Maravi

(MnG) African diplomats fearful of US-China relationships

African diplomats fearful of US-China relationships
ILHAM RAWOOT | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Dec 06 2010 16:54

African embassy officials, including a South African, are afraid that relationships between the United States and China will hamper Chinese funding to the region, according to a leaked cable from the US Embassy in Beijing.

The cable, released by WikiLeaks on Sunday, is one of the latest in the organisation's streaming release of over 250 000 leaked diplomatic cables. It was created on February 4 2010, and was classified as "confidential".

"During a February 8 lunch, Kenyan ambassador to China Julius Ole Sunkuli said he and other Africans were wary of the US-China dialogue on Africa and felt Africa had nothing to gain from China cooperating with the international donor community," reads the cable.

"Sunkuli claimed that Africa was better off thanks to China's practical, bilateral approach to development assistance and was concerned that this would be changed by 'Western' interference. He said he saw no concrete benefit for Africa in even minimal cooperation."

South African diplomat, Dave Malcolmson, was also present at the meeting, and echoed Sunkuli's reservations.

"Malcolmson echoed Sunkuli's comment that African countries also fear losing their bargaining power. China's emergence in Africa as a counterbalance to US and European donors have been very positive for Africa by creating 'competition' and giving African countries options. He recalled that after the 2006 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit, when China announced its commitments to Africa, traditional donors changed their attitude.

They recognised that they had to measure up to China and "came calling". The European Union proposed infrastructure projects (after having defacto given up supporting these types of projects) and the World Bank began to support more agriculture projects.

The author comments that Sunkuli and Malcomson's words should be seen as a warning sign, and that China might use African opposition as an excuse to halt progress on discussions or collaborations with the US.

"We should be careful to pick projects that would have broad support within the African community, preferably African-initiated and led, to get the development cooperation dialogue started on the right foot," reads the cable.

Labels: CHINA, WIKILEAKS

posted by MrK @ 7:56 PM