{"id":41195,"date":"2018-08-06T11:31:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T01:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=41195"},"modified":"2018-08-06T13:03:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T03:03:28","slug":"china-chases-africas-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-chases-africas-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"China chases Africa’s resources"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The gun barrels had barely cooled after fighting in South Sudan a year ago when a tentative truce coincided with the arrival on Juba\u2019s streets of Chinese workers in their high-vis vests.<\/p>\n

In cars or on the open backs of trucks, the Chinese workers are engaged on all sorts of projects\u2014energy, engineering, construction, telecommunications, medical services, hotels, restaurants and retail<\/a>. Their vehicles stand out because they\u2019re not armoured and don\u2019t bear the logos of the United Nations or a non-government organisation.<\/p>\n

South Sudan gained its independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011, but the latest in a series of civil wars has continued there since 2013. Despite the violence, Zhong Jianhua, China\u2019s former special representative on African affairs, once called the new country a \u2018paradise for investors<\/a>\u2019 and by 2013 close to 100 Chinese companies were registered <\/a>there. China sees the young nation as a vital source of raw materials, especially oil, but it\u2019s also an opportunity for Beijing to demonstrate its commitment as a good international citizen through its UN peacekeeping deployment.<\/p>\n

China has contributed successive contingents of peacekeepers to South Sudan and two of its soldiers were killed there in July 2016. China helps run camps for internally displaced people and its soldiers rarely venture out onto Juba\u2019s streets. Unlike many Western nations, China doesn’t have an independent NGO operating in South Sudan and there\u2019s concern locally that its presence there is driven more by self-interest<\/a> than by humanitarian goodwill.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s footprint dates back two decades to the discovery of oil in the region that is now South Sudan. In what has been considered China\u2019s riskiest economic gamble in Africa<\/a>, it constructed oil pipelines in the midst of the south\u2019s war for independence. Now, the China National Petroleum Corporation controls around 40% of the country\u2019s two main oil producers.<\/p>\n

In 2015, a Chinese attempt to broker a peace deal between the warring parties failed, but Beijing came out a winner by securing pacts<\/a> from both sides not to attack oil infrastructure. During the war with the south, China provided weapons to Sudan<\/a> to help it protect the southern oil fields, but since the south\u2019s independence, Beijing has become the leading provider of weapons to South Sudan\u2019s national forces. It\u2019s used its veto on the UN Security Council to shield both South Sudan and Sudan from Western-sponsored sanctions against the leaders of both countries.<\/p>\n

Beijing has an embassy in Juba and has worked hard to portray itself as driven by humanitarian motives rather than self-interest. It\u2019s built a US$6 million hospital in Rumbek, renovated Juba Teaching Hospital and established many more health facilities elsewhere, while providing relief supplies such as rice, blankets, mosquito nets and tents.<\/p>\n

For the South Sudanese government, desperate to recover from the damage done by years of civil war, the help is heaven sent. Parts of the country are still embroiled in conflict and half of its population has fled fighting and the fear of starvation to live in sprawling UN camps in Juba and other cities, or left South Sudan altogether.<\/p>\n

The situation has provided an opportunity for China to increase its influence on the massive continent and its access to Africa’s abundant resources, and to expand its strategic footprint.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s practice of offering huge loans with obscure terms and conditions has been criticised in the West, with fears African countries will become trapped in a cycle of debt<\/a>. The recipients of such loans are often defensive when issues about their lack of transparency are brought to light in the media. Huge reserves of raw materials may be regarded as collateral, giving China unlimited access to untapped resources if nations are unable to repay loans.<\/p>\n

President Xi Jinping\u2019s trip to Africa last month highlighted how much the continent matters to China. Economically, no country<\/a> now has greater depth and breadth of engagement there than China. It\u2019s estimated that more than 10,000 Chinese-owned firms operate there<\/a> and different scenarios project revenue of between US$250 billion and US$440 billion by 2025.<\/p>\n

China is Kenya\u2019s largest creditor and owns approximately 70% of its external debt<\/a>. In 2014, China loaned US$3.2 billion<\/a> for a new railway between Mombasa and Nairobi which was built by the state-owned China Communications Construction Company and China Road and Bridge Corporation.<\/p>\n

Beijing may feel, as its investment in the region grows and its dependence on Africa\u2019s resources increases, that it needs a greater military presence to safeguard its economic interests and to protect the growing numbers\u2014now up to 1.1 million<\/a>\u2014of its citizens living in Africa. China has established a military base in Djibouti and it may seek similar facilities<\/a> as its economic interests grow in countries like Sudan and Kenya.<\/p>\n

Beijing has also shown strong interest in the small archipelagic nation of Sao Tome and Principe<\/a>, which the World Bank says has \u2018no single economic activity that serves as a driver for growth\u2019. China has dispatched Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the nation, which is well located to become a transport hub and strategically situated for a naval facility.<\/p>\n

For the citizens of South Sudan, Beijing\u2019s help brings mixed blessings. A report by the South Sudan Council of States<\/a> in 2014 found a lack of regulation and oversight of oil companies operating in the Upper Nile regions of Paloch, Pariang, Meluth and Adar. Poor waste disposal procedures by a Chinese oil company and spillages forced the displacement of communities. The pollution has been blamed<\/a> for miscarriages, stillbirths, and babies born with illnesses and severe deformities, and livestock are reported to have died after drinking the water.<\/p>\n

As its Belt and Road Initiative accelerates, Beijing will want Africa to play a greater role in China\u2019s economic growth. Chinese investment will help build economic infrastructure and improve service delivery and Africa will provide a market for Chinese goods. But many on the continent fear that as long as there are minerals in the ground, there\u2019ll be the risk that hasty extraction will cause the sorts of environmental problems and community disruption that\u2019s occurred in South Sudan and elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The gun barrels had barely cooled after fighting in South Sudan a year ago when a tentative truce coincided with the arrival on Juba\u2019s streets of Chinese workers in their high-vis vests. In cars or …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":715,"featured_media":41199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[177,52,74,1843],"class_list":["post-41195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-africa","tag-china","tag-resources","tag-south-sudan"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina chases Africa's resources | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-chases-africas-resources\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China chases Africa's resources | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The gun barrels had barely cooled after fighting in South Sudan a year ago when a tentative truce coincided with the arrival on Juba\u2019s streets of Chinese workers in their high-vis vests. 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