What the West Can Learn From China in Africa

There's very little that China manages to accomplish on the world stage without being shadowboxed into the realm of suspicion. Its engagement with Africa is no exception. Does the Great Dragon (to echo one tiresome metaphor) swooping over the continent carry colonialism in its talons? Is China trading Africa's resources for a blank check to its worst dictators? Are the country's millions gobbling up the continent's fertile land? Et cetera.

Over on her blog China in Africa: The Real Story, Deborah Brautigam parries a lot of these questions. (Short answers to the above: Not necessarily, not exactly, no.) If you haven't been following her work, Brautigam's one of a small group out there that's actually tried to grapple with the facts behind Chinese aid in Africa, and very much worth paying attention to.

Today on AidWatch, Laura Freschi offers a great interview with Brautigam, titled Can the West learn from China in Africa? (Yes.) There's a lot condensed into their exchange, but here are a few highlights. For one, Brautigam makes the case that one of the chief lessons that the West should extract from China's experiences is the virtue of working to build local ownership — even over projects that might seem marginal, like a sports stadium or a conference center. As she says, the Chinese understand "something very fundamental about state-building — something that Pierre L’Enfant understood in 1791 when he teamed up with George Washington in newly independent America: new states need to build buildings and dignity, not simply strive to end poverty."

She also notes, less acidly than others have before her, that Western donors would also do well to cut back on the maze-like reporting requirements that tax many African governments, not to mention the endless forums and coordination meetings that sap innumerable officials' time. (As Owen Barder observes, Senegal alone has 82 individual aid co-ordination forums! Is it any surprise that China isn't exactly beating down the door to join the usual parade of donors?)

Yes, Brautigam argues, China needs its own Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the country's aid is still in its incipient phases, and more transparency is greatly needed. But the country's also shown the progress that can occur when Africa is viewed as a potential client, instead of just another burdensome charge.  Chinese companies like Huawei and ZTE have managed to dramatically contribute to the expansion of Africa's telecom industry, even if they haven't managed to avoid the whiff of corruption. Huawei, for example, says its networks cover fully one-third of Nigeria's rural users — users that have long been bypassed by other companies.

Such activity falls outside the traditional aid umbrella. But if we can think more flexibly about aid as the assistance and opportunities offered to the poor, then there's plenty to learn from such progress.

(Check out Freschi's interview with Brautigam here in full.)

Photo Credit: US Army Africa