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Opinion
Why China is succeeding in Africa where the US is failing
China started building infrastructure in Africa decades ago, long before its Belt and Road Initiative could inspire Western jealousy
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Wenfang Tang is Presidential Chair Professor and dean of the School of Humanities and Social Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen.
This month, Beijing played host to the heads of state from 53 of the 54 African countries at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit. It was a spectacular diplomatic show that might have made Western governments and media outlets feel jealous and bitter, leading some to harp on about debt traps. Others see the event as a victory for China’s grand strategy to gain influence on the global stage.
Africa has been an integral component of China’s grand strategy. It is a crucial geopolitical link in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. African countries can provide vital support for China in international affairs as a voting bloc in the United Nations and other international organisations.
Beijing’s interest in Africa is nothing new. It started in the 1960s and 1970s when China was isolated by the international community under Western domination, and when the Sino-Soviet relationship deteriorated. In the 1960s, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai spent more than a month in Africa, openly supporting countries’ anti-imperialist national independence movements and calling Africans comrades and brothers.
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