Partnership for development

Selecting China as a partner of choice for rapid implementation of projects and transfer of skills is eminently sensible

With regard to long-term aid from the West, African countries should continue efforts to move from dependency to achieve genuine self-reliance and create wholesome partnerships with others.

Each bag of food aid, each concessional loan or vaccine, and each bale of used clothes may save lives. But when provided on a conditional and regular basis, the donations and concessions undermine equality. They weaken the recipient's ability to negotiate with the provider on trade, investments, lending or geopolitical matters. They may also undermine or foreclose for the recipient the possibility of expanding self-reliance to achieve true equality in partnerships.

African policymakers should prioritize aid based on their countries' needs and conditions as identified in their own development plans to uplift the material quality of life as quickly and efficiently as possible.

In our time, this means mitigating the looming impact of climate change, ensuring food security, acquiring capacity to produce goods and services in Africa, and, above all, agreeing on social compacts to anchor peace and stability, the first prerequisite for development.

Clearly, governance, human rights, gender equality and anti-corruption need to be taken into consideration as countries uplift the material quality of people's lives. However, setting these as conditions for trade, investment or lending, as Western countries do, expands the already huge task of uplifting Africa's material quality of life and, in essence, it is re-colonization of Africa.

African policymakers today are correct to seek partnerships with countries that do not attach irrelevant conditions to transactions on trade, investment, lending or development assistance and learn from those willing to share skills and experiences with local people.

China's Belt and Road Initiative, to which 52 African countries are signatories, appeals to Africans because of its focus on rails, roads, energy, seaports, water supply and sanitation, the obvious and main physical barriers to Africa's economic future.

For years, many infrastructure projects languished as hopes, dreams and aspirations for Africans. Until China, in a relatively short period of time, emerged as Africa's largest trade and, arguably, lead development partner.

Today, one-fifth of all infrastructure projects on the African continent are financially backed by China; one-third of them are implemented by Chinese companies alone or in consortia, thanks, in part, to the Belt and Road Initiative.

China is attracted to Africa's largely unexploited natural resources, youthful population, and emerging middle class, all of which promise a huge market. The more than 10,000 Chinese companies already operating in Africa attest to this appeal.

Still, how did China bypass some Western countries which, in theory, were better placed by virtue of their long-time interactions with African countries? There are several keys to this puzzle.

First, in negotiations on trade, investment, or economic development, Africa and China work in China's favor as much as in Africa's. A project is accepted or rejected solely on its own merits.

Second, the Chinese have shown themselves to be more willing to accept the fact that Africans know what they want. This enables Africans and Chinese to spend fewer resources on identification and appraisal and more efforts on implementation and transfer of skills than comparable Western-funded or implemented projects. The projects consume fewer resources including time. Many Belt and Road projects have been delivered on time or ahead of time. This appeals to Africa's desire for rapid development.

Third is about conditionalities. If Egypt's New Administrative Capital, Nigeria's Abuja-Kaduna Railway Line or Kenya's Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway were funded or implemented by a Western country, each would have a long list of conditions or requirements attached, resulting in long delays, higher cost and frustrated aspirations. This would be especially true in sub-Saharan Africa where Western conditionalities are traditionally more explicitly imposed, a legacy of colonization and enslavement.

In the final analysis, the price Africa, especially sub-Saharan Africa, pays for development projects in time, money and conditionalities, is much higher when working with Western countries.

Therefore, selecting China as a partner of choice for rapid implementation of projects for development and transfer of skills is eminently sensible.

The author is a former economist with the World Bank and advisor for the Kenyan government. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.