On-the-unbalanced-china-and-african-diplomatic-relations-the-need-for-african-leaders-to-be-weary-of-china-economic-manipulative-tendencies-in-africa
September 7, 2020 | News
ON THE UNBALANCED CHINA AND AFRICAN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS – THE NEED FOR AFRICAN LEADERS TO BE WEARY OF CHINA’S ECONOMIC MANIPULATIVE TENDENCIES IN AFRICA
Agreed that a number of African countries, especially Nigeria, have become increasingly drawn to China’s supposed “no-strings attached” development assistance and promises of growth, but while these policies certainly create economic gains for Africa, the vestiges of colonialism evident in this relationship raise questions about the true cost of realizing these benefits. Currently the continent’s largest trading partner, China relies on African markets for a steady flow of natural resources to sustain manufacturing. The African resources China imports are varied, covering everything from oil, to iron ore, timber, and copper. In exchange for broad access to resources, China exports cheap inferior manufactured goods back to its trading partners, builds much needed infrastructure, provides foreign direct investments, and loans out billions of dollars. In 2014 alone, the value of this trade totaled over $200 billion. Furthermore, over half of China’s foreign aid is distributed in Africa. Though, advocates of this inflow of money claim it spurs development, but if we look carefully, we would see that China’s policies in Africa paint a picture of ‘trade imbalances’ that are handicapping the nations involved, while grossly advantaging China (as an emerging world economic power), at the expense of the African people.
There is therefore the urgent need for political leaders of African countries, particularly Nigeria, to be very weary and very careful on how they position themselves, and the economic posture they take in these new growing diplomatic relations with the Chinese Government. Otherwise, Africa countries will be re-colonized and enslaved to work for, and continue being reaped-off by China’s overpopulated country. As far as we are concerned, the agenda of this growing diplomatic relations between African countries and China, is ‘dangerously unbalanced’ to the detriment and future growth and existence of African nations. China’s “deliberate infiltration/influx” in Africa’s economic livewire, comes with a costly price that will be to the continent’s disadvantage in the near and far future. We now hear that some African countries recruit Chinese in their Security operatives, including the Police. Even Senior and Junior Officers of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) are now made to learn the Chinese Mandarin – the official language in China, in the name of helping them relate better with Chinese authorities within the maritime industry.
The sad part is that our African politicians, especially those in Nigeria, prefer the Chinese relationship because it benefits their intentions of cheating the Nigerian people. Even the economic private sector prefers this unbalanced relationship because most of the fake and inferior goods are imported from China with the collaboration of these Nigeria importers. The Chinese Government have in recent years, building all sorts of infrastructure across Africa with the sole intention of economically taking over African countries. The truth is that Nigeria must resist this. We must not allow ‘greed and power’ of today, to mortgage the future of our children tomorrow. The Chinese do not mean well for us.
China, like most developed countries of Europe, will never honestly and wholeheartedly develop the countries in Africa and Nigeria because that will automatically mean Nigeria and other West African countries will no longer be patronizing Made-In-China goods, which China desperately wants to maintain because of the huge amount of money they make from exports to West Africa. There is a large extent to which the Chinese Government can do towards the development of West African States. Look at all the Generators, cars, clothes, furniture down to toothpicks, etc. that Nigeria yearly import from China, which obviously boosts their economy. Do we think they would want any serious development in West Africa that would ‘add sand to their garri’? Obviously not! China would want us to continue patronizing their goods/products for life. The Chinese Government knows that if Nigeria is fully developed, their country will become economically irrelevant to Nigeria. Nigeria on the other hand, has all the human and natural capital resources to develop, including the population market. But all Nigeria lacks is the ‘Good leadership’, and ignorance of the Nigerian public. What most people do in Nigeria is just to acquire degrees and certificates without actually acquiring the required knowledge and wisdom to bring about real transformation and development. The Nigerian elites and certificated persons are still superstitious in this modern age. Their arguments at times makes one to wonder if actually they were educated/certificated because they still live largely in a world of ignorance.
China/Nigeria Investment and economic relations may not be transparent as expected because a lot of fake goods are imported from China to Nigeria. And Nigerian officials may likely strike a deal with the Chinese since China is not known to repatriate stolen funds from African countries. We hear of Nigerians facing financial crimes being charged in the UK, which we do not hear from China and China has not really demonstrated any diplomatic disposition to suggest that they will do such for the Nigerian Government. All that we believe China needs is for the Nigerian Government to continue to patronize them. Agreed that China has the technology but China does not have the ‘business integrity’ as the European countries and the US have. The Chinese are ready to cooperate with any corrupt Nigerian politician or business man/woman to cheat on Nigerians, as long as the Chinese and those Nigerians involved are benefitting from such illegitimate deals. Sooner or later, Nigerian politicians and their fronts will be starching their stolen loots from Nigeria to China, that is, if they have not even started doing so. These are some of the challenges we see in the Nigerian (Africa)/China investment and economic relations.
Call it a double-edged sword, or another form of neo-colonialism, it is without a doubt that the existing diplomatic and economic relations between China and countries in Africa, which includes Nigeria, is more of a manipulative, discriminative, unbalanced and exploitative-relationship that benefits China more, to the detriment of Africa and its people. What is even more disturbing is the way Chinese and Asian citizens are well-treated and accommodated in Africa by Africans, compared to the racist-ridden and despicable way black Africans are treated in China and other Asian countries.
In a well-circulated video-clip of a studio interview of Dr. Umar Johnson, a Clinical/Certified School Psychologist and social activist, he related his personal experience when he visited China and Japan. Johnson noted how blacks (Africans) are not treated well at all in China. In fact, he expressed that, the extent at which racism is practiced ‘openly’ in China and Japan, is quite disturbing. In his word: “At least in America and in UK, there is a “Civil Rights culture”, so racism is put under and covered. But in comparism, there are certain places you cannot go into in China as a black man. They have signs with ‘No Blacks Allowed’. There are certain nightclubs, certain sections of certain neighborhoods you cannot live in China as a black person.
“The irony of all this is that Africa, is rolling out the red-carpet for China and other Asian countries. China are taking over the Caribbean and Africa. They are all in South-Africa. In fact, the Mandarin language, which is simplified/traditional Chinese, is now officially taught in South-African schools. But the Zulu language, which is one of the official languages in South-Africa, is not given such an attention… The problem here is that the African political leaders do not have to live with the ‘economic consequences’ of the decisions they make today. China offers these leaders mouth-watering deals, including things like, they will give them millions of dollars after retirement, build them retirement homes, they can even borrow as much money as they can from the Bank of China. But in return, the Chinese folks will tell them they want this and that. The leader will obviously be settled for life by the time they leave office. But what about their nation, their people and their future? They will be struggling for the next 50 to 75 years because of that economic decision of selfish leaders today. That is the problem in Africa and the Caribbean. You have to remember that China is overpopulated. So, they are always looking for opportunities outside to dump some of their excess population. Do you know what is sad, Chinese will come to Africa poor, with nothing! And in three years, they are owning two or three major businesses, because what happens is that when the Chinese come, they employ more of their labour, they do not employ much of the indigenous labour. They are showing up broke, and going back as millionaires,” Dr. Umar Johnson emphasized.
The bottom line is that we must resist the “Chinese Government with their Greek gifts”, if we must develop our country. The China new diplomatic relations with most African countries and Nigeria, has no good intention to it for the future of Nigeria and other African countries. The Chinese do not have, neither have they shown/demonstrated the required integrity, to be trusted as an emerging world power in global diplomatic relations. We still prefer Nigeria relating and strengthening its diplomatic/economic relationship with the West-Europe/America, rather than this obviously unbalanced and manipulative Chinese/Africa diplomatic relations. The Chinese have zero diplomatic and trade integrity.
Like we have said and repeated severally: no foreigner will develop our country for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging it might seem, only belongs to us and can best be done by us. All these global trotting by Nigerian leaders of wooing investors are uncalled for. If the Nigerian Government and people are really ready to embrace development with open hearts and minds, investors will naturally troop into the country and beg to invest in Nigeria. So, it is high time our political leaders stop making excuses and start thinking in this direction in developing the nations of Africa and get it out of the league of Third World countries in no distant future. This will greatly reduce the sort of discrimination meted on Africans in foreign countries.
Nigeria has all the required manpower/human resourcefulness and natural resources, including a friendly natural climate; to develop this country far and above its counterparts in other parts of the world. But this can only happen if we have truthful and honest political leaders who are selfless in public service, and also if we have followers who will demand for accountability from their political leaders, and not followers who will demand for tips as party delegates and electorates.
Zik Gbemre.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes
Agreed that a number of African countries, especially Nigeria, have become increasingly drawn to China’s supposed “no-strings attached” development assistance and promises of growth, but while these policies certainly create economic gains for Africa, the vestiges of colonialism evident in this relationship raise questions about the true cost of realizing these benefits. Currently the continent’s largest trading partner, China relies on African markets for a steady flow of natural resources to sustain manufacturing. The African resources China imports are varied, covering everything from oil, to iron ore, timber, and copper. In exchange for broad access to resources, China exports cheap inferior manufactured goods back to its trading partners, builds much needed infrastructure, provides foreign direct investments, and loans out billions of dollars. In 2014 alone, the value of this trade totaled over $200 billion. Furthermore, over half of China’s foreign aid is distributed in Africa. Though, advocates of this inflow of money claim it spurs development, but if we look carefully, we would see that China’s policies in Africa paint a picture of ‘trade imbalances’ that are handicapping the nations involved, while grossly advantaging China (as an emerging world economic power), at the expense of the African people.
There is therefore the urgent need for political leaders of African countries, particularly Nigeria, to be very weary and very careful on how they position themselves, and the economic posture they take in these new growing diplomatic relations with the Chinese Government. Otherwise, Africa countries will be re-colonized and enslaved to work for, and continue being reaped-off by China’s overpopulated country. As far as we are concerned, the agenda of this growing diplomatic relations between African countries and China, is ‘dangerously unbalanced’ to the detriment and future growth and existence of African nations. China’s “deliberate infiltration/influx” in Africa’s economic livewire, comes with a costly price that will be to the continent’s disadvantage in the near and far future. We now hear that some African countries recruit Chinese in their Security operatives, including the Police. Even Senior and Junior Officers of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) are now made to learn the Chinese Mandarin – the official language in China, in the name of helping them relate better with Chinese authorities within the maritime industry.
The sad part is that our African politicians, especially those in Nigeria, prefer the Chinese relationship because it benefits their intentions of cheating the Nigerian people. Even the economic private sector prefers this unbalanced relationship because most of the fake and inferior goods are imported from China with the collaboration of these Nigeria importers. The Chinese Government have in recent years, building all sorts of infrastructure across Africa with the sole intention of economically taking over African countries. The truth is that Nigeria must resist this. We must not allow ‘greed and power’ of today, to mortgage the future of our children tomorrow. The Chinese do not mean well for us.
China, like most developed countries of Europe, will never honestly and wholeheartedly develop the countries in Africa and Nigeria because that will automatically mean Nigeria and other West African countries will no longer be patronizing Made-In-China goods, which China desperately wants to maintain because of the huge amount of money they make from exports to West Africa. There is a large extent to which the Chinese Government can do towards the development of West African States. Look at all the Generators, cars, clothes, furniture down to toothpicks, etc. that Nigeria yearly import from China, which obviously boosts their economy. Do we think they would want any serious development in West Africa that would ‘add sand to their garri’? Obviously not! China would want us to continue patronizing their goods/products for life. The Chinese Government knows that if Nigeria is fully developed, their country will become economically irrelevant to Nigeria. Nigeria on the other hand, has all the human and natural capital resources to develop, including the population market. But all Nigeria lacks is the ‘Good leadership’, and ignorance of the Nigerian public. What most people do in Nigeria is just to acquire degrees and certificates without actually acquiring the required knowledge and wisdom to bring about real transformation and development. The Nigerian elites and certificated persons are still superstitious in this modern age. Their arguments at times makes one to wonder if actually they were educated/certificated because they still live largely in a world of ignorance.
China/Nigeria Investment and economic relations may not be transparent as expected because a lot of fake goods are imported from China to Nigeria. And Nigerian officials may likely strike a deal with the Chinese since China is not known to repatriate stolen funds from African countries. We hear of Nigerians facing financial crimes being charged in the UK, which we do not hear from China and China has not really demonstrated any diplomatic disposition to suggest that they will do such for the Nigerian Government. All that we believe China needs is for the Nigerian Government to continue to patronize them. Agreed that China has the technology but China does not have the ‘business integrity’ as the European countries and the US have. The Chinese are ready to cooperate with any corrupt Nigerian politician or business man/woman to cheat on Nigerians, as long as the Chinese and those Nigerians involved are benefitting from such illegitimate deals. Sooner or later, Nigerian politicians and their fronts will be starching their stolen loots from Nigeria to China, that is, if they have not even started doing so. These are some of the challenges we see in the Nigerian (Africa)/China investment and economic relations.
Call it a double-edged sword, or another form of neo-colonialism, it is without a doubt that the existing diplomatic and economic relations between China and countries in Africa, which includes Nigeria, is more of a manipulative, discriminative, unbalanced and exploitative-relationship that benefits China more, to the detriment of Africa and its people. What is even more disturbing is the way Chinese and Asian citizens are well-treated and accommodated in Africa by Africans, compared to the racist-ridden and despicable way black Africans are treated in China and other Asian countries.
In a well-circulated video-clip of a studio interview of Dr. Umar Johnson, a Clinical/Certified School Psychologist and social activist, he related his personal experience when he visited China and Japan. Johnson noted how blacks (Africans) are not treated well at all in China. In fact, he expressed that, the extent at which racism is practiced ‘openly’ in China and Japan, is quite disturbing. In his word: “At least in America and in UK, there is a “Civil Rights culture”, so racism is put under and covered. But in comparism, there are certain places you cannot go into in China as a black man. They have signs with ‘No Blacks Allowed’. There are certain nightclubs, certain sections of certain neighborhoods you cannot live in China as a black person.
“The irony of all this is that Africa, is rolling out the red-carpet for China and other Asian countries. China are taking over the Caribbean and Africa. They are all in South-Africa. In fact, the Mandarin language, which is simplified/traditional Chinese, is now officially taught in South-African schools. But the Zulu language, which is one of the official languages in South-Africa, is not given such an attention… The problem here is that the African political leaders do not have to live with the ‘economic consequences’ of the decisions they make today. China offers these leaders mouth-watering deals, including things like, they will give them millions of dollars after retirement, build them retirement homes, they can even borrow as much money as they can from the Bank of China. But in return, the Chinese folks will tell them they want this and that. The leader will obviously be settled for life by the time they leave office. But what about their nation, their people and their future? They will be struggling for the next 50 to 75 years because of that economic decision of selfish leaders today. That is the problem in Africa and the Caribbean. You have to remember that China is overpopulated. So, they are always looking for opportunities outside to dump some of their excess population. Do you know what is sad, Chinese will come to Africa poor, with nothing! And in three years, they are owning two or three major businesses, because what happens is that when the Chinese come, they employ more of their labour, they do not employ much of the indigenous labour. They are showing up broke, and going back as millionaires,” Dr. Umar Johnson emphasized.
The bottom line is that we must resist the “Chinese Government with their Greek gifts”, if we must develop our country. The China new diplomatic relations with most African countries and Nigeria, has no good intention to it for the future of Nigeria and other African countries. The Chinese do not have, neither have they shown/demonstrated the required integrity, to be trusted as an emerging world power in global diplomatic relations. We still prefer Nigeria relating and strengthening its diplomatic/economic relationship with the West-Europe/America, rather than this obviously unbalanced and manipulative Chinese/Africa diplomatic relations. The Chinese have zero diplomatic and trade integrity.
Like we have said and repeated severally: no foreigner will develop our country for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging it might seem, only belongs to us and can best be done by us. All these global trotting by Nigerian leaders of wooing investors are uncalled for. If the Nigerian Government and people are really ready to embrace development with open hearts and minds, investors will naturally troop into the country and beg to invest in Nigeria. So, it is high time our political leaders stop making excuses and start thinking in this direction in developing the nations of Africa and get it out of the league of Third World countries in no distant future. This will greatly reduce the sort of discrimination meted on Africans in foreign countries.
Nigeria has all the required manpower/human resourcefulness and natural resources, including a friendly natural climate; to develop this country far and above its counterparts in other parts of the world. But this can only happen if we have truthful and honest political leaders who are selfless in public service, and also if we have followers who will demand for accountability from their political leaders, and not followers who will demand for tips as party delegates and electorates.
Zik Gbemre.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes