Pitfalls and promise seen in China's Africa embrace
08 Dec 2006 00:32:31 GMT Source: Reuters
By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent WASHINGTON, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China's aggressive courtship of Africa can benefit that poor continent, but shady Chinese businessmen and no-questions-asked aid policies could backfire, on Beijing, U.S. and African experts said on Thursday. Chinese aid policies in Africa have drawn criticism from some Western aid donors who say Beijing is undermining global efforts to foster reforms and good governance and supporting brutal governments in states such as Sudan or Zimbabwe. A delegation of U.S. and African experts who visited China late last month to discuss the different approaches to Africa endorsed those concerns, urging Western countries to engage China on the issue of aid and governance. "There is a need for a more strategic approach by the United States if a costly and damaging and unnecessary U.S.-China clash is to be avoided," said Stephen Morrison, head of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. In a preview of a CSIS study on China-Africa relations, the delegation also warned China against naivete or undue optimism about the troubled continent and China's role there. "There are certainly some grounds for Chinese colleagues to feel so sanguine about the naturalness of the partnership," said Akwe Amasu, a Nigerian-born senior policy analyst for Africa at the Open Society Institute. "On the other hand, the appreciation certainly has limits," she said, referring to recent anti-China political sentiment in Zambia's presidential election and grumbling elsewhere about counterfeiting, dumping and other business practices. She said China needed to go beyond its preferred approach of strictly government-to-government relations and cultivate ties with African civil society to avoid troubles. Africa business adviser Anthony Carroll said he warned Chinese officials about "bad actors and trade practices that affect China's reputation," including a flood of counterfeit medicine and fake ethnic African textiles from China. The fakes added to threats to African garment industries from low-cost Chinese clothing that had captured local market share as well as markets in rich countries, he said.
