Author: China's role in Africa reflects growing reach

With Chinese factories mushrooming in Africa, and the government extending its Belt and Road Initiative there, China is learning how to be a global power, according to an author who wrote a book about the subject.

"I do think China is interested in figuring out what it means to be a global power, and Africa has been in some ways a testing ground for that," said Deborah Brautigam, author of The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (New York: Oxford University Press 2009).

Brautigam, who is also a professor and director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, made the comments at a forum in March at the China Institute in New York.

"For example, Chinese peacekeepers. They have a pretty large contingent of the first armed Chinese peacekeepers, who went to South Sudan and Mali as well. And China is one of the largest providers of peacekeepers to the United Nations," she said.

"I think that's a part that China is seeing themselves in, as a responsible power who provides more than they used to … and steps up to the stage," she added.

Brautigam, who has been writing about China, Africa, state-building, governance and foreign aid for almost 30 years, said the Chinese government also is highly interested in outward development.

"There are a couple of ways in which we can see (that). One is, it supports companies as they go out and become global champions," she said.

In January, US President Donald Trump reportedly referred to Haiti, El Salvador and some African nations as "shithole countries".

Brautigam said "Trump's comments mark a new low, but in other ways, his sentiments are not new. What is new is having these sentiments expressed at such a high level by our top leader."

She recalled how a decade ago she gave a talk to a group of African ambassadors in Washington. "And in the discussion afterwards, one ambassador mentioned these Chinese visits, saying 'China gives Africans more respect than they get from the West.' I was struck by how many other ambassadors nodded vigorously in agreement," she said.

Brautigam said she believed that the Chinese government has always prioritized a respectful engagement with African governments, not just in words but in deeds, such as annual visits in January.

"Washington should know that for decades the Chinese government has made Africa a diplomatic priority," she wrote.

Since January 1991, China's foreign minister has started each year by traveling to Africa for high-level meetings with a group of select countries. This past January, Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Rwanda, Angola, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe.

On March 6, then-US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson headed to Africa, visiting Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria. The visit was portrayed by some as a response to China's increased engagement on the continent.

"Today's African countries can admire China's astounding economic development success and take advantage of Chinese offers of finance without rejecting the West or its own generous financial flows. They can have their cake and eat it too," she wrote in the China Africa Research Initiative blog.