China is not Japan. They have a strong military, they have if you will a quasi mercantile industrial base, mercantile in the sense that there is strong state support, yet unlike a Japanese industry, and they are short many natural resources that they find amongst all places, Africa.
There is an interesting piece in Project Syndicate worth the read on China and Africa. As the author states:
Astutely, China has sought to place its African investments and diplomacy within the context of the old non-aligned movement and “Bandung spirit,” an era when many Africans viewed China as a brotherly oppressed nation, and thus supported efforts by the People’s Republic to gain a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, to replace Taiwan. And, of course, China offered firm backing for Africa’s anti-colonial struggles and efforts to end apartheid.
In trying to depict its current dealings with Africa as “win-win” cooperation, China deliberately seeks to portray Africa’s current relations with the West as exploitative. Unlike China, its leaders claim, the West continues to hold African countries hostage through a combination of unequal trade deals, lack of access to capital markets, aid dependency, financial deregulation and economic liberalization, budget austerity, crippling debt, political meddling, and military intervention.
What the Chinese are silent about is that their country’s growing engagement in Africa has created both opportunities and risks for African development. Although China’s trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), and aid may broaden Africa’s growth options, they also promote what can only be called a win-lose situation. For, excluding oil, Africa has a negative trade balance with China.
Africa is rich in natural resources yet is all too often unstable. That is the risk the Chinese face as they build their interests. The win-lose issue is one of real concern. China may very well further deplete existing weak countries and create even more instability.
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