Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Africa last week will certainly cause an uptick in the hubbub in the China-Africa cottage industry in Washington and London. Over the past 15 years, China’s commercial relationship with African countries has expanded, grown and deepened, as China’s total trade with sub-Saharan Africa has grown from around $10bn to over $200bn.
Yet, suspicion and unsubstantiated myths are riddling the discussion of Chinese involvement in Africa among business leaders, politicians and policy influencers. Perhaps these tendencies are spillover from the Cold War; maybe there is an attractive simplicity to a rivalry of great powers in faraway places; or it could be that, despite intentions of removal, colonial paternalism in Africa is still buried in the forefront of western thought? Whatever the reasons may be, this week’s Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg – a gathering of African presidents and Chinese leadership that happens every three years – provides an excellent opportunity to rationalise the China-Africa discussion and dispel five common myths that are unfortunately becoming assumptions even at the highest levels of policy-making.
Myth: China is the largest investor in Africa