China, America and Africa

As China and the United States of America ramp up their rivalries on the global stage, it is quite clear that both superpowers have factored in Africa as one of the major areas for this confrontation. This much has come to light in the wake of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic where the deep states of both countries have cranked up their propaganda efforts targeted at winning African minds to their cause.

Aware that Africa has high teledensity, both powers have embarked on a propaganda overdrive through the internet and social media to de-market one another. On the internet and in the mainstream media, acres of airtime and space have been devoted to convincing Africans to believe that the coronavirus was the making of either China or America depending on who is putting out the message.

In some ways, this has become quite absurd and even comical amidst the global tragedy of the COVID-19.

Just how absurd and comical this is, was illustrated when the Chinese authorities decided to eject some Nigerians and Africans resident in the country from their hotels and places of abode on allegation of being infected by the virus. Among the chorus of worldwide condemnation was the one from the US State Department which carpeted the Chinese on their “xenophobia’’. Irony of ironies; is this, not the same America whose president promised to rid America of Africans along with those he regarded as undesirable immigrants?

In the pro-American videos on the internet, China is depicted as a godless, secretive, brutal country that runs concentration camps where inmates are subjected to inhuman conditions in producing some of the products destined for foreign markets. China is also blamed for the coronavirus through the introduction of the 5G global telecommunication network all in its attempt to dominate the world.

From the pro-China perspective, America is presented as an aggressive, exploitative country which wages wars and likes to dictate to countries how to run themselves.

Should Africans be flattered by the gratuitous attention of the two global superpowers? My answer to this is; beware of Greeks bearing gifts.

First off, America has never reckoned with Africa in its list of priority areas. In America’s ranking of priorities, Europe comes first for historical, cultural, strategic and economic reasons; Asia is next for economic and strategic reasons. Then comes North and South America for hemispheric, economic, historical, strategic and cultural reasons. Africa brings up the rear. Indeed the clearest indication of how America reckons with Africa can be seen in the way it treats its African Americans.

Nevertheless, America only gets interested in Africa when a non-western power begins to make inroads into the continent. This much was at play during the cold war era when the now-defunct Soviet Union along with its ally Cuba were supporting independence liberation movements. America sought to contain and roll back the Soviets to keep Africa under Western influence.

In the current face-off against China in Africa, America seeks to raise the ante higher than it did against the Soviets. Whereas the Soviets offered only ideological words and arms to their African clients, the Chinese are kicking into Africa with massive infrastructural projects, financial and economic partnerships. In effect, the Chinese are seeking to upstage the West in those areas that make a meaningful impact on Africans. Again whereas the Soviets were content to limit their presence to the capitals of their client African states and the military bases they were stationed, the Chinese are fanning out into the African hinterland living, working and trading directly with Africans. Furthermore, although China is a communist country, it is also a very influential player in the global capitalist system using capitalist means for its economic relations with Africa. With this template, China is making inroads into Africa at the expense of the West and this has predictably alarmed the latter.

But China is not any better. The Chinese are cashing in on the disadvantageous position of Africa in the global economic and strategic system to secure a toe hold in the continent on the cheap. The Chinese strategy is to use its huge surplus reserves to entice Africa with strategic projects that work more to the advantage of Chinese companies and the overarching strategic design of penetrating Africa in favour of China. Also as China moves from being a workshop of a country to a post-industrial economy, it could leverage the economies of scale to secure its place in the scheme of things. China does not intend to help Africa to industrialize and become an economic powerhouse. China wants to supplant the West in Africa and capture the continent’s vast untapped resources and market potential. The cheap investment China is currently making in Africa is to strengthen its hand in achieving this goal.

Instead of being flattered by these attentions from China and America, Africa needs to get smart. Contrary to popular belief, the contest for global supremacy between the two will go on for quite some time before it reaches a decisive conclusion in favour of any of the two if at all. Both have unique built-in aces in their favour that will be difficult to overcome by the other.

As they continue to duke it out on the global stage, Africa should be poised to bargain hard and squeeze every possible concession out of them.

In this, Africa should be guided by its painful historical experience. In 1884/85, emergent European states gathered in Berlin to divvy up the continent amongst themselves. Our leaders then in their nativity did not and could not have known what was coming. In 1945 when global power and supremacy changed hands once again to the United States of America and the Soviet Union, most of Africa was under colonial subjugation. In that situation, Africa could not have had a say on how the post-war world was going to look like. This time, however, with our korokoro eye as independent countries we cannot afford to be mumu, especially as regard the fate of our continent as the world is once again undergoing fundamental changes.