Beijing’s critics accuse it of luring African countries into huge loans, but analysts say the continent’s leaders have more agency.
Nkurunziza Alphonse knows that whenever he goes out to protest, he can be arrested, even detained for long periods of time in Kampala’s maximum security prison. It has happened before. Still, as he sat in the courtroom Tuesday, watching another batch of protesters arrive, Alphonse said he had no plans to stop the march.
The 25-yrs old student is one of a number of people detained by Ugandan authorities in recent months for protesting against the oil pipeline project. The approximately 1,445 km (898 mi) long East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) will stretch from Uganda to the Tanzanian coast, carrying crude oil. It is set to be the longest hot oil pipeline in the world. However, activists say it will displace thousands of people, destroy wetlands, and pollute water sources.
China is facing protests over the pipeline
State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) holds a license for oil exploration with French petroleum company, Total Energy. Several Chinese banks have also provided or are planning to finance the project.
In June, Alphonse, whose village in northern Uganda will see the pipeline pass through him, thousands of people on the continent and abroad marched in front of key stakeholders, particularly Chinese embassy buildings.
In my hometown, people are already losing their land because of this – the government just comes and tells them to pack up and leave, Alphonse, a member of the Students Against EACOP organization, told Al Jazeera. We are putting pressure on China and others because they will bring the money for this – the Ugandan government can’t do it on its own. We want to bring the reality of the people already affected to them. We want to make sure that Want [the Ugandan government] faces a financial crisis.
The response is indicative of some of the challenges China faces in its ambitious efforts to befriend African states, expand its infrastructure, and exert diplomatic influence over more than 50 countries on the continent. Even as President Xi Jinping welcomes the continent’s leaders to a lavish summit in Beijing this week, the EACOP protest points to greater complications in their relationship.
China’s initiatives in Africa have long faced scrutiny from Beijing’s rivals in the West, which are losing political support on the continent. Detractors – particularly the US – are quick to paint the partnership as one that benefits China more at the expense of African countries. However, experts say things are far from black and white.
Many on the continent also accuse Western countries of predatory behavior, pointing to their colonial legacy and the fact that creditors such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have exploited African countries through loans. is accused of Many also say Beijing’s investment has helped modernize Africa and provided thousands of jobs.
“This narrative [of China exploiting Africa] for [Western countries] in Africa,” said Jana de Cluvier, a researcher focusing on China-Africa relations at the South Africa-based Institute of Security Studies (ISS). It makes sense because of their declining influence.” ). “But it leaves out a lot of the nuances that are in very multidimensional relationships.”
Urbanization Love Story
For more than a decade, Africa’s largest trading partner is China. It is also the continent’s main lender, having accumulated more than $170 billion in loans and advances in nearly all 54 countries. For China, the advantages of diplomatic influence are that its command at the United Nations is assured, and with which it can compete with its US-led Western rivals, de Clovier said.
Beijing’s mega-infrastructure investment in Africa is also an important part of its global Belt and Road Initiative. The ambitious project was launched in 2013 and aimed to connect China to the rest of Asia, Africa, and Europe through ports, highways, and railways. China has also invested in power generation and telecommunications.
Many African cities now boast Chinese-financed or Chinese-built railways, bridges, and superhighways. It has aided mobility and connectivity in many countries, helping governments move away from old colonial-era railways that had become largely obsolete and defunct. The need for large-scale construction work has also provided employment opportunities.
In Kenya, the Nairobi-Mambasa railway connected the two major cities for the first time in 2017, cutting road journey times in half to 10 hours. It employed more than 25,000 Kenyans to complete it. Nigeria’s Lagos and Gabon’s Port Gentile get deep-sea ports, as well as Ethiopia’s Hawasa garment industry.
Astrid RN Haas, a Hong Kong-based urban economist, told Al Jazeera that while China as a country is not comparable to Africa on the continent, the two institutions share a common story of the need to grow rapidly and reduce poverty levels.
China’s pace of urbanization was the fastest in the world, lifting 800 million people out of poverty in 40 years. African countries are urbanizing even faster, and the African Union wants major cities to be connected by rail by 2063.
The way China harnessed productivity was through connectivity, which connected the hinterland to the central cities, said Haas, who is Austrian Ugandan. So for African countries, China is really an example to look at.
Chinese investment offers are attractive to African countries because they often materialize more quickly than Western promises. They are also not seen through a “helpful lens” and are not trapped by financial conditions or even “propaganda,” writes Kobes van Steden, a South Africa-based researcher at the China Global South Project.
Western nations have cut funding to some countries based on issues such as elections or LGBTQ legislation. Beijing, on the other hand, has positioned itself as an “equal,” a fellow Global South country sided by the imperialist West, Van Staden notes.