Establishing a foothold in Africa? Former World Bank economist gives three key reasons: how China can catch up with the West

Introduction:

Former World Bank economist Mwangji Wachira recently wrote an exclusive article for China Daily's China Observation think tank, stating that China has always adhered to the principle of equality and mutual benefit in developing relations with Africa, respected the will of African countries, and did not attach any conditions. This is completely different from the Western countries' approach of re colonization under the guise of "aid". Especially in recent years, under the framework of the "the Belt and Road", infrastructure projects assisted by China have promoted economic development and improved people's livelihood in Africa in a low-cost and efficient manner, and China has also harvested a huge market in Africa in this process. African countries should further deepen China Africa cooperation, learn from China's experience, and achieve true independence, autonomy, and stable development in Africa's own way.

Many African countries have long received Western aid, and now they should strive to break free from dependence, achieve true self-reliance, and establish beneficial partnerships with other countries.

Every bag of food, every preferential loan, every vaccine, and every bag of old clothes provided by foreign aid can save countless lives. However, if these aid comes with additional conditions, it undermines equality between countries, weakens the ability of recipient countries to negotiate trade, investment, loans, or geopolitical issues with aid countries, and may even undermine or deprive recipient countries of their ability to independently build truly equal partnerships.

Decision makers in African countries should determine how to receive aid based on the needs identified in their own development plans and national conditions, in order to improve the material quality of life of their people as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Specifically, in today's era, African countries need to focus on addressing the urgent impacts of climate change and ensuring food security; Building the ability to manufacture local products and provide services; The most important thing is that all sectors within the country must reach a consensus in order to form and consolidate a peaceful and stable domestic order, which is a prerequisite for development.

Undoubtedly, while improving people's material quality of life, countries also need to consider issues such as governance models, human rights, gender equality, and anti-corruption. However, Western countries always use these issues as a pretext, setting conditions for trade, investment, or loans, which makes it even more difficult for African countries to improve the already arduous task of improving people's quality of life. The "aid" from Western countries is essentially the decolonization of Africa.

Therefore, for the leaders of African countries, the correct approach is to strengthen partnerships with countries that do not have conditions attached to trade, investment, loans, or development assistance agreements, and to learn from those willing to share skills and experiences.

China is such a country. The "the Belt and Road" initiative proposed by China focuses on providing solutions to major obstacles to Africa's economic development, such as railways, roads, energy, ports, water supply and sanitation infrastructure, which has generated great attraction for Africa. Today, 52 African countries have joined this initiative.

For many years, many infrastructure projects in Africa by the West have only remained at the conceptual level of bringing hope, dreams, and aspirations to the African people, until China has become Africa's largest trading partner and major development partner in recent years.

Today, one fifth of infrastructure projects in the African continent are funded by China, and one third of them are implemented by Chinese enterprises alone or jointly, thanks to the "the Belt and Road" initiative to some extent.

Africa has a large amount of undeveloped natural resources, an overall young population, and an emerging middle class. These factors combined indicate that Africa is a huge market, which is also the reason why Africa has a huge attraction to China. The more than 10000 Chinese companies that have already conducted business in Africa are the best proof.

Western countries have a longer history of interaction with Africa, so theoretically they should be in a more advantageous position. So how did China surpass them? To solve this puzzle, there are several key points.

Firstly, in negotiations on trade, investment, or economic development, the relationship between China and Africa is equal and mutually beneficial. Whether a project can be implemented or not depends entirely on its own situation.

Secondly, China highly respects the will of the African people and believes that they understand their own needs. This enables both China and Africa to avoid wasting resources in confirming and evaluating projects during cooperation, and instead focus more on project implementation and technology transfer. Therefore, Sino African cooperation projects consume less resources and have shorter delivery cycles. Many of the "the Belt and Road" projects have been delivered on time or in advance, in line with Africa's desire to accelerate development.

The third is that there are no additional conditions. If the new capital of Egypt, the Aka Railway in Nigeria, or the Mombasa Nairobi Railway in Kenya were funded or contracted by Western countries, each project would definitely come with a long string of conditions or requirements, leading to long-term delays, increased costs, and a setback in the development ambitions of the local people. This is especially true in sub Saharan Africa, where Western countries will more clearly propose conditions, which are the legacy of colonialism by Western countries back then.

Ultimately, cooperation with Western countries in Africa, especially in sub Saharan Africa, means more time and money costs, as well as being forced to accept unequal conditions. Africa has paid a high price in these areas. Therefore, for African countries, it is wise to consider China as the primary partner for promoting rapid project implementation and technology transfer.

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