Friend or foe? What will China's African adventure mean for ICT on the continent?
Experts in economics agree China will soon overtake the US as the world's dominant economic superpower, growing at 11% each year, compared with the US's 2%.
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Fortune hunters |
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"For the first time, the largest contribution to global growth [next year] will be made by China," confirmed International Monetary Fund MD Rodrigo Rato at a recent conference.
A critical element of China's surging growth in recent years has been a strong focus on various African markets, and it is a trend set to continue.
China's 'obsession' with Africa, described by some as neo-colonialism, by others as locally uplifting Afro-confidence, has seen Sino-African trade quadruple over the past decade. It is now $40 billion (R275 billion) a year, according to official Chinese stats, reported through the Xinhua news agency.
And in late 2005 it was China (not Japan or Korea) that overtook the US as the world's biggest supplier of IT goods, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
So what will happen for ICT in Africa, as China, the biggest IT supplier, the world's new financial king, colonises the continent?
TWO SIDES TO THE COIN
China's growing business interest in Africa creates new opportunities but also presents new challenges, says Jennifer Brea, independent researcher and author of the popular blog Africabeat.
"Cheap Chinese imports - in particular apparel, footwear and electronics - are doing real damage to small, struggling industries across the African continent. Most countries simply cannot compete," she tells iWeek in an exclusive interview.
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Cees Bruggemans |
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This, she suggests, could delay industrialisation across much of the continent for some time.
On the other hand, however, Brea points out that cheaper essential products do increase the purchasing power of families in Africa. "The availability of inexpensive cellphones made in China, and indeed all kinds of technologies from computers to light machinery, have made it easier and cheaper for Africans to communicate, access information, and do business."
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
But debates go deeper than simply whether or not cheap Chinese technology stifles African innovation.
"The transfer of technology from rich to poor countries is often argued as a necessary condition for the poor to industrialise," says the Harare-based South-East African Trade Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) in a statement.
"Often this is also used to persuade developing countries to accept liberal rules to the flow of foreign capital - mainly in the form of foreign direct investments," it adds.
The reality in Africa, says SEATINI, is that very little technology, or knowledge, transfer actually occurs - and if it does, it is in the form of psuedo transfer.
"Pseudo-transfers of technology are essentially excuses for transnational corporations to take over local companies, or to carve out a share of the domestic markets," it states in a scathing position paper.
TELECOMS
"South Africa is the door into Africa," says ZTE's local company secretary, Anton Baumann. "Most African countries are in dire straights for telecoms infrastructure but are not able to pay 'western prices', so ZTE is keen to help such countries."
ZTE has identified certain African markets as key areas, adds Baumann, particularly in the areas of ultra low-cost handsets, CDMA infrastructure and other wireless access technologies.
He believes telecoms solutions are, for Africa, the most important area of Chinese ICT innovations.
Cees Bruggemans, chief economist at FNB, tells iWeek that "over time, their (Chinese firms') presence will be noted in investments, companies setting up here, and that kind of arrangement."
He says that while China still produces mostly quite simple ICT goods, it is definitely rising up the "technological ladder", into areas previously the domain of Taiwan, Korea and Singapore.
RISING THREAT
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Rodrigo Rato |
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The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a discussion paper called 'China's African policy' says that "after long years of struggle, the African people [have] freed themselves from colonial rule, wiped out apartheid, and won independence and emancipation."
It is ironic then, that a new form of domination, and one with potentially more severe consequences, could be on the African horizon - an ominous sun rising from the East.
"The Chinese often use the concept of Chinese exceptionalism to explain away the dark underside of their economic miracle, but the fact is there are others who have walked this same path before," says Brea - referring to the former colonial powers on the continent.
Sophie Richardson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, says "China claims to be great friend of the African people and a responsible major power."
But she adds that China has continued to sell the Zimbabwean government technology that enables it to monitor electronic communications, despite President Robert Mugabe's repressive and globally-condemned political regime.
OPPORTUNITIES
But Brea is cautious not to sensationalise China's African interest, either too negatively or too positively: "Chinese business interest is not a silver bullet, but it is creating new and interesting opportunities for those willing to take advantage of them."
"The Chinese are here to win. It's up to African governments to make sure their presence is a win for Africans too."
China's experience of rapid economic development and massive rural population could give it a unique role in bringing modern farming, medical care and communications to the African continent, suggests UN Millennium Project director Jeffrey Sachs, in a report from the local Chinese Embassy.
"Chinese technology could make all the difference," says Sachs.
Though it is difficult to predict the future levels of Chinese investment in Africa, it is logical to expect that it will increase. At the time of going to print, strong rumours were circling of a takeover of MTN by China Mobile. This would follow a massive R37 billion investment in Standard Bank by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China last month.
MARTIN CZERNOWALOW
![[West and Central Africa Com]](/images/bnrWCA_120x120.gif "West and Central Africa Com")