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EU is not vying with China over Africa
- Policy Advisor
From: Nathaniel Glover-Mani, Berlin, Germany, Courtesy IIJ/InWEnt
Berlin, March 11, Ghanadot/GNA - Professor Jonathan Holslag,
European Union (EU) Policy Advisor on China has denied that
the bloc’s criticism of Sino-Africa trade relations was
premised on the basis that Europe saw China as a threat to
its interests in Africa.
Prof Holslag said the Union’s uneasiness with China-Africa
partnership rather stemmed from the concern that African
leaders might not use the profits being reaped to tackle the
myriad of development problems of the continent.
“we do not see China as a threat to European interest in
Africa, but at the same time EU is worried that China’s
tendency to gloss over human rights and governance issues
will mean that the profits being reaped by Africa
governments in these deals might not be translated into an
economic opportunity that should help transform the lives of
the people.”
Speaking in an interview with a group of African Journalists
at the International Institute for Journalism in Berlin,
Prof Holslag said resources being received by African
governments should be judiciously utilized for the benefit
of the people.
EU remains among Africa’s largest trading partners, but
recent forays by China in the region, especially in the
energy sector has drawn some sharp criticism from Brussels,
due to what they claim was China’s tendency to gloss over
human rights issues.
Prof Holslag said the apprehensions were not about whether
China invested in Africa, explaining that China-Africa
relations must rather serve as a fulcrum from instigating
economic development on the African continent and not
another means of propping up bad governance and misrule.
Besides, he said, EU’s interest in Africa focused more on
the service sector while that of China was principally in
the energy sector, a situation that did not array the two
blocs against each another.
He said the EU required China to link her investments in
Africa to good governance and human rights.
China’s investment in Africa amounted to 11.7 billion
dollars in 2006, while bilateral trade reached more than 50
billion dollars during the same year, according to African
Development Bank figures.
GNA
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