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China's trade with Africa sparks debate
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WHILE CHINA'S growing trade and investment flows to Africa have sparked a contentious debate with the United States and Europe over who has the continent's best interests at heart, a closer look at the trade dynamics reveals a political landscape where the rhetoric is rarely in line with the reality. When a recent World Bank report revealed that trade between Africa, the European Union and the U.S. is nearly equalled by that between Africa and Asia, a closer look at the numbers brought into the picture by China's involvement in Africa brings an even starker
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African exports to China grew 48 percent annually between 1999 and 2004, with 10 percent of all sub-Saharan exports now destined for the Asian giant. And over the last five years, Asian exports to Africa increased at an annual rate of 18 percent higher than that of any other region, including the EU. China's deepening involvement in Africa has been driven by its domestic demand for the natural resources and raw materials that are needed to support its huge population and booming economy - China has the second largest economy after the U.S. and the world's largest current account surplus of nearly $180 billion.
It is a development that is profoundly and permanently changing the nature of Africa's relationship with her former colonial EU powers. But the EU still remains Africa's largest trading partner with trade totalling more than 200 billion euros in 2006. The seeming lack of conditions to China's aid, such as the absence of any stipulation based on anti-corruption measures, as well as the speed with which it is dispersed have both proved attractive to African governments with varying degrees of accountability.
Among the more controversial aspects of China's involvement in Africa is that of the Petro-China company, a subsidiary of the state-controlled China National Petroleum Corporation, which owns a major stake in Sudan's national oil consortia, and maintains extensive operations there. To help meet its demand for fuel, China purchased more than half of Sudan's oil exports in 2006. Critics charge that profits from these sales have enabled the Khartoum government to buy weapons with which to continue its military operations in the nation's Darfur region.
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