BEIJING: The past month has been a busy one for Chinese diplomacy in Africa, with senior officials visiting the continent on dozens of occasions to resolve disputes, strengthen ties and most recently respond to an onslaught of Western attractions. The Chinese government's special representative on African affairs Xu Jinggu on Wednesday promised Burundian President Evariste Nadishimi that China would continue to strengthen bilateral ties with the East African nation in priority areas such as agriculture, health and infrastructure.
Ndayishimiye said China "has stood by our side for years, especially during difficult times," and Xu said Beijing will always support Burundi's economic and social development. China has sent agricultural scientists to Burundi to improve food production and has given scholarships to Burundi students. Xu will also visit Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville, Namibia, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles during her eight-nation tour. She is visiting Africa just days after senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi's visits to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Wu Peng, director general of the Department of African Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Togo last month.
Xu Bing, China's special envoy to the Horn of Africa, was also in Addis Ababa in June for the first Horn of Africa peace conference, which was sponsored by China. According to observers, the high-level visits are intended to address hotspot issues, particularly the ongoing conflicts in the Great Lakes, Horn of Africa and Sahel regions, as well as respond to the West's challenge to the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa have to give.
According to Zhou Yuyuan, a senior research fellow at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies' Center for West Asian and African Studies, the specific role of a special representative on African affairs is political mediation. "I believe one of its important missions is to examine China's contribution to solving Africa's hotspot issues," he said. "Ties between the Great Lakes countries are strained, with relations between the DRC and Rwanda particularly strained."
Rwanda and Congo have both accused each other of launching rockets across their shared border. Congolese officials also claimed that Rwanda had deployed disguised troops in its territory.
As a result, it makes sense to choose the Great Lakes region," Zhou explained. "Perhaps the most important reason is that Xu speaks French, which means official visits to French-speaking countries will largely depend on that." According to Tim Zajontz, a research fellow at the Center for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, Xu's stay in Kinshasa was interpreted as a sign of goodwill toward resolving long-running disputes between Chinese mining companies and the Congolese government. as can be done.
He believes that the frequency with which high-level Chinese officials have visited the Indian Ocean island nations of Africa in recent years is the highest. "Mauritius, Seychelles and even Madagascar play a minor economic role for China," Zontz explained. "However, they are important geo-strategic assets for China's efforts to strengthen its presence in the Indian Ocean as part of the Maritime Silk Road."
While senior Chinese officials visit some African countries more often than others, "China focuses on ensuring that all countries, with the exception of the equestrians that recognize Taipei, are included on the schedule," said George Washington. University professor David Shin said. Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington. As a result, countries with strong ties to China, such as South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Senegal, Congo and Namibia, receive high numbers of high-level visitors. These include mineral rich countries like Congo and Zambia. Congo sells most of its copper and cobalt to China, and copper-rich Zambia has attracted Chinese investment in mining and infrastructure.
During Wu's recent visit to Zambia, the debt crisis was at the top of the agenda. He told a news conference in Lusaka that he was in Zambia to help coordinate China's response to the country's debt crisis, which saw it default on some dollar-denominated Eurobonds.
However, countries of lesser importance to China, such as Malawi, Burkina Faso, Togo and Burundi, are sometimes included according to the Shin. “On occasion, senior officials visit due to a special event such as an independence festival or a serious problem that requires high-level attention,” he explained. According to Yang, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Freiburg in Germany, China's second most powerful foreign policy maker after President Xi Jinping, so his visits are of "special diplomatic importance".
He stated that Chinese investment has flourished in Zimbabwe under Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was trained in China during the liberation struggle. Chinese firms recently purchased additional lithium mines in Zimbabwe and now operate Africa's largest steel plant south of the capital, Harare. "One could argue that Zimbabwe is becoming the new Zambia for Beijing," Zajontz said, referring to Harare's decision to open the country's doors to Chinese investors.
He explained that the fact that Mozambique will take up a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in January influenced Yang's decision to visit Maputo. He stated that China has a wide range of economic interests in Mozambique, including energy, mining, and agriculture, and that the Mozambican government used the visit to ask Yang for assistance in rehabilitating the country's 2,000km (1,200-mile) north-south EN1 highway. Yang's trips to Africa, according to Zhou, were more political in nature, and he went on behalf of top Chinese leaders. As the highest-ranking official in charge of diplomacy, Yang pays nearly yearly visits to African countries," he said. This demonstrates China's regard for Africa and developing countries.
For example, the European Union-African Union Summit in February demonstrated that the EU is increasing its engagement with and investment in Africa. High-ranking officials from the US departments of state and commerce have recently visited Africa, and the second US-Africa leaders' summit will take place later this year. Next month, Japan will host the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Tunisia. It means that the major countries are giving Africa more importance, which will lead to closer interactions," Zhou explained. "I believe that if new commitments, investments, and financing increase, this could benefit African countries.
The increasing frequency of visits by high-level Chinese officials across the continent, according to Zajontz, must be viewed in the context of a recent Western charm offensive in Africa, which included pledges to provide alternative infrastructure and development projects to those offered under China's Belt and Road Initiative. It is clear that Chinese and Western leaders are engaged in an increasingly competitive contest for political influence in African capitals, while there is a scramble for strategic minerals and markets in Africa.
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