China Explains and Defends Africa Ties

Beijing’s Departure from Traditional Diplomacy of Silence

May 28, 2009

China's silence over Africa came to an end when the West threatened to frustrate Beijing's Olympic ambitions. After the Games, however, China stopped explaining itself.

Until very recently, China’s relations with the outside world has been dictated by a diplomacy of silence. This diplomacy has been shaped by Beijing’s philosophy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries. With the dramatic changes in the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century, China has been forced to depart from this traditional diplomacy. Since it won the bid to host the Olympic Games in 2001, China has been forced to explain and defend its relationship with Africa.

How the Olympic Games Were Connected to Africa

The Beijing Olympic Games were significant to both China and the West. It provided an opportunity for the West to bring China to book over allegations of atrocities and human rights abuses in Africa. For Beijing, the Games constituted a launch pad to international fame, and also a showcase of China’s greatness. Beijing therefore invested considerable resources to realize this dream. The resultant clash of interest explains China’s departure from its traditional diplomacy of silence.

China’s successful hosting of the Olympic Games greatly helped to silence western opposition to its moves thus giving Beijing complete leverage over Africa. The global financial crisis that came after the Games worked to China’s favor as far as Africa is concerned. Reeling from the effects of the crisis, the West has considerably abandoned its rhetoric on human rights and is advocating cooperation with China over Africa.

2006 was a very significant year in China’s relations with Africa. In January 2006, Beijing issued its policy document on Africa which it called China’s African Policy which spelt out China’s rules of engagement with Africa. In November of the same year, the monumental Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation - FOCAC was held in China. This conference erased all doubts about China’s grip on Africa.

As a result, the West intensified calls for the boycott of the Olympic Games with the hope of frustrating China’s Olympic dreams as a result of her abuses in Africa. On its part, China mounted a stiff defense, absolving itself of all charges of atrocities in Africa.

When Human Rights First, a U.S.-based human rights group published a report in May 2008 implicating China in the supply of arms to Sudan, Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington reacted furiously. “The conclusions of the report are misleading,” he said, “and the allegations against the Chinese government are unwarranted.” He simply saw this as an attempt to sabotage China’s ambitions especially as far as the Olympic Games were concerned.

Before the Beijing Games, Darfur remained a source of headache to China because it always stood on top of the list of charges levied against Beijing. Former U.S. President George Bush had termed it genocide and western rights activists branded the Beijing Olympics as “genocide Olympics.”

Conscious therefore of the implications of the Darfur crisis on China’s Olympic ambitions, Beijing in May 2008 appointed Liu Guijin, one of its most seasoned diplomats as special envoy to Darfur. Liu later summarized China’s accomplishments in Africa in a few words. “China has done many positive things which have been recognized by the international community.”

Casting aside accusations about China’s oil interests in Africa, former Chinese ambassador to Kenya, Du Qiwen, made it clear that China was a net exporter of oil to Africa in the 1970s. By his figures, Africa in 2006 only accounted for 8.7% of China’s total oil imports as compared with 36% for the EU and 33% for the U.S. “If you put 8.7% as neocolonialism, how would you describe the EU and US positions?” He also pointed out that China is the only country that has reduced the debt of African countries “most drastically.”

After the Beijing Olympics, China stopped giving explanations about its Africa policy. This return to silence is explained by the fact that China had obtained what it wanted – a successful Olympics. Also, the global financial crisis that came after the Games has severely crippled the West to the extent that the discourse on human rights has been replaced by calls for an economically viable China to assist in stemming the tides of the crisis. Africa therefore remains at China’s mercy.

Fowale, Tongkeh. Sifting the Good from the Bad: Sino-African Relations, a Balance Sheet.” American Chronicle, March 20, 2008.

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