Africa – A colony of China?

Neocolonialism stands for the combined use of capitalism, globalization and cultural imperialism to gain power in a comparatively less developed country by refraining from the use of conventional methods like taking direct control of a territory’s military or indirectly gaining political control.

The alliance between China and Africa has strengthened in recent years. It has helped Africa to progress in the fields of technical skills, technology, and infrastructure. China’s maximum investment is made in the service and manufacturing industries. Although, questions have been raised by numerous sources regarding the intention of China behind this association, some believe that it is western propaganda, while some think that China is aspiring to colonize Africa. China has also been accused of controlling all the natural resources in Africa.

China and Africa have always claimed that it is a ‘Win-Win’ partnership for both parties. Africa has denied every allegation that has been put on China and stated that their relationship is ‘liberating and emancipatory’. China is working on numerous infrastructural projects in Africa and has invested a large amount of money and is successfully transforming Africa’s economy. Many of these projects have been financed by loans granted by China’s state-owned and controlled ‘Export-Import Bank’ and these loans have to be repaid by the respective nations. As there is a high risk of default, not many banks would grant loans to African nations for these projects while China is readily lending money on no or very low interest. Some theories state that China intentionally lends money to probable defaulters to gain power over their sate.

China’s growth rate is reducing year by year as there is less scope of development because the country is already developed. China considers Africa to have great potential for growth as it is very underdeveloped and would show massive development if it has enough finances. China would then like to gain power over such a fast developing state. This is the reason why many private Chinese industries have entered African markets and will soon take hold of it.

China is a victim of its own success. Labour costs have been increasing exponentially in China for a few years. This has resulted in China being non-competitive in low-cost of manufacturing work. Chinese manufacturing firms have set up their units in Africa, which is one of the cheapest labour markets in the entire world.

This idea of setting up a power position in a less developed state to gain resources and use their manpower as cheap labour is exactly what colonialism is!

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