WEB EXCLUSIVE: What fuels China's Africa policy

19 January 2008

Heidi Kingstone on the motivation behind China's relations with Africa

Steven Spielberg’s conscience finally got the better of him. The Oscar-winning director resigned as ‘artistic adviser’ to the upcoming 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics last night. His “energy”, he said, “must be spent on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.”

It is ‘energy’ that is at the root of all this commotion. China buys about two-thirds of Sudan’s oil exports.

Eighteen months ago, in November 2006, China hosted a two-day summit for 48 African leaders, a symbolic moment signalling how important Africa is as a partner in China’s rampant development, but the relationship between Africa and China is not new. It began with the Chinese ‘offer of friendship’ at the 1955 Bandung Conference, and even before that in the 15th century when Zheng He sailed to the Horn of Africa.

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David Parker

February 13th, 2008 6:51pm Report this comment

I probably speak from a geriatric generation, however, it was once (as late as the 1970s) a publicly admitted objective of Chinese communist leaders, that their ultimate goal was the imposition of world wide Chinese political ideology. Needless to say, the nature of that ideology itself may have changed somewhat over the intervening years, but not their underlying ambition or determination. Unlike Western politicians or diplomats, most of whom are always loooking for a "quick resolution", the Chinese temperament tends, patiently, to favour the long term view, even if this may extend well beyond their own individual personal political influence or careers.