Should Africa lean to the US or to China?

The United States seems to be late in the party in wooing African leaders, and the invitation by US President Barrack Obama seems to be the first in this long journey. The Chinese have since gained ground, and the country regularly hosts leaders from Africa. This is in line with investments mainly in the minerals and infrastructure, which together total in the billions of dollars. African leaders crave Chinese aid since it doesn’t come with the usual lectures of good governance and corruption, which the West has been known to give African leaders.

And yet, there are many points to argue on why Africa should neither stick to China, nor to the US, or more broadly, the West. First, China is not as benevolent as we might want to think. It invests in Africa primarily to assure itself of a constant supply of mineral resources. How then is this different from the exploitation by Western countries for nearly 500 years? Besides, some African thought leaders are already warning of deep Chinese involvement in the continent. In an opinion piece in the Financial Times in March 2013, the immediate former central bank governor for Nigeria, Lamido

Sanusi, warned that China was in effect curtailing the industrial development in Africa, by using the continent as a dumping ground for cheap manufactured goods. Mr. Sanusi argued that for Africa’s nimble manufacturing sector to grow, it would have to shift itself from externalities such as these.

However, there are many lessons that Africa could learn from China. First, the extent to which China has lifted its people from poverty is simply inspiring. A double digit growth year on year for three decades is hardly the stuff that dreams are made of. This was achieved courtesy of state directed development, which saw the state actively play a role in the growth of the economy. About seventy percent of Chinese public firms have a significant investment from the government. The rate for India is only 15 percent. This partly explains why China has been on an upward trajectory, while India’s economy has continued to wobble. So, then for Africa countries, the wholesome privatization and liberalization of the economy may not be the best path forward to guarantee a high economic growth that spreads to millions.

Even then, the United States and the West in general lead the world in ideas generation. Even China sends its top academics to the United States regularly, so that they can replenish, and sometimes steal or reverse engineer ideas from Western universities and companies. The Obama administration is actively targeting numerous top Chinese professionals, academics, and military personnel for allegations of spying.

We would be happy to learn from Western Universities on key areas like science and technology. Their film industry, Hollywood, has entrenched the American image into almost every village in the world. There are some who say that the sole purpose of Hollywood is to market America, and one couldn’t agree more, considering how many of us think that the streets of America are painted with milk and honey.

However, in the end, even as the African leaders are entertained by Washington, they would do well to remember that every nation on earth acts out of self-interest. The nice talk is all about camouflage, and for African leaders, it is time that they too learnt to look after the interests of their own people, and negotiate deals that advance their interests. It is also time to promote intra African trade and for Africa to integrate within itself first, before it can integrate with the rest of the world. Only then can Africa find itself in the respectable place of global players.