Will China soon put the draconian Paris Club out of business? Will its approach ultimately be a replacement for draconian European arrogance, having fleeced the developing world for over a century? Soon the eastern hydra might take aim at making the IMF obsolete. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced $60 billion in aid and loans for Africa while playing host to more than 40 of the continent’s leaders in Beijing. He said that the money came with “no expectation of anything in return.”
As the victim of Western exploitation, China isn’t looking to control your politics the way England, France, and America have become accustomed to doing – at least not yet. It wants to control your economy, which might be even more detrimental since economies determine politics. “No political conditions” as long as Africans and others accept that China will be the owner of the majority of their GDP in another few decades. These concerns may have led Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to cancel more than $20 billion worth of planned Chinese infrastructure projects. In doing so, he stated his concerns about how his country would be able to pay for them” “We do not want a situation where there is a new version of colonialism happening because poor countries are unable to compete with rich countries.”
But on the upside, China is offering to help these countries develop their infrastructure and possibly improve the conditions of their people – who will be future consumers of Chinese-made products and services. Dams, electrical and power plants, roads, bridges, tunnels, etc. are all flying up all over Africa and the rest of the developing world, led by Chinese businesses, scientists, and engineers. Europe and America have never done anything but “take,” “extract” from the developing world. With China, there at least seems to be a little “giving” as well. And this is the point of leaders like Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who suggests asking less of China’s motives and more of the failure of Europe and America to do more to help Africa. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa echoes much the same.
So in the end, the question, though, remains: What will payback look like?”
