China is working very hard to make friends in Africa. Access to Africa's vast natural resources is a high strategic priority for Beijing, and senior Chinese officials are more than willing to spend a little money every now and then to keep diplomatic and commercial relations strong.
This week, President Xi Jinping toured Africa, visiting Tanzania, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, making his personal intentions quite clear. His country needs a steady supply of resources in order to keep its economic miracle moving forward. Africa, of course, is the natural place for Beijing to be looking to solve this problem.
Estimates are that, from 2010-12, China funneled more than $100 billion in investments into African countries. This money is being spent on, among other things, the basic infrastructure that is so lacking in much of the continent. Roads and power stations are crucial prerequisites for African development, and countries are accepting Chinese money to see them built.
Importantly, the Chinese have been welcomed in much of Africa because their approach differs so dramatically from Western powers. Despite their colonial baggage when dealing with modern African countries (or, perhaps, because of it), Western countries tend to stress controversial issues, such as human rights and corruption, in their conversations with African leaders.
Beijing is remarkably comfortable, however, at turning its attention to more practical concerns. There are clearly African leaders who respond very favorably to this approach.
While the Chinese media run stories such as "China is Africa's Best Friend in History," some in Africa are worried that Beijing's policies will have the same detrimental long-term consequences as the colonial period did. In the past, the colonial powers took primary materials out of Africa to produce value-added products in their factories at home, which could then be sold back to Africans at a mark-up. Today, China is attempting the same thing.
It is hard to describe the Chinese strategy in Africa as anything much different than imperialism in a slightly modernized form.
Meanwhile, the message that many Western leaders and human-rights advocates bring to Africa is an uncomfortable one.
For example, British Foreign Minister William Hague and actress Angelina Jolie were scheduled this week to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a short African tour. The purpose of this visit was to draw international attention to the rise in wartime rapes and sexual assaults in the region. Unfortunately, rainstorms meant that they couldn't complete their visit in DRC, and they were re-routed to visit other hospitals and treatment centers in neighboring countries.
The goals of these visits (and many others like them) are not lucrative, exclusive trade deals, but helping to solve real problems that affect many Africans' daily lives.
In Zimbabwe, a new constitution was recently adopted that, hopefully, will make democracy more of a reality for a country buckling under the heavy hand of President Robert Mugabe's three-decade authoritarian regime and the economic damage it has wrought. As a reward and an encouragement for having taken a difficult step forward, the European Union this week lifted many of the sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Western countries have traditionally pushed hard for free and fair elections in Africa, as a means to ending human-rights abuses and limiting entrenched corruption. China, of course, does not place such a high importance on these things. For an African leader unwilling to give up violence and intimidation as their electioneering tools of choice, Beijing clearly makes a much better trading partner than does Washington or London.
Interestingly, China may have history on its side, after all. A small coin was found last year in Somalia that could greatly change the historical narrative. The 600-year-old Chinese coin adds credibility to a long-standing account that a Chinese captain named Zheng He visited Africa a century before the European powers began the period of colonization that would transform the continent.
Zheng, who has been described as a "Chinese Columbus," brought back a giraffe as a souvenir. The Chinese, however, did not impose on Africans an exploitative economic and political system.
The publicity value of this version of events has great utility, as Beijing continues to negotiate hard for access to raw materials. Some African leaders have begun to complain more vocally about the imbalance of these relations, which seem slanted towards their Chinese partners. As tensions rise, Beijing's ability to point to a long tradition of avoiding exploitation could be useful, at least in terms of spinning the mounting complaints and concerns in the short term.
Africa's problems will not solve themselves, nor will they be solved by a few more bridges, schools or electrical generators. China's actions here are driven by Chinese interests, not a charitable desire to help Africans live better.
Of course, one of the justifications Europeans offered at the time for their African colonization was that they were bringing civilization and development to people in need. Economic benefits were supposedly a secondary concern. China's attempt to reuse these dated and ineffective rationalizations should be met with a good amount of skepticism.
Orange County writer and attorney Timothy Spangler hosts "The Bigger Picture with Timothy Spangler," Sundays, 10 p.m.-midnight on KRLA 870/AM.