Chinals Expanding Role in Africa

T R CHINA’S EXPANDING ROLE IN AFRICA Implications for the United States A Report of the CSIS Delegation to China on China-Africa-U.S. Relations November 28–December 1, 2006 CSIS REPO Authors Bates Gill Chin-hao Huang J. Stephen Morrison THE CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 1800 K Street, NW • Washington, DC 20006 Tel: (202) 887-0200 • Fax: (202) 775-3199 E-mail: books©csis.org • Web: www.csis.org January 2007 CHINA’S EXPANDING ROLE IN AFRICA Implications for the United States A Report of the CSIS Delegation to China on China-Africa-U.S. Relations November 28–December 1, 2006 Authors Bates Gill Chin-hao Huang J. Stephen Morrison January 2007 About CSIS The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) seeks to advance global security and prosperity in an era of economic and political transformation by providing strategic insights and practical policy solutions to decisionmakers. CSIS serves as a strategic planning partner for the government by conducting research and analysis and developing policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. Our more than 25 programs are organized around three themes: Defense and Security Policy—With one of the most comprehensive programs on U.S. defense policy and international security, CSIS proposes reforms to U.S. defense organization, defense policy, and the defense industrial and technology base. Other CSIS programs offer solutions to the challenges of proliferation, transnational terrorism, homeland security, and post-conflict reconstruction. Global Challenges—With programs on demographics and population, energy security, global health, technology, and the international financial and economic system, CSIS addresses the new drivers of risk and opportunity on the world stage. Regional Transformation—CSIS is the only institution of its kind with resident experts studying the transformation of all of the world’s major geographic regions. CSIS specialists seek to anticipate changes in key countries and regions—from Africa to Asia, from Europe to Latin America, and from the Middle East to North America. Founded in 1962 by David M. Abshire and Admiral Arleigh Burke, CSIS is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with more than 220 full-time staff and a large network of affiliated experts. Former U.S. senator Sam Nunn became chairman of the CSIS Board of Trustees in 1999, and John J. Hamre has led CSIS as its president and chief executive officer since 2000. CSIS does not take specific policy positions; accordingly, all views expressed herein should be understood to be solely those of the author(s). © 2007 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved. Cover photo: © Andrew Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images. Center for Strategic and International Studies 1800 K Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 Tel: (202) 887-0200 Fax: (202) 775-3199 Web: www.csis.org Contents Acknowledgments IV Executive Summary V 1. Introduction 1 Background 1 Core Conclusions 2 2. China’s Evolving Approach to Africa 5 Key Factors Shaping China’s Current Approach to Africa 5 China’s Expansive Presence in Africa and the November 2006 FOCAC Summit 8 Emergent Challenges for China in Africa 10 3. Implications for the United States 14 4. Looking Ahead: Future Policy Options 18 Multilateral Level 18 Bilateral Government-to-Government Relations 20 Business, Economic, and Trade Activities 22 Civil Society and Nongovernmental Organizations 22 Appendix 1. Forum on China-Africa Cooperation: Beijing Action Plan (2007–2009) 25 Appendix 2. Declaration of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China- Africa Cooperation: November 2006 37 Appendix 3. CSIS Delegation Participants 41 Appendix 4. CSIS Delegation to China on China-Africa-U.S. Relations: November 28–December 1, 2006 42 iii Acknowledgments We have been fortunate to work with excellent colleagues and supporters as we have launched this promising CSIS project on China-Africa relations. We are especially grateful to Ambassador Ma Zhengang, president of the China Institute for International Studies (CIIS), and to his staff, particularly to Lu Pinrou, for their gracious hospitality, collegiality, and organizational support during our visit to China, November 28 to December 1, 2006. We aspire to keep this relationship alive and intend in 2007 that CSIS reciprocate in hosting CIIS and other Chinese experts in Washington for follow-on discussions. The Chinese ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Zhou Wenzhong, the deputy chief of mission, Minister Zheng Zeguang, and the embassy’s senior specialist on Africa, Sun Baohong, were each exceptionally helpful during our Washington preparations and upon our return in December. Our CSIS delegation comprised an unusually diverse high-level collection of nine independent experts, all but one U.S. based, and including two nationals from Africa. Each gave generously of his and her time, and each revealed the depth and passion of their respective engagement with both Africa and China. John Hamre, CSIS president and CEO, has steadfastly encouraged us to pursue the opportunities for collaboration first tabled in early 2006 by CIIS president Ma Zhengang. Jennifer Cooke, codirector of the CSIS Africa Program, has offered much intellectual guidance throughout the development of the project, while Savina Rupani and Elizabeth Sullivan provided tireless and expert project support. Our visit to China in late 2006 was greatly aided by the generous support provided by Merck & Co., Inc. and BHP Billiton China, the latter through the direct personal interest of its president, Clinton Dines. Robin Bordie, China economist with BHP Billiton China, took a strong substantive interest in our plans for a delegation visit from the earliest stages and was enormously helpful in supporting and informing our work. While we greatly appreciate the contributions these fine individuals and institutions have made, we take sole responsibility for the opinions and findings expressed in this report. iv Executive Summary China, in its quest for a closer strategic partnership with Africa, has increasingly dynamic economic, political, and diplomatic activities on the continent. As demonstrated in the third Forum on China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in November 2006, the high-profile summit marked a historic moment in China- Africa relations. China’s highest leadership actively espoused the summit’s ambitious vision, which was enthusiastically embraced by a broad range of African leaders. Forty-eight African countries were present, including 43 heads of state. The Chinese push forward in Africa raises the promise of achieving future gains that benefit Africa in significant, constructive ways, raising hopes that China will seriously turn its attention to long-neglected areas such as infrastructure development and that its strategic approach will raise Africa’s status globally, intensify political and market competition, create promising new choices in external partnerships, strengthen African capacities to combat malaria and HIV/AIDS, and propel the continent’s economic growth, enabling African countries to better integrate with the global economy. This report identifies six key factors that significantly undergird the Chinese approach: 1. China’s quest to build a strategic partnership with Africa fits squarely within Beijing’s global foreign policy strategy and its vision of the evolving international system. 2. Chinese leaders and strategists believe China’s historical experience and development model resonate powerfully with African counterparts, thereby creating a comparative advantage vis-à-vis the West. 3. China’s history of friendly, respectful, and helpful political linkages with Africa is thought to provide a durable foundation for a future strategic partnership. 4. China believes Africa is on the verge of a developmental takeoff. 5. China’s policymakers are confident that a state-centric approach to Africa will build strategically on Beijing’s core strengths and align with the stated preferences of African countries. 6. Policymakers believe it is in China’s interest to engage third parties on Africa, but cautiously, slowly, and with serious reservations. v vi China’s Expanding Role in Africa Drawing momentum and confidence from the six key factors above, China’s expansive presence in Africa has been erected on an array of political, economic, and cultural exchanges that have proliferated in recent years. These activities visibly confirm China’s growing interest in Africa; they also visibly signal the continent’s emergent importance to China’s burgeoning economy and rising political stature. While China’s more ambitious and complex Africa policy of today may in due course bring financial and political payoffs, alter the playing field in Africa, and create pressures for changes in U.S. policy approaches, multiple risks also attend China’s strategy. In particular, Beijing faces nine core challenges in translating its vision of a strategic partnership with Africa into a sustainable reality: 1. China will need to work assiduously to overcome obstacles tied to language, culture, religion, and racial bias. 2. Although the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan calls for increased exchanges between African and Chinese media, and for the two sides to facilitate the placement of resident correspondents in China and in African countries, Chinese media and popular culture have only very limited entry into African markets thus far. Knowledge and expertise about Africa in China’s policy

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