Spring Break
On turning a blind eye
John Jose, Columnist, jjose@smu.edu
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Opinion
"No strings attached" is a fantastic phrase for those in need. It's not often that you can get something for nothing, especially in the international arena. But that's exactly what China offers Africa: billions of dollars in aid and no uncomfortable demands to mind silly things like human rights. That is, until recently. Since coming to power, Chinese President Hu Jintao has taken unprecedented steps in Chinese-African relations. In Sudan as part of a 12-day tour of Africa last year, Mr. Hu urged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to work harder to incorporate more rebel groups into the peace agreement over Darfur.
This marks a definite break from China's previous African policy of turning a blind eye to rampant human rights violations in exchange for favorable trade agreements. China has been courting African nations for years now, seeking to satisfy its demands for raw materials as cheaply as possible. Unlike Western nations and institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, who demand marked improvement in human rights, economic policy, political cleanliness and the like before they dole out aid, China needed only the assurances that the raw materials would be cheap and in constant supply. In return, China would invest billions of dollars in African economies, mostly in improving infrastructure. This created jobs for those in dire need of a paycheck, boosted the "investabililty" of the African recipient and, handily, increased the speed and ease with which the resources were shipped to China.
This represented a sort of deal with the devil that various nations notorious for abusing human rights, such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Zambia, were only too happy to make, and China, basking in its new-found economic glory and influence, didn't seem to mind the various transgressions occurring in the recipient countries. And China isn't the first Communist country to come to Africa's aid after Western donors proved too squeamish. In 1958 the USSR paid for a third of the cost of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, two years after the U.S. and Britain cancelled their offers of help due to suspicions of Egyptian arms smuggling and its recognition of the People's Republic of China.
This marks a definite break from China's previous African policy of turning a blind eye to rampant human rights violations in exchange for favorable trade agreements. China has been courting African nations for years now, seeking to satisfy its demands for raw materials as cheaply as possible. Unlike Western nations and institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, who demand marked improvement in human rights, economic policy, political cleanliness and the like before they dole out aid, China needed only the assurances that the raw materials would be cheap and in constant supply. In return, China would invest billions of dollars in African economies, mostly in improving infrastructure. This created jobs for those in dire need of a paycheck, boosted the "investabililty" of the African recipient and, handily, increased the speed and ease with which the resources were shipped to China.
This represented a sort of deal with the devil that various nations notorious for abusing human rights, such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Zambia, were only too happy to make, and China, basking in its new-found economic glory and influence, didn't seem to mind the various transgressions occurring in the recipient countries. And China isn't the first Communist country to come to Africa's aid after Western donors proved too squeamish. In 1958 the USSR paid for a third of the cost of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, two years after the U.S. and Britain cancelled their offers of help due to suspicions of Egyptian arms smuggling and its recognition of the People's Republic of China.
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