Karma NetworkEditorChina’s economic engagement in Africa has expanded over the past two decades to encompass raw materials, agriculture, infrastructure and other business ventures once considered the near exclusive preserve of Western corporations and U.S.-dominated multilateral institutions. As Beijing’s footprint has grown, so too have Cold War-esque warnings that the opaque nature of China’s financial dealings in Africa mask an effort to exert control over the continent’s politics and resources.
Cold war goggles obscure the nuanced nature of China’s engagement with Africa, the agency of African nations and businesses to choose their own partners, and the opportunities that exist on the continent for non-Chinese investors. As Karma Insider Thando Mhlambiso, Director of Allan Gray Proprietary Limited, puts it, “We’re yearning to modernize and develop our countries… So part of that requires capital and we would love for that capital to come from the U.S., from Europe, from wherever. And even from other African countries.”
It’s Complicated
China has evolved from a bit player in Africa at the turn of the century, to its biggest trading partner and infrastructure [investor]. China’s trade surplus with Africa has grown as Beijing has shifted focus from resource rich countries to rising consumer economies. But the West is not sidelined. [The U.S. remains] the largest net donor to Africa and has sent more FDI into the continent than China in all but three of the last 15 years. Britain and France rank second and third.
