Hakuna Matata?

With the China-Africa Forum on in Beijing at the moment the news is flush with commentary on Sino-African relations, and the subtitle of one of the IHT’s lead articles, China aims to increase its clout in Africa, Unsaid goal: Redraw world's strategic map, says a lot about how it’s being talked about.

Is China trying to become Africa’s next imperial ruler, or are they truly trying to promote universal development (see The allure of the Chinese model)? And what are the ramifications of China’s involvement in Africa? Should the US and Europe be worried that there is a new player in the game?

I’ve written several times before about China’s policy of non-interference in the “internal affairs” of other countries, especially pointing to an excellent article by Howard French back in May entitled Letter from China: A growing power lets a growing crisis fester. That article was a scathing critique of China’s approach to the Sudan, but The perils of Beijing's Africa strategy takes an even broader picture of the ramifications of non-interference.

And if you’re looking for an even larger view, the article that my friend Even pointed me towards, China paves way to Myanmar riches, talks about China’s growing influence in the junta-state of Myanmar (formally Burma, which borders the Yunnan province where I was for the last two years). Essentially the Chinese are trying to open up routes through Myanmar to get to Africa.

As for my opinion: is China trying to spread its influence outside of the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries? Absolutely. Is it doing it in an irresponsible way? Possibly. I’m not an expert on African studies (Aaliyah, I’d be curious about your analysis), but supporting corrupt governments with atrocious human-rights records for personal gain hardly seems the responsible thing to do.

On the other hand, if the US wasn’t so obsessed with promoting its ideologies throughout the world, we might not be in such the quagmire we face today.