China-Uganda relationship should be viewed beyond old frameworks and colonial motifs
By Alan Collins Mpewo and Ssemanda Abdurahim.
China’s relations with the African continent date back to the 15th century. In the Ming Imperial Tomb in Beijing is a wall painting of a giraffe – it was the famous Chinese admiral and seafarer Zheng. He who brought it to the court in Nanjing during one of several expeditions to the Arab world and the east coast of Africa between 1413 and 1419. Until the late 1970s the People’s Republic of China’s economic relations with Africa were driven by ideological imperatives.
Guided by China’s sprit of Confucianism or Ubuntu as it is known in Africa, Political leadership in Beijing see Africa people as a brothers and sisters whose countries are equal partners and hence, the two sides pursuing a win-win cooperation. Indeed, today China is Africa’s biggest bilateral trading partner, bilateral lender, as well as one of the biggest foreign investors in the continent.
On the other side, with contribution of Chinese investments, Africa has become one of the fastest urbanizing region of the world, with rural migrants moving into cities and the continent’s industrial revolution path seems clearer than ever before, thanks to Chinese heavy investments and mutual benefit cooperation. From infrastructure development such as roads construction, railway, airport, electricity, supporting education, and health sector, almost all African countries have a positive foot print of China. For example, the nearly complete expanded Entebbe international airport construction was possible with Chinese funding. It is the same story with Uganda’s Entebbe express way and many other roads in the country.
In energy sector, there is no way we can speak of Karuma or Isimba hydro power projects without mentioning China that availed Uganda with funds for said mega projects. In other East African countries for example Kenya, Ethiopia among others, infrastructure sector has improved thanks to China-Africa cooperation.
A recent report by the Africa Policy Institute indicated that since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was initiated proposed in the year 2013, China has played a pivotal role in supporting African countries with modern infrastructure projects such as railways, roads, ports, dams, industries, and digital connectivity, employing thousands of people and in long run sparking economic growth. For example, Kenya’s 670-kilometer modern Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) which connects the port of Mombasa and the inland port of Naivasha constructed under BRI project was funded by China under BRI. Relatedly, the Ethiopia-Djibouti’s standard gauge railway which connects landlocked Ethiopia to Djibouti port constructed and funded under same project has greatly improved transport in the Horn of Africa. In 2021 for example, the 752.7-km line recorded about 86.13 million U.S. dollars in revenue, which is up 37.5% if compared with 2020 revenue collections.
Recent projections show that by 2050, Africa’s 1.1-billion-person population is slated to double, with 80% of this growth happening in cities, bringing the continent’s urban headcount up to more than 1.3 billion. With such population growth, African governments must plan a head, otherwise such population may not help them positively. The good news is that China-Africa cooperation seem to be already working for this.
There is no doubt, projects such as industrial parks like Mbale Industrial Park, Kapyeka in Luwero, which have created employment opportunities will help. Such parks are not only in East Africa but in other African regions. For example, In Zambia China started Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation the first of its kind in Africa, and Egypt’s Suez Canal Economic Zone all will help in creating opportunities for African countries’ growing population.
Therefore, China having proved herself as a reliable partner for African countries, it is time for African to wholly heartily embrace and guard jealously Sino-Africa relations, after all, China’s is a win-win cooperation. This to work, African countries should ignore global north narrative that unjustly present Sino-Africa relations in frameworks and colonial motifs which is arguably opposite of China’s intention. African and Chinese scholars should perhaps join hands and clearly direct narrate Sino-Africa cooperation and emphasize the fact that the guiding principle of China-Africa cooperation is a win-win cooperation as the two sides build a community of a shard future for mankind.
According to Efraim Chalamish, an international economic law scholar, China is indeed an accelerator for growth through infrastructure, especially in places that have a local capacity problem and African countries should not listen to unfounded colonial mortifies peddled by some western pundits and embrace Sino-Africa relations for the benefits are far more positive than negatives if any.
Ssemanda Abdurahim and Alan Collins Mpewo are Research Fellows at Development Watch Center
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