Author : Paul Nantulya
Affiliated Organization : Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Type of publication : Article
Date of publication : August 30, 2018
In July 2018, Tanzanian president John Magufuli laid a foundation stone for the Mwalimu Nyerere Memorial Academy, named for the nation’s revered founding president. The $45-million project, which is being fully funded and built by the Chinese government, will provide leadership training to emerging leaders from countries governed by the Former Liberation Movements of Southern Africa (FLMSA). The decision to build this school was made at the biennial FLMSA summit in May 2017, which brought together the African National Congress of South Africa, Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania, Popular Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, Movement for the Liberation of Angola, Southwest African Peoples Organization of Namibia, and Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front. All had received Chinese backing during their fight against apartheid and colonialism.
The concept of soft power was adapted from American scholar Joseph Nye’s writings from the early 1990s on the importance of culture, values, and ideals to shape global norms. Over time, the subject has stimulated intense interest in China.
In 2017, Wang Huning, a leading proponent of soft power, was elected to China’s topmost body, the six-member Politburo Standing Committee.
“China will be a global leader in national strength and international influence,” Xi said at the October Congress. “We will improve our capacity to tell our stories, present a multidimensional view, and enhance China’s cultural soft power.”
The overriding goal of China’s Grand Strategy is to restore itself as a great power. The approach has three prongs. By 2021, China seeks to double its 2010 gross domestic product to $12 trillion so that it can become a “moderately prosperous society.”
The quest for regional and global leadership is the second feature of China’s Grand Strategy. By 2049, the centenary of the CPC’s founding, China hopes to be a “world class power.” China’s rapid military modernization and expanding economic and diplomatic influence are all part of this goal. China has also increased its participation in multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, and its willingness to create new institutions allow it to more directly set the agenda and promote alternative norms and models.
China will be a global leader in national strength and international influence,” Xi said at the October Congress. “We will improve our capacity to tell our stories, present a multidimensional view, and enhance China’s cultural soft power
China sees Africa as playing a key role in accomplishing these goals.
Africa is recognized as an emerging market with high dividends despite high risks. Gaining a competitive advantage in less secure political and economic environments allows China’s diplomats and state-backed industrialists to nurture personal ties and negotiate deals outside formal institutions.
This is a central idea in Chinese culture that is known as guanxi. It refers to a system of social networks and influential relationships that facilitate business and political dealings through personal ties, favors, and hierarchies. These play a major role in Chinese dealings with African business, political, and military leaders.
Africa is also the source of rare earth minerals and other natural resources that are crucial to the continued growth of the Chinese economy. The One Belt One Road initiative is aimed in part at diversifying China’s access to these resources.
China, furthermore, sees Africa as a willing partner in its ability to influence and shape international decision-making. Africa provides the biggest single bloc of votes at the UN General Assembly, and members of its regional organizations sit in a variety of international institutions that China seeks to influence in advancing its international agenda.
African leaders have mostly welcomed China’s renewed engagement, praising Beijing’s treatment of Africans as “equals” and hailing its commitment to development infrastructure such as railways, power stations, ports, and dams.
African leaders have mostly welcomed China’s renewed engagement, praising Beijing’s treatment of Africans as “equals” and hailing its commitment to development infrastructure such as railways, power stations, ports, and dams.
Africa is recognized as an emerging market with high dividends despite high risks. Gaining a competitive advantage in less secure political and economic environments allows China’s diplomats and state-backed industrialists to nurture personal ties and negotiate deals outside formal institutions
“Being part of One Belt allows the continent to move to a new platform, through which global collaboration will allow for value-addition, innovation, and increased prosperity,” said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
China’s growing role in Africa has largely been welcomed by Africans. In 2008, the African Union (AU) established the China–AU Strategic Dialogue to strengthen ties. Three years later, the AU opened its newly built $200 million headquarters in Addis Ababa, fully funded by China as a “gift.” A 2016 Afrobarometer survey conducted in 36 African countries found that 63 percent of respondents thought China’s economic and political influence was positive.
In May 2018 in Mozambique, 300 delegates from 40 African countries attended the annual Joint Conference of Confucius Institutes in Africa. These institutes are joint ventures between Chinese and foreign universities and funded by the Chinese education ministry with the aim of promoting Chinese language and culture and support academic exchanges. China initially hesitated to launch the program because the notion of promoting national values overseas was viewed as a mechanism of “Western hegemony.”
Beijing has not hesitated to push the boundaries in identifying new areas of engagement to inform and influence policy debates relevant to Chinese foreign policy, such as its investments in the New Development Bank based in Shanghai, which was set up as an alternative funding mechanism to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
In 2016, China increased the number of annual scholarships granted to African government leaders from 200 to 1,000. Its leadership training now includes parliaments, local governments, politically neutral groups, and even opposition parties. Hosted by the CPC’s Central Party School, the trainings cover the theory and practice of party building, propaganda techniques, cadre training and development, and management of interactions between the party, government, and military. Mentorships in Chinese institutions form part of these programs, and participants take field trips to gain first-hand knowledge of how party cadres solve local problems.
“Being part of One Belt allows the continent to move to a new platform, through which global collaboration will allow for value-addition, innovation, and increased prosperity,” said Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
Senior leaders are typically trained in Beijing, while mid-ranking and junior officials are sent to provincial and local party offices. Support to the Nyerere Academy in Tanzania may represent a new approach to this leadership training.
These programs are replicated for ruling party youth leagues through the China-Africa Young Leaders Forum. In 2018, it was held in Guangdong province for 70 young African leaders from over 40 governing parties. The China-Africa Youth Festival, Beijing’s version of the United States’ Young African Leaders Initiative, includes young leaders from civil society, business, media, and students. Its third forum was held in Beijing in June 2018.
China’s focus also extends to sub-national governance. The China-Africa Local Government Cooperation (CALGC) mentors several hundred African local government administrators every year. They work in local government bodies in China to learn about local government management, administration, and budgeting. African and Chinese local leaders also meet regularly in CALGC forums to share experiences.
The 2012 and 2015 forums focused on industrial development in provinces and cities and how local governments could attract investments. The most recent forum in May 2018 discussed poverty alleviation. In all, more than 1,000 African local government staff from over 40 African countries have participated in these programs since they started in 2012.
China’s leaders have become more adept and attentive to pursuing strategic goals without relying on traditional tools of foreign relations. In addition, with the growth of China’s global influence, Beijing is less averse to boldly promoting China’s values and models than it had been in the past. In fact, many within the Chinese political establishment welcome this as a strategic opportunity to offer alternatives to Western norms. With China’s Grand Strategy now well-articulated, its soft power initiatives can be expected to expand in tandem with its military and economic activities. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa.
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