Samukelisiwe Phakathi 209502622 Political science 308 Essay Assignment

Africa and China relationship has been growing rapidly over the past years in that China has become Africa biggest trade partner. China and Africa relationship is one of the most important partnerships that Africa has. With this relationship Africa has real potential of massive development .The question that would be in every African heart is that is this relationship really genuine in term of China .Meaning that China is in this partnership because they want equal benefit for both parties or is it another powerful country take advantage of Africa underdevelopment for their own that would make them more powerful in the international system, or is it using Africa as a porn to stick it against the west , in that we all know that the western country have many investment in Africa and therefore has got alto of influence. This essay is going to be looking at the relationship between Africa and China in that is this relationship in the benefit for Africa or is it going to ruin Africa. The one thing that is common knowledge amongst the whole international world is that Africa is the richest continent when it comes to resource that is why when Africa was first discovered there was such a scramble for Africa. Before we start analysing the relationship between Africa and China we must keep in mind that China is also aware of Africas riches. Africa which is a continent and China which belongs to the Asian continent, both of these continents are referred as developing continent. China economy has been rapidly growing over the years and the crash of the international economy in 2008 helped China grow into a powerhouse that is today (Alden, 2005 pg3) China has always been in search for raw material and what better place to come to than Africa . This is explained very nicely by Ali Zafar when he says Its search for natural resources to satisfy the demands of industrialization has led it to Sub-Saharan Africa. Trade between China and Africa in 2006 totaled more than $50 billion, with Chinese companies importing oil from Angola and Sudan, timber from Central Africa, and copper from Zambia. Demand from China has contributed to an upward swing in prices, particularly for oil and metals from Africa, and has given a boost to real GDP in Sub-

Saharan Africa. Chinese aid and investment in infrastructure are bringing desperately needed capital to the continent. (Zafar ,2007 pg 1) What the above statement shows that the relationship between Africa and China has bought on a very beneficial relationship to both the parties involved which are China and Africa. The relationship between Africa and China to anybody looks as if it is not an exploitation kind of relationship not like other trade partners of Africa in the international world .As we know that there is nothing for free or any relationship which has mutual benefit in the international relation. Later we going to be looking at who benefit more in this important relation between Africa and China and what the other lose in this relationship. Africa development is happening but not as fast as the rest of the world. In most cases Africa has been the victim of many happening that have prevented it from being where it is supposed to be in the international world. In some cases it is African own selfishness that has prevent them from developing. One of Africa leading problem is debt that is we owe to the international bank and developed countries. Aid has been one of the main problems that have stop development in Africa. To other people this might be confusing in that how getting money has prevented a country or a continent from moving forward. It is easy in that because Africa owes so much money around the world (Moyo, online.wsj.com/article/SB12375889 5999200083.html 2009) .This means that whatever money they make they use it to repair debt in order to use it for development in their own country or Africa as a whole (Moyo, online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html 2009). With Aid also come with many problematic situations. No country or international institution will give another country without benefiting. We are not just talking about the interest that gets put on their loans. The first thing that the developed countries do is that when they get into a partnership with Africa or any developing country, they come with full knowledge that

the loan cannot be repaid .With that gives them influence over those country that accept the aid and with that they can make them do anything that will not in most cases be in the favor of that continent or country that set the country backwards. Over the past 60 years at least $1 trillion of development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Yet real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s, and more than 50% of the population over 350 million people live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades. Even after the very aggressive debt relief campaigns in the 1990s, African countries still pay close to $20 billion in debt repayments per annum, a stark reminder that aid is not free. In order to keeps the system going, debt is repaid at the expense of African education and health care. Well-meaning calls to cancel debt mean little when the cancellation is met with the fresh infusion of aid, and the vicious cycle starts up once again. (Moyo, online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html 2009). It would be no mistake to wonder what China want in return of its partnership with Africa. In that Africa being used as a tool of China to get to the western countries because this partnership gives China alto of influence over Africa in that in the future? It is correct to say that from Africa past experience it should be very caution when it comes economic partnership. Could it be that China is different from Africa past partnership in that this partnership is not only about one party benefiting. Many has describe China and Africa relationship as the new type of partnership in the international relation globe. Meaning that this is a partnership in that both parties involved will have mutual benefit and they will become equal partners and that is different from the relationship that Africa had or has with the west (Yunguo, english.peopledaily.com.cn ,2010). China main reason for partnering with Africa is for resources. China needs resource in order to carry on being the second biggest economy in the world in needs to have inflow of resources and what better place to get then in Africa because Africa has all kind of raw

minerals but we cannot use them to our advantage. So with China on demand of resource and Africa with resource they can help each other out and then both gain from this partnership (Alden, 2005 pg4). The reason for China demand on resources is that when it comes to secondary product in that making the product China has no problem there because of China cheap labour in that by them making the product will not got them much. What does this intake that by China getting the resources from Africa and Latin America with their partnership with Africa they will be able to get them at a cheaper price on the other hand for Africa when it buys the made product from China it would not be as expensive as it should be (Alden, 2005 pg4). Alden describes this as the following China dynamic economic growth fuels an ever-increasing need for energy and strategic minerals. As the worlds second-largest consumer of oil, and with only limited national resources, China is attracted to Africas relatively underexploited petroleum and other natural resources (Alden, 2005 pg3).This means that China needs this resource so that it can sell them to such power houses such as America and Europe because China is so cheap there is a demand for its finished product from the other countries meaning that the partnership with Africa is very important in a way that it needs to be always secured when it comes to minerals and Africa can guarantee China that . So the more Africa gives China these minerals the more China is going to invest in Africa (Robert I. Rotberg, 2008 pg 1). One thing that we have to take notice is that even if China is the second biggest economy in the world it is a new economy and in order for it to carry on growing it needs to form its own partnership where America and Europe has fairly ignored and that is Africa and Latin America. What China can try to do is that form very strong bonds between its partners so that they may also have some sort of a stand against other big country or powerful international institution. With that China needs Africa to be developed more than it is today and that can be done by them cooperating with each other for a long to time to come. (Robert I. Rotberg, 2008 pg 59)

Some might say that this is a win win situation. But we cannot say that until we know if Africa gains as much as China in this partnership. In return to China sucking the life out of Africa what it does is that it brings long time investment in sectors of mining and sub soiling and ect. It also taking part in the development in African countries, such as developing roads and railway. (Robert I. Rotberg, 2008 pg 1). China knows how to suck up in that it offered to build the new Africa Union headquarters in Ethiopia reason being that the existing one was too small. China has been supplying Africa with alto of beneficial resources such as military firepower and many more and ever since China started to grow all the countries that are involved with China are also growing economic wise(Robert I. Rotberg, 2008 pg 2). China have been very good friends with Africa and that is a threat to many powerful country. All of above shows how a boon China has been to Africa but in international relations you cannot benefit only without losing anything. The question to ask is China getting more in this deal than Africa or is Africa losing more than benefiting. The following paragraph is going to try and answer this question. One of the most important criticized issues about China involvement in Africa is that China does not want any political interference from Africa or itself will not interfere with political issues of Africa meaning that relationship between Africa and China is simply about trade and what does not affect trade they will not interfere(Howard W. French, 2004 pg 3). Now this is a huge a problem because Africa does not need development it economy only but also how the continent is run as a whole needs to be developed because this mean Africa will have an image as if it is developing in the international world whereas the people are starving and are not education and the life of poverty is still carrying on. Africa needs to develop and it cannot develop without development happening to the people of Africa and that will only happen when Africa has good government in that the people

running the country should be thinking about the development of its people and not about getting money into their own packet. One of Africa government biggest issue is corruption in that corruption has stopped development in its track in Africa and China has not helped. China partnership with Africa does not care if they are dealing with a corrupt government ,what they want at the end of the day is minerals and as long as they get it they do not see the reason why it should be involved in Africa politic because it is not gaining anything. Some people have expressed the following about this A diplomat from Benin expressed disappointment. Were a socialist-Marxist state, and we've had30 years of ties with the People's Republic of China, and yet they bypassed us to go to Gabon," the diplomat was quoted as saying by The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong daily. "This tells me that China has no friends but rather only interests. Although Benin was long a Marxist dictatorship, for the last decade it has been one of Africa's freest democracies. (Howard W. French, 2004 pg 3)

China has made it clear that it does not want to be involved in the political problems of Africa let try and look at it maybe in China point of view that maybe they would be thinking that Africa has been independent for a long time and must stop being a victim of colonialism that has been over more than 40 years and must learn to take care of its own people by the money they are getting from the partnership. The second could be that maybe by them getting involve they could find themselves taking sides and that might make them loose out on partnership with a that particular government and then they end up losing minerals and all China wants is minerals. The last thing could be that it does not want Africa to interfere in how they also run they own country and therefor their relationship must be strictly trade (Howard W. French, 2004 pg 3). Does a relationship like this really help Africa at all? When

the money or aid that we do get end up in the personal pocket government.

We cannot look at China in Africa and not look what the western country think and how does that this relationship effect Africa and the western country. Some author argue that China relationship with Africa is a way for China to try overstep America and become the leading country in the international world even though some may argue that is not true and China just wanted a manual beneficial relationship with Africa (Robert I. Rotberg, 2008 pg 2). Other thought The emergence of China as a force in Africa complicated the tussle between the EU and the USA over the who controls Africa. The new relations between Africa and China could be described in the words of Gramsci, as, the old is dying yet the new is yet to be born. Chinese relations with Africa combine elements of the old (extraction of raw materials), yet the experience of transformation in China ensures that there are many positive and negative lessons to be learnt. What is new is the prospect for the consolidation of African independence and the challenge to the hegemony of the dollar and US imperialism. (Campbell H , 2008)

Meaning that it is giving Africa it independent over the hold over the American dollar and America as a whole .In that Africa is having some control over their own economy and America does not want that because with that they lose they influence that they have over Africa. The relationship that Africa has with America would lessen and that might be a good thing because it has not bought much different to many African countries. When America formed a relationship with Africa they also promised that it would be a beneficial relationship between America and China at the begging of the 20th century in that there would be development in Africa and Africa economy would increase in the international world. But no big development or gain happened for Africa as America benefited in the partnership. With

China you may argue that this different because there are some developments that can be seen ever since China came into the picture (Campbell H , 2008).

In conclusion the relationship between Africa and China has both the boon and the bane for the continents sustainable development. In that with China relationship in Africa, Africa has benefited very much and alto of capital has come in the continent and there has been physical development has have been seen in Africa countries such as Nigeria and Algeria, this did not happen with the partnership of America and EU in which Africa benefited as much as other partner. The good thing is that the partnership is not a short time deal China has put on long term investment in Africa meaning that there is much to come. Maybe China is Africa guardian angel to help Africa from the waters that been drowning them for such a long time. All of those things are good but China has made it clear that it does not care about people of Africa in that it interact even with corrupt government in which the money does not reach the people and Africa cannot be developed without the people of Africa developing. In a way it is not helping Africa at all. This relationship has both elements to destroy or help Africa become a power house that it can be in the international world

Reference page Alden, C, 2005 China in Africa Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tsur20 . Howard W. French, 2004, China in Africa: All Trade, With No Political Baggage Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company. Campbell H , 2008 , China in Africa: challenging US global hegemony Third World Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2008, Syracuse University, New York, USA. pp 89 105 Zafar , A , 2007 , The Growing Relationship Between China and Sub-Saharan Africa: Macroeconomic, Trade, Investment, and Aid Links Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Bank for Reconstruction anddevelopment / the world bank. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org Moyo,D, 2009 Why Foreign Aid Is Hurting Africa online.wsj.com/article/SB123758895999200083.html . Yunguo, S, 2010 China-Africa relations based on equality, mutual benefit and common development english.peopledaily.com.cn . Robert I. Rotberg, 2008 China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence Copyright (c) 2008 world peace foundation P.O. Box 382144 Cambridge , Massachusetts pg 1 -3