Western Donors Embrace China for African Development

For many years, China has caused unease in the international community for its investment-driven aid to Africa without strings attached. Though such an apprehension largely remains today, some major development players are showing a more embracing attitude toward the emerging Asian donor. One of the most vocal is the United Kingdom. In October, Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell indicated that the U.K. wants to partner with China to help end poverty in Africa. “We are looking to work very closely with China,” Mitchell told BBC News. “And those discussions have already started. That is a high priority for the coalition government. In partnership with China, we will be able to do much more to speed up development in Africa.” Two years earlier, in November 2008, the European Commission had adopted a communication endorsing the establishment of the EU-China-Africa trilateral dialogue to promote peace and security as well as support efforts in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin affirmed these shared goals of stability and poverty reduction at an Irish parliamentary debate early this month. He said China can make a big contribution to Africa in areas that it has had success addressing, such as agricultural productivity. Trilateral dialogue According to a European Commission official who is working on the initiative’s implementation, the EU is pursuing the trilateral partnership because it knows that China “has famously quite large funds available at the moment.” Combining Chinese resources with its own, the bloc reckons it can undertake more comprehensive and ambitious programs that are attractive to Africans, he added. For now, the trilateral dialogue is informal, the EU official said. But there are signs it may be formalized and result in concrete projects. The official revealed to Devex that the Chinese government welcomed the idea of collaborations particularly in four areas, namely peace and security, infrastructure, environment and agriculture, and the two sides were working on defining how to implement them. Partnerships are often more complicated since the EU provides much of its assistance in areas like education and health, for instance, as budget support, while China does not employ such an approach. In the end, the success of this trilateral dialogue depends on Africa’s willingness to be an active participant. “The African governments’ coordination is necessary,” the EU official said. “Otherwise, the aid becomes completely unmanageable. Programs can only work if they are owned by the African countries.” While the African Union still has no official position on the trilateral dialogue, some African governments have been in discussions for a trilateral partnership with the EU and China. The EU official, however, declined to provide details on these talks “because they are just discussing with us.” The EU official did share that the dialogue does not focus on alleged human rights and labor standard violations linked to Chinese companies in Africa. Tackling such issues, the EU official said, is mainly confined to EU bilateral talks. “About labor conditions and human rights violations, [the allegations] must be fact-based,” he said. “Sometimes, some European media coverage of the Chinese presence in Africa is stereotyped. Some allegations … may be true; some not. Sometimes our impression is that some media are automatically negative about China.” Deborah Brautigam, professor at the American University’s School of International Service and author of “The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa,” believes there is truth behind allegations of low labor standards by Chinese companies. She said these firms, in general, adopt the labor standards where they operate, and in Africa, those standards are very low. Zhan Shu, Chinese ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of African Affairs, told Devex that his country is becoming more sensitive to issues on labor practices of Chinese firms. “What we are doing is to try to [urge] them to take more social responsibilities,” Zhan said. “These kinds of things are actually new for them, even within China, because private enterprises in China started [not long ago].” China’s growing international cooperation Noting the big role that international cooperation has played in helping China progress, Beijing has been open about its intention to grow its cooperation with the international community. “For the past 30 years, the international community including the United Nations have provided assistance to China and helped the country to integrate itself into the world,” Yi Xiaozhun, China’s vice minister of commerce, told the 2010 High-Level Segment Development Cooperation Forum at the U.N. headquarters in New York on June 29. “Such support has proven to be invaluable for China’s economic and social development.” He added: “Clearly, China’s efforts in reform and opening up have been greatly facilitated by international development cooperation, without which its pursuit towards poverty alleviation would not be possible.” Other Chinese officials have made similar statements. Aside from working with the EU, the Asian emerging economy, now the third largest member of the International Monetary Fund, is improving its cooperation with Africa through the United Nations and other multilateral organizations, said Du Xiaocong, counselor of the Chinese permanent mission to the U.N., during the symposium on Africa-China Relations at Syracuse University on April 8. On Nov. 2, China and the U.N. Development Program forged a partnership to bolster poverty reduction efforts in Africa. They signed two letters of agreements calling for a greater focus on Africa by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China and stronger technical cooperation in the field of agriculture. The signing took place at the 2010 Africa-China Poverty Reduction and Development Conference in Addis Ababa, an event co-organized by UNDP and IPRCC. Read more: - CHINA’S FOREIGN AID STRATEGY PART 2: China’s ‘Noninterference’ Approach to International Cooperation - CHINA’S FOREIGN AID STRATEGY PART 3: China Moves to Enhance Aid Transparency - CHINA’S FOREIGN AID STRATEGY PART 4: In Africa, China Expands Aid Priorities - CHINA’S FOREIGN AID STRATEGY PART 5: Partnership Opportunities in Chinese Development Cooperation