The Most Unequal Equals: Historical
and Present Trends of the SinoTanzanian Friendship
Codrin Arsene
Youth Forum on China Africa Relations
Yale University, April 25th 2009
How big is Africa?
What should we learn from
this?
Never
generalize
when
talking about “Africa”.
With 54 states, hundreds of
sub-statal divisions, 2000+
languages
and
ethnic
divisions
(erroneously
categorized as “tribes”)
chances are no argument
about “Africa” will apply to
every part of the continent.
China and the East African
Community



Total Foreign Direct
Investment of more
than 2 billion dollars.
Bilateral trade of more
than 20 billion dollars.
Strong political
cooperation at a
regional level and on
the international arena
(United Nations)
China and the East African
Community
In the last six years, the Chinese road engineers have helped build or refurbish all
the main roads in East Africa:
Nairobi – Addis Ababa (Kenya - Ethiopia)
Nairobi – Kampala (Kenya - Uganda)
Kampala – Kigali (Uganda - Rwanda)
Kigali – Bujumbura (Rwanda - Burundi)
Bujumbura – Kigoma (Burundi - Tanzania)
Kigoma – Dodoma (Tanzania)
Dodoma – Dar es Salaam* (Tanzania)
Dar es Salaam – Arusha (Tanzania)
Arusha - Nairobi (Tanzania - Kenya)
*Constructions
are scheduled to begin in June 2009
A total of 2915 miles of roads have been built with the help of Chinese engineers,
only in East Africa. Out of this total, 700 miles were built almost from scratch.
China and the East African
Community
Chinese officials make two or three visits to the East African
Community every year (since 1965!!!).
China Radio International launched its FM station in the Kenyan
capital in 2006. The station is transmitting 19 hours of programs
in English, Kiswahili (the language widely spoken in East Africa)
and standard Chinese and it is broadcasted in Kenya and
Tanzania.
Presidents Hu
Jintao and Jakaya
Mrisho Kikwete
(Tanzania) at an
official meeting in
Dodoma.
China and the East African
Community
Chinese tourists can visit any of the East African
Community states (Kenya, Uganda, and
Tanzania) under an East African Single Tourist
Visa which makes travel to that region easier
and more attractive.
Chinese tourists can simply apply for a work
permit while being on a tourist visa.
The number of outbound Chinese tourists to Africa
reached 110,000 in 2005, double that of the
previous year and 180,000 in 2006, according
to the Exit-Entry Administration Bureau of
Public Security Ministry. No official data was
released for the EAC.
Who and what is “China in Africa?”
• Government contractors
• Private investors and construction firms
• Young entrepreneurs
• Skilled professionals (doctors, engineers,
teachers, translators etc)
• Unskilled labors (in general they are young
Chinese males brought to Africa by other
members of the family who need extra-labor)
There's no “China in Africa”
•
“China in Africa” is an unusual combination of
state and non-state actors that come to various
African countries in search for business
opportunities.
•
While the Western mass media claims that China
is “taking over Africa” the reality is that most
Chinese living and working in Africa are actually
involved in the informal sector and have little or
nothing to do with the Chinese government.
Africa and natural resources
The new scramble for Africa is being driven by
the near-global monopoly Africa has on the
world’s gold, cobalt and manganese reserves; it
also has extensive reserves of bauxite, coal
uranium, copper and nickel.
Of the proved oil reserves currently estimated,
Africa accounts for 7 per cent of the global total.
New oil discoveries have been made in
Madagascar, Zambia and Uganda while
extensive exploration is ongoing in Ethiopia,
Kenya and Tanzania.
China and Tanzania
Strong historical connections:
•
China was one of the first
countries to recognize
Tanzania as a state in
1964.
•
China is the first state to
open an embassy in Dar es
Salaam
•
In return, Tanzania strongly
supported China in its
attempt to resume its legal
status in the United Nations
in 1971.
China and Tanzania
Strong ideological connections:
Julius Nyerere was convinced that
“socialism (or Ujamaa, as it is
know in Swahili) is the only
political ideology that could allow
Tanzania to experience long term
development”.
Julius Nyerere, has visited China
five times during his presidency
and Chinese government officials
have been visiting Tanzania every
2-3 years since 1964.
More than political allies
Uhuru / TAZARA Railway
In 1969, China announced its
intention to finance the construction
of a railway that would serve
landlocked Zambia as an
alternative to rail lines via
Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), South
Africa, and Mozambique.
TAZARA RAILWAY
•
Construction started in 1970 and operation
commenced six years later.
•
The line starts at the port of Dar-es-Salaam and
crosses Tanzania in a south-west direction.
•
It passes through a largely uninhabited area and
through Selous, the largest National Park in Africa.
•
The line crosses the TAN-ZAM highway at
Makambako and runs parallel toward Mbeya and the
Zambian border, enters Zambia, and links to
Zambia Railways at Kapiri Mposhi.
•
Total length is 1,860 kilometers (1,156 mi) and the
final altitude is 1,400 m
TAZARA RAILWAY
•
TANZAM is regarded as the greatest engineering effort of
its kind since the Second World War.
•
The railway took only five years to build and was finished
ahead of schedule in 1975.
The work involved moving
330,000 tones of steel rail and
the construction of 300
bridges, 23 tunnels and 147
stations.
About 50,000 Tanzanians and
25,000 Chinese were engaged
to construct the railway.
•
•
Downsides of the project
•
TAZARA railway has never been profitable
•
The governments of Zambia and Tanzania have put little or
no money into maintaining the railway.
•
Massive competition from road transport – it takes three days
to get from Dar to Lusaka by train and only two days by road.
•
The Tanzanian government is planning to privatize the
UHURU railway. Different Chinese companies have
expressed their interest to buy the railway from the Tanzanian
government but no formal agreement has been reached.
Ideological victory
•
After building the railway, the Chinese government proved
that it can be a reliable partner for any African state that is
interested in working with the Chinese state.
•
It delivered what it promised, ahead of schedule. Striking
difference between the successful story of this project, and
other World Bank financed project run at the same time.
•
Chinese and Tanzanians worked together on this project in
oppose to Africans working for Europeans like during the
colonial era. (“Moral victory”)
Historical irony
The Tanzam closed a missing link in the
envisioned Cape-Cairo railway of Cecil Rhodes.
The rest of the infrastructure projects in east
Africa (especially the roads connecting Nairobi
to Addis Ababa and Dar es Salaam) are some
of the last unpaved sections of the Great North
Road, a British colonial dream to connect Cape
Town to Cairo.
This feeds into the discourse on China as a neocolonial power.
What happened next (1970-2000)?
• Formal relations were maintained
• Bilateral state visits were regular
• No major infrastructure projects until the
beginning of the new millennium.
• Both China and Tanzania were dealing with
their own internal problems
What changed?
• The emergence of the “Go out policy”
• Increased efforts on behalf of the Chinese state
to encourage state agencies and private
investors to become involved in development
projects in other countries, especially in Africa
and South America.
In 2006, China pledged to:
Double its 2006 assistance to Africa by 2009
Provide US$3 billion of preferential loans and US$2 billion of preferential buyer’s credits to Africa in the
next three years
Set up a China-Africa development fund, which would reach US$5 billion, to encourage Chinese
companies to invest in Africa and provide support to them
Cancel debt in form of all the interest-free government loans that matured at the end of 2005 owed by the
heavily indebted poor countries and the least developed countries in Africa that have diplomatic
relations with China
Increase from 190 to over 440 the number of export items to China receiving zero-tariff treatment from the
least developed countries in Africa with diplomatic ties with China
Establish three to five trade and economic cooperation zones in Africa in the next three years
Over the next three years, train 15,000 African professionals; send 100 senior agricultural experts to Africa;
build 30 hospitals in Africa and provide a grant of RMB 300 million for providing artemisinin and build
30 malaria prevention and treatment centers to fight malaria in Africa’ dispatch 300 youth volunteers to
Africa; build 100 rural schools in Africa; and increase the number of Chinese government scholarships
to African students from the current 2,000 per year to 4,000 per year by 2009.
(Source: African Perspectives on China in Africa
Edited by Firoze Manji and Stephen Marks, page 2 )
What exactly did the Chinese state do
for Tanzanian people?
In Tanzania, in the last five years, Chinese companies
have built:
• 1000+ miles of roads
• Two dozen schools
• One dozen+ hospitals and clinics
• Three power plants
• Invested heavily in the
IT sector
Chinese foreign economic cooperation in Sub-Saharan Africa,
2002-05, by destination.
Original Source: Ministry of Commerce, PRC, 2006; Taken from Building
Bridges: China’s Growing Role as Infrastructure Financier for SubSaharan Africa, World Bank Report
What exactly did the Chinese state
do for Tanzanian people?
Built a 60,000 seat stadium in Dar es Salaam.
Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium final cost mounted to US$ 56
millions.
The Chinese government contributed $33.4m while the Tanzania
government provided $23m.
Hu Jintao at the inauguration of the stadium in February 2009: ’’I am
convinced that our cooperation and friendship will grow even stronger”
Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium under contruction (2006)
Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium at the inauguration
How large is the Chinese
community on Tanzania?
Short answer: nobody knows.
According to the Chinese ambassador in Tanzania, “no more
than 2000 Chinese”
The estimative figures of the Tanzanian government show that
the population might be close to 10,000
A realistic figure: 20,000 – 25,000
What do we know?
There are almost one thousand businesses registered by
Chinese citizens with the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce
Why do Chinese citizens come to Tanzania?
Vacuum of business (i.e. lack of competition)
Vacuum of power
Low risk malaria zone
No history of civil or military unrest
Politically stable
(Somewhat) Business Oriented
Difficulties Chinese citizens face
once they arrived in Tanzania
• Lack of a functional bureaucracy
• The relative suspension or arbitrary application
of the rule of law
• Petty corruption
Consequences
• Chinese entrepreneurs (mainly restaurant and bar owners)
are constantly harassed by the local police forces.
• They have to pay petty bribes at an alarming frequency.
• Receive no support from the Chinese embassy due to the fact
that they do not report their presence in Tanzania
• Out of 120 Chinese entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed, only 29 of
them ever contacted the Chinese embassy. 21 of them did it
after their properties were illegally raided by the police forces.
What do local people think of the
Chinese immigrants?
Many Tanzanians are slowly becoming resentful of the
Chinese presence in Tanzania. Why? (Selected
answers):
•
“they work for less money than we do”
•
“they bring all these cheap products
that break in one month or less”
•
“they are rude and secretive”
•
“they mistreat their black employees”
•
“they traveled for 8000 miles to sell roasted peanuts in the street”
Anything good to say about Chinese
immigrants?
•
“They respect our culture and do
not impose their own culture
upon us, they way Muzungus
do”
•
“They speak to us in our own
language” (Swahili)
•
“They sell cheap products that
we really wanted to have” (TVs,
antennas, telephones, radios,
photo cameras etc)
•
“They are very disciplined and
work hard every day”
Where does xenophobia come
from?
- “Xenophobia mingles with fears of new imperialism and
creates strong anti-Chinese resentment” (Gregor
Dobler, who has researched the presence of Chinese
people in Namibia).
- The unemployment rate in Tanzania is very high 15%
(National Bureau of Statistics in Tanzania) and
Chinese immigrants are sometimes considered to be
the cause of this unemployment rate.
- Various cultural and social differences.
China, Africa, and neo-colonialism
• Is the relationship between Tanzania and China neo-colonial? NO!
• China respects the sovereignty of Tanzania and has never interfered
in the businesses of the Tanzanian state.
• There is no evidence to suggest that China looks to extend any sort of
political or economic hegemony over Tanzania.
• China has never tried to impose developmental strategies on the
Tanzanian state. On the contrary, the Tanzanian politicians are the
one who have started negotiations with the Chinese state regarding
various developmental projects.
*** For example, when former
President Benjamin Mkapa visited
China in 1998, he made a request to
the Chinese authority to construct a
modern stadium in Tanzania thus
paving the road for the most recent
Chinese financed large scale project
in Tanzania.
HOWEVER: The Concept of non
interference is a “political fiction”
In theory, China professes respect for
sovereignty and non-interference in internal
affairs is appealing to many African leaders but
this has not always been the case.
Three notorious cases that show that this is not
always the case:
Zambia
Sudan
Angola
Why would China interfere in the
local politics of various African
countries?
•
Chinese firms are affected by corruption in
Africa like any other foreign companies.
Tanzania is a very good example of that!
•
Crime and corruption make China interested
in improved governance and enhanced
government capacity in Africa
•
In extreme cases when the actions of different
politicians will affect China’s interests on the
continent, the Chinese state will always
intervene to restore the status-quo.
What is the most reasonable
conclusion we can draw from this
presentation?
China in Africa is what
you make of it!