to support emergency response

efforts in the event of natural disasters

and other unspecified “emergencies”.

Jacqui Goddard Miami

Kohl’s family begs widow to halt ‘ghoulish’ court fight

Lange, claimed yesterday that many of

his relatives were angry at his widow’s

“unbelievable and undignified” pursuit

of compensation.

“On behalf of numerous relatives of

the family, we call on the

widow to stop her judi-

cial rampage and this

disgraceful picking

over of his bones,”

Lange told The Times.

“It is unbelievable and

undignified that she

wants to collect €1mil-

lion that she is not even

entitled to. I call on her

to give up the name

‘Kohl’ — because by doing so she dis-

qualifies herself once and for all from

continuing to belong to the family.”

Kohl-Richter, 57, became Kohl’s

second wife in 2008 and nursed the

wheelchair-bound statesman in his

final years. He left office in 1998.

She has been seeking to inherit the

record compensation payout from

2017, awarded for the violation

of Kohl’s “general personal

rights” over the un-

authorised biography,

Legacy: The Kohl Pro-

tocols. The ruling had

not taken effect by

the time Kohl

died, aged 87, in

June that year.

According to

her lawyer,

Kohl-Richter will now take her legal

claim to the Federal Constitutional

Court. Lange said: “[She] must stop her

ghoulish judicial rampage [and] honour

the German constitutional laws relat-

ing to the peace of the dead, and also to

the freedom of the press.”

Via her lawyer, Kohl-Richter de-

clared in September that she opposed

plans by the Bundestag to build a €3

million memorial foundation to Kohl.

According to Lange, “[Kohl] always

really hoped that some kind of memori-

al would honour his political achieve-

ment for the unification of Germany

and Europe in Berlin... But the widow,

Maike Kohl-Richter, is boycotting this.”

A lawyer for Kohl-Richter denied

this claim, having previously said she

intended to “go her own way, with a pri-

vate Helmut Kohl Foundation”.

Germany
Rob Hyde Berlin

CHINA

PACIFIC

OCEAN

Beijing’s Pacific reach

Solomon Islands

Agreed in late 2019 to no

longer recognise Taiwan.

China will bankroll a new

national stadium in the

capital, Honiara

Papua New Guinea

Chinese state-

owned fishing

company building a

port and fisheries

factory in Daru

Vanuatu

China wants to open a

permanent military base

on the island. It has

funded the construction

of a wharf on Espiritu

Santo, which Australia

fears could be used to

host naval vessels

Samoa

New prime minister

cancelled a

Beijing-financed

deal for a $100m

expansion of the

island’s seaport at

Vaiusu Bay

Kiribati

China planning to

redevelop strategic

airstrip on one of

the islands, setting

off alarm bells in the

US and Australia

Tonga

China has built an

$11m government

office block.

Country owes

$108m to China,

roughly 25% of

Tonga’s GDP

Maike Kohl-Richter

nursed Helmut Kohl

in his final years

Bel-Air mega

mansion set

for cut-price

$250m sale

T

he fight over America’s

largest modern home is

drawing to a close with

the property known as

“The One” to be

auctioned with bids starting at