As EU seeks to rival China’s infrastructure offer, Africans are sceptical. Brussels is promising green infrastructure investment for African countries, but Beijing has a better reputation on the continent.
As EU seeks to rival China’s infrastructure offer, Africans are sceptical. Brussels is promising green infrastructure investment for African countries, but Beijing has a better reputation on the continent.
20 comments
I hope that Africa can prosper and eventually adopt the ideal Western standards of democracy, development, and welfare, and I think Europe should explicitly promote those. The prospect that European successes are a product of centuries of unique experiences, however unlikely, is one too terrifying to entertain.
I can see why they are distrustful of Europeans but they are being naive if they think China has their best interests at heart.
The Chinese suffer from many of the same complexes we do
“but Beijing has a better reputation on the continent.“
The same Beijing that spied on the African Union headquarters for five years?
That Beijing?
Such a great reputation
>Beijing has a better reputation on the continent
Lost cause. Let them enjoy Chinese debt traps then.
I mean, I can see why many states in africa would be hesitant to accept economic aid from europe, but man, going with china over the EU?
Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire.
The EU is the biggest trading partner in Africa and the biggest investor. China is leading in debt dependencies however, which for a creditor relationship can be seen as much better if you are certain to be able to pay it back.
Overall the entire idea about China buying up Africa is just one part of the discussion. Slightly exaggerated if other metrics are also to be looked at but nonetheless important to counter.
Its a good article but judging by the answers here people only read the headline and jumped straight to the comment section.
What is most important to realize that Africans see things from a completely different angle and their point of view is whats important. To be successful in Africa we must start putting ourselves in their shoes and start listening to what they say. Too often we speak in a position of arrogance, always patronizing. Its no surprise that they refuse us.
>“China’s financing is through loans but at least it’s on the table,” she says. “As things are, China will certainly remain a much more attractive partner.
So you have the choice between the chinese offer or the lip service of us europeans that someday we will give them money. Yea no shit they dont prefer us. Its all talk no action.
More and more I think that our “value based” approach is too idealistic and we will never reach any goals. After the failures in the middle east and Afghanistan a “result based” strategy is much more viable because at least we dont lose.
When there is Brussels and Africa in the same sentence you know someone is up to some hand chopping business
Until the bill comes due
“Green” infrastructure is so stupid.
i mean, if europe were really bearing the best interest and and meant the best and willing to make a selfless effort to improve african’s lives and make a positive change they would already have done so hundreds of years ago….
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after hundreds of years of colonial ruling, how many decent roads have the colonial masters helped africa build? how much is the african population that they helped elevate out of poverty?
This comment section is just a plethora of people who don’t know what in the hell they’re talking about. They’re more interested in being virtue signallers over European history in Africa than really understanding or accepting the truth. Let me tell you, if Brussels hand over bags of money first and then got the proverbial signatures second, they’d be all over the continent right now.
Most of the people in the comments are stupid.
1. First of all, Africa cannot act as a choosing beggar, the continent is deeply starved of capital. African companies need capital more than ever. So they will take their yens, euros and dollars wherever they can.
2. China has two big benefits over Europeans: Lack of historical conflict and no strings attached financing. The second one is especially strong as it leaves African elites to continue to exploit the population and expropriate the various economic flows that reach the continent.
3. Europeans on the other hand have two benefits over Chinese: Colonial ties such as language and historic business connections and the presence of a large African diaspora in Europe. Both of those tie Europe and Africa together and can be leveraged further to lower adverse selection and minimize moral hazard, which can, in turn, lead to better and more secure financing.
4. The main problem for Europeans is if they will try to model their institutions, similarly as they did in eastern Europe, or will they play the same game as the Chinese? Certain actors in the region, such as the French, resemble the pragmatic nature of China. But is this the way forward?
Barely 20 years on from the Jubilee 2000 campaigns and it’s a race to re-indebt countries to whichever neo-imperialist power you happen to support.
China is destructive capitalism with an angry face, Europe is destructive capitalism with a smiley face.
Beijing is slowly losing its reputation thanks to African countries realising the debt traps they fell into. Confiscated ports, confiscated airports, no environmental concerns, the tables are slowly turning. However, you still have bitter ones who believe the West has only taken from them while China brings in things like roads, rails, etc.
Grants aren’t enough, the Africans need financing for the deals they bring. China provides this albeit with very tough conditions and usually control of the assets if the payments fall behind. Europe is worried about control.
Well, we europeans rape africa for thousands of years. We should not wonder when they think like this.
I was in Kenya two years ago. All across the country I saw malls, bridges, railways and so on, built/being built by China (sometimes I was told the projects were Chinese, other times there were Chinese characters on signs). I saw modern shopping centers being built in a town where many people lived in shacks made from corrugated iron.
The development Chinese construction is creating is huge. Imagine living in some shanty town with shitty infrastructure and poverty, and suddenly getting a top modern railroad connecting your town to the capital city, or a big harbor. Then you’ve got companies moving in, industries can expand and start selling their products globally, you can take the train to a different city and get a good job or a better education. Imagine how much that changes your life, or the lives of all your friends and family.
I didn’t notice any European or American construction, at least not to the same extent. Perhaps they are less vocal about their involvement, or it’s because I was actively looking for Chinese projects.
I could imagine China being pretty popular with the peoples of Africa in the future. For better or worse. In any case life is improving for the people there and in the end that’s what truly matters.
Africa is pretty much China’s backyard at this point. They have been developing and improving relations massively with them for the past decades.