Two-way trade has been booming between China and Africa and statistics indicate that this is only the beginning. Cordial business relations between China and Africa is a culmination of several factors. Cultures, norms and identity create environments conducive to business and this discussion paper suggests that the culture, norms and identity of the African and Chinese civilisations has allowed business to prosper.

The emergence of China as a superpower is evident in the business connections it has with the African continent. Nowhere in the world is China's rapid rise to power more evident than in Africa. From multi-billion dollar investments in oil and minerals to the influx of thousands of merchants, labourers and cheap consumer goods, China's economic and political reach is redefining Africa's traditional ties with the international community. To some, China is seen as a partner, competitor or coloniser in Africa.⁽²⁾ Under the banner ‘Friendship, Peace and Cooperation’ China has successfully created a foreign policy conducive to the African environment. Likewise, African Governments have shown their eagerness to conduct business with the Chinese. Why has business prospered immensely between these two civilisations? This paper suggests that the norms, identity and cultures of these two civilisations have helped construct a positive business environment.

Allies

The China-Africa relationship stretches over approximately 60 years and is based on equality of treatment, respect for sovereignty and a desire for common development. In 1995, two-way trade amounted to US$ 4 billion. Ten years later it has amounted to a staggering US$ 40 billion.⁽³⁾ Since the end of the Cold War, major states have increasingly stressed the importance of ethics and values in the shaping of international goals.⁽⁴⁾ Constructivist approaches to understanding international relations suggest that national interests and identities are contingent and socially constructed. China and Africa have created a partnership based on both - values in that they both have a common set and interests in that both partners are benefiting greatly from their interactions with each other.

Culture

A chief reason why China has been so successful in its ventures into Africa is due to the language factor. To China and some African counterparts, English is not the mother tongue and is rarely used. African Governments at political rallies use regional languages and English is used only when meeting foreign business executives and diplomats. Western nations use diplomatic dialect in relaying their thoughts in English or French to communicate with their African counterparts. Chinese engagement methodology differs considerably from the West’s ‘restrictive, patronising and unrealistic conditional engagement.’⁽⁵⁾

China’s African success stems from its use of simplifying the English language as a medium for cooperation. In official Government documents such as ‘Chinas Peaceful Rise’ (Heping jueqi), the language is basic and China has an aptitude for simplifying its objectives into point, which improves Sino-Afro bilateral arrangements. The 1982 ‘Four Principals of Economic and Technological Co-operation with Africa’ or the ‘Eight Principals of Chinas Engagement with Africa’ supports this argument.

Norms and identity

Cooperation develops because China strictly respects international sovereignty. The theory of sovereignty holds that all states are equal and the domestic politics of nations are not to be interfered with. African states hold their liberty and sovereignty in high esteem because of the struggle against oppressive colonialism. Under the Carter Administration, the United States (US) attached human rights conditions to various foreign policies.⁽⁶⁾ The rest of the West followed suit and Ireland and Norway for example, often immediately cut off aid if recipient state democracy is threatened. China has never attached conditions to interest-free economic aid or low-interest loans.

China understands what Africa wants. Since the 1960s China has supported anti-imperialism and liberation ideology throughout the continent. In the 1960s China and Africa were on par in economic terms, but China has now exploded into modernisation and economic development. Africa now wants to modernise the way China has and is keen to partner with the country in a wide range of projects all perceived to contribute to development in Africa.

Chinese identity is considered ‘third world’ or ‘developing’ and this serves in comprehensive understanding between Sino-Afro connections. Chinese culture, like African, is one of entrepreneurism and family success. Africans hold high the concept of Ubuntu, the belief that the community makes a person and Chinese believe in Tianxia⁽⁷⁾ - that everyone under the heavens are interconnected in harmony. In Africa, life revolves around the notions of the clan or kin; in China it is the same.

A conducive business environment

Due to the abundance of unskilled labour and the absence of labour laws⁽⁸⁾ Chinese and African business deals ensue. Mainland China practices a work- ethic culture called the hukou system, which involves the absence of independent unions and discrimination against rural workers that has been categorised as an ‘apartheid system’.⁽⁹⁾ Human rights, the norm of international politics, are non-existent or continuously denied in the majority of African states and in China. To African and Chinese Governments, stability comes first. For example, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda made no attempt to hide the electoral fraud committed in the January 2011 elections and he is well known for his human rights abuses against political opponents, yet the stability he brings to Uganda is accepted by Uganda’s neighbours and her strongest allies, the UK and US.

According to Professor Ayittey, ‘Although virtually all African Governments have carefully crafted bills of human rights and have signed the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights as well as the African Charter on Human Rights drawn up by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), respect for human life and private property is non-existent.’⁽¹⁰⁾ In Africa, basic human rights such as the right to protest or freedom of speech are often compromised by Governments and the same can be said for China. While this does not directly advance business relations, it is evidence that suggests a common set of values between the two partners.

Conclusion

The socio-political link between the norms, cultures and identities of Africans and Chinese has made way for cordial business relations. While there are profound differences in the two identities, their similarities overlap and interconnect. Opposition in both civilisations is seen as a deterrent to economic prosperity and therefore what the West labels as human rights abuses, is almost the norm in African and Chinese culture. Approximately 60 years ago both societies were largely peasant or agrarian societies. With modernisation and globalisation helping to manufacture cosmopolitan ideals in Africa and China, people are rapidly engaged in the race to riches. This race marginalises and exploits the vulnerable, yet shapes new African and Chinese identities based on wealth; and the best means of creating wealth is by new business ventures where both sides benefit.

NOTES:

(1) Contact Anton M. Pillay Erasmus through Consultancy Africa Intelligence's Asia Dimension Unit (asia.dimension@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) Chris Alden, China in Africa, Zed Books, 2007.
(3) Garth Shelton and Farhana Paruk, ‘The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation: A Strategic Opportunity’, Institute of Security Studies Monograph 156, 2008, http://www.issafrica.org.
(4) David Chandler, ’Culture Wars and International Intervention: An Inside/Out view of the Decline of National Interest’, International Politics, 41 (354-374), Palgrave Macmillan Ltd, 2004.
(5) Garth Shelton and Farhana Paruk, ‘The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation: A Strategic Opportunity’, Institute of Security Studies Monograph 156, 2008, http://www.issafrica.org.
(6) Pauline Baker, ‘Conflict Resolution versus Democratic Governance: Divergent Paths to Peace?’, United States Institute of Peace: Washington DC, 2001, http://www.usip.org.
(7) Otto F. Von Feigenblatt, ‘Hero Vs the Dragon Emperor: Discursive Struggle over Chinas place in the World’, Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, Vol. 1, No 2, 2009.
(8) Franc Contreras, ‘Chinese Jeans Leave Mexico Blue’, Al Jazeera, 7 October 2007, http://english.aljazeera.net.
(9) ‘Country Cousins: Discrimination against rural migrants is Chinas Apartheid’, The Economist, 6 April 2000, http://www.economist.com.
(10) George Ayittey, ‘Africa Betrayed’, St Martin’s Press New York, 1991

Written by Anton M. Pillay ⁽¹⁾