China and USA in competition for African economy

“Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.” Sun Tzu

Africa recently has been transformed in the object of desire of many investors because in this continent there are some of the fastest economies in the World, the middle class is growing, the population is soaring steadily and there are many precious natural resources. As a consequence, foreign states try to put their influence in Africa in order to boost their economies and so it began a race for the best deal with African nations.

China was more forward-looking than the other states in this race and the Chinese interest in African economy and resources became clear in 2000 when the China-Africa forum was organized for the first time. After that it was repeated every three years. The main purpose of the forum was to increase trade: in this way China could buy the raw materials essential for its economic growth and African countries could obtain the money to build infrastructures and modernize their industrial system. Nevertheless there was even a geopolitical goal in promoting this meeting. It consisted in creating new political ties and replacing the influence of western countries with Chinese influence. In order to reach this goal Chinese authorities used also propaganda, for example Wang Hongyi, a leading specialist on Africa at the China Institute of International Studies, stated that “The Western approach of imposing its values and political system on other countries is not acceptable to China. We focus on mutual development, not promoting one country at the expense of another.” The result of this strategy was that China surpassed the USA as Africa’s single largest trading partner in 2009.

The US could not react immediately to the Chinese overtaking because the American administration had to face several challenges in that period, first of all there was the world economic crisis. However the economic situation of US has recently improved, therefore the American administration now can focus also on the African affair. In order to revitalize the economic and political ties with African countries, the US-Africa leaders summit was held on August 4-6, 2014. During the event president Obama highlighted that the US did not want only to extract natural resources, but they wanted to draw up a serious engagement that would bring reciprocal advantages. Moreover, during an interview for the Economist the president cunningly suggested that the Chinese only interest in Africa is to obtain oil and ore, unlike the USA that wants to create enterprises. He said also that the infrastructures realized with Chinese money are not supposed to be useful only to bring raw material to China, but they should be useful for a long-term economic growth in the interest of African people.

In conclusion it is clear that an economic clash is now happening and the prize for the winner is to manage and benefit from the African economic growth. Nevertheless there are not winners in this clash yet and there could be some surprises: for example the participation of a new actor. Maybe the EU?

References:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/02/world/asia/02cnd-china.html?_r=1&ref=asia&oref=slogin&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C{%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22}

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/28/opinion/beijing-a-boon-for-africa.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As%2C{%222%22%3A%22RI%3A12%22}

http://www.whitehouse.gov/us-africa-leaders-summit

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2014/08/barack-obama-talks-economist