New Actor
    By Pierre Haski
    Lib ration

    Thursday 27 April 2006

    During the sixties, the People's Republic of China developed an activism in Africa in favor of revolutionary forces. During the 70s and 80s, the Chinese presence already had a different objective: to block the Soviets in every way, as they did in Angola against the Cuban contingent. In this beginning of the twenty-first century, China's goal in Africa has changed once again: its return is driven by the appetite for oil and other raw materials necessary to feed an economy moving full speed ahead. The Chinese exploit Zambia's copper and Sudan's oil, while made-in-China products have made their appearance just about everywhere.

    This new economic actor's incursion would be welcome in a continent that trails in the wake of the global economy, were it not accompanied by less-lustrous phenomena: support for regimes decried for their authoritarianism, such as Zimbabwe's, or for their isolation, such as Sudan in the midst of the Darfur crisis, or for their active corruption, as in Angola and elsewhere. China intervenes without concern for the nature of the regime, as long as it can get what it wants from it. Westerners, who have most often behaved just as cynically and selfishly on the Dark Continent, are not well-situated to give lessons to the newcomer. But now they must take into account this new actor that competes for its own benefit. Bob Geldof, the singer who is a militant in the development cause, has just launched a warning to industrialized countries: if you don't keep your promises to Africa, he says, it will turn to China, which is ready to embrace any regime. And it's not certain that Africans will get what they want that wy. There too, the Chinese challenge is immense.