CHINA COLONIZING AFRICA

Oct 02, 2018 Editorial

More than five centuries ago, Britain and the other European powers colonized Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and other regions of the world. At the center of the colonization process was the slave trade which resulted in millions of Africans being uprooted from their accustomed environment in Africa and placed into an un-familiarized environment where they were physically, mentally and sexually abused.
Today, it seems that China is in the process of recolonizing Africa through its Belt and Road initiative.
This grand vision which was launched in 2013 involves China underwriting billions of dollars of infrastructure investment in several countries in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. At the centre of the Belt and Road Initiative lies the challenges of the current western global order that China wants to replace with a Sino-centric one.
Because of its high ambitions and the impact it may have on poor nations, the initiative has been criticized by several western nations, including the United States and Britain, among others.
Many countries view the initiative as an alternative approach to globalization in an era where powers like the U.S under President Trump seem bent on increasing protectionism and retreating from their global leadership role.
Others have questioned the impact and the ripple effect it may have worldwide. However, China has maintained that the goal of the initiative is to help the African and other poor countries in the world plug their infrastructure deficit, which is a necessary step for economic growth and, in particular, industrialization.
But it is clear that China intends to use the Belt and Road initiative as an opportunity to position itself diplomatically on the global stage and to amplify its voice on the world stage.
According to a study from the Center for Global Development, the initiative provides funds that poor countries desperately want, but its lending technique and rules, which are unlike the other world’s leading government and international financial institution creditors are problematic.
The study shows that China’s Belt and Road Initiative to invest as much as US$8 trillion in infrastructure projects across Eastern Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia has already indebted 68 countries. The study found that 23 of those countries are at risk of debt distress today, and nine of them are at a significantly high risk of debt distress, which means that they would default on their loans.
They include Pakistan, Djibouti, Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos and Zambia.
The proportion of external debt owed to China by these countries is hovering around 85 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP). Zambia, whose debt is over 150 percent of its GDP has already defaulted on its debt to China. As result, China took control of its State-owned airport, Electricity Company, National Media and major roadways. China has also been given unrestrained control over Zambian mining resources and the unfiltered immigration of Chinese into the country.
The takeover of the commanding heights of Zambia’s economy by China led some international observers to conclude that Zambia has become first African nation to become a Chinese colony.
Whether true or false, many other countries including Guyana, which have secretly signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative could find themselves in the same predicament.
The Jagdeo/Ramotar government sought loans from China to finance the white-elephant Skeldon sugar factory, the Enmore packaging plant and the airport projects, among others. All the agreements were done in secret.
Since taking office in 2015, this government has done the same thing. It has borrowed from China.
What China has done is that it has studied countries that have corrupt governments and greedy leaders to lend money.