The young democracy of Guinea Conakry is known to most Westerners for its nature reserve, whose safaris on the shore of the Ivory Coast have for many years provided the farthest extent of Western aid and penetration since Guinea’s independence from France in 1958. Its people we know as kind and open-hearted, prone to beginning and finishing long stories, but doomed to a life of poverty due to a combination of colonialism, internal instability, and economic malaise.
Nonetheless, the West has conveniently forgotten about the development and infrastructure of Guinea from a combination of protectionist sentiment and a reluctance towards “Neo-Imperialism”. An effort by the Australian and American governments to develop Guinea’s iron ore industry (Guinea has one of the world’s largest reserves of iron ore) floundered, and was abandoned during the 2003 Iraq War. Guinea has instead turned their sights to China for economic assistance. According to Reuters, what began as a state visit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Guinean president Alphie Conde quickly escalated to a dam and infrastructure project, then a trade education exchange, and finally, in December 2016, an economic stimulus package of $2 billion (more than three times Guinea’s GDP). In total, China has promised over $200 billion in aid, infrastructure, and economic stimulus to African nations according to the IMF, in return, President Xi expects preferred status in trade deals when these nations develop the economic capability to begin the export of raw materials. As a result, China’s building of mines and dams to extract resources, roads to transport them, and the export of skilled workers to educate local manufacturers have led to almost unprecedented economic growth for nations like Tanzania, Angola, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Benin. Most of Africa’s dire economic status and general poverty can be traced back to the era of imperialism. Citing Social Darwinism, a need for resources, and global prestige, Western nations in 1896 carved up Africa like a continental dessert. The next 50 years would see Great Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, and Germany exploit the resources and peoples of the Africa to back their own domestic prosperity and international brokering. With the spread of decolonization and nationalism in Africa, European nations disappeared from their empires almost overnight. However, the lasting effects of colonialism on the peoples and economies of Africa lingered. As European-drawn national boundaries broke down along ethnic lines in long and bloody civil wars, and new governments struggled to grow economies and maintain order without reliable infrastructure or governing experience, African nations began to grow weary of Western preaching and look towards other allies. This inability to govern have driven African strongmen rulers into power, overthrowing traditionally nationalistic democracies. In the Congo, Joseph Mobutu and Laurent Kabila brutally stepped in to provide for a lack of experienced government, and resulted in the outbreak of a 40-year long “Great War of Africa”, bloody civil war, and multiple incursions from Rwanda. In Eritrea, a climate-change induced famine has seen over 40% of its population attempt to escape the heavily oppressive police state. And in Guinea, the Colonel Lansana Conte dispelled hopes for democratic change with a totalitarian rule that would not be challenged until 2011. In the West, China’s investment into African nations have long sparked fierce debate. While some argue economic aid as a vessel for unsustainable, unbeneficial “boom and bust” neo-imperialist economy, others cite China’s building of infrastructure and economic assets as a launch-pad for further growth. So far, China’s role in Africa has been one of undeniable short-term benefits. It’s single-handed funding of almost a dozen African economies have led to the first fragile signs of stability and progress in decades. Due to significant investment resulting in increased government revenue and stability, Burundi’s infant mortality rate has dropped by almost 40%, Namibia’s literacy rate has increased 15%, and Tanzania’s GDP has almost doubled in the last fifteen years alone. Most telling was the Chinese reaction to the outbreak of Ebola: while Western nations shut down refugee services and relied on NGOs and an overstretched UN to handle the majority of the epidemic, Chinese doctors and emergency relief catered to the most economically viable regions of nations, and helped stem the tide of disease. This positive view is shared by Guinean Presidential advisor and economist Mamoudou Kouyate, who graduated from Columbia University. I spoke to him on economic growth in his nation: “The West refused to help us, and for fifteen years we begged them for funding to develop our infrastructure. Finally, the IMF loaned us $200 million on the condition that we take no more loans until we paid the amount back in full. But China has offered not only to give us billions, but also to send skilled professionals to teach us how to run our own economy. They tell us: pay us back when you’re ready.” It was China that finally finished construction of Guinea’s iron ore mine, extracting more material in one year than the last thirty under Western investment. However, it is worthwhile to analyze the long term impacts of Chinese investment. Frankly, the Chinese are not investing in humanitarian or manufacturing efforts, but instead in industries that could provide China with the natural resources it needs for its economic growth. Their development in infrastructure is aimed towards the better extraction of those resources, and their diplomatic interest in these African nations are not genuine, but instead only for the profitability of their ventures. Instead, the hope of African leaders is that short term economic stimuli provided by an export-based economy would provide essential revenue and stability to government, allowing governmental investment into humanitarian efforts, the building of schools, and the eventual development of a manufacturing sector. Also concerning is the level of influence China is able to exert over African economies. Chinese, not African or Western, based companies are in charge of resource extraction, and inevitably grow to become necessities for the governments they support. In Tanzania, Chinese corporations alone accounted for 15% of yearly GDP growth. As the two markets become increasingly entangled, African nations seem more likely to be open to Chinese culture and diplomacy, and by extent Chinese government. While authoritarian dictators like Xi are praised for being “fair”, Western democracies and their people are chided as “impatient, obsolete, or hypocritical”. The greatest fear is that just as in Southeast Asia and Oceania, China will seek to extend her political as well as economic influence. Honestly speaking, China does not seem interested in Africa just for her resources, but instead for a sphere of influence and allies as it begins to alienate herself on the global stage with further acts of expansionism in the South Pacific. As economic assistance turns to economic dependency, an unhealthy and destructive relationship bearing striking similarities to colonialism could arise in Africa. To Mr. Kouyate, Chinese influence does not seem to be a problem. “Guineans own Guinea, and Guineans own our President; it will always be that case. China is assisting us to economic prosperity, before we can focus on anything else we must have a benchwork of socio-economic stability.” But more pressing to the United States, The economic void that African nations have looked towards China to fill represents another moral dilemma for Western democracies: when (if ever) is the West justified to intervene? And at what cost must that intervention be? For many Westerners today, the lessons of Vietnam, Iraq, and Libya teach a clear lesson of weariness to foreign involvement. After all, at root to the modern problems of Radical Islamist Fundamentalism, Middle Eastern and African instability, and global economic inequality are Western actions aimed largely at “civilizing” and “democratizing” the world. The Cold War Doctrine of toppling Evil Empires through interventionism has instead focused to a more calculated and diplomatic stage defined by President Obama’s Nuclear Deal with Iran. Mr. Kouyate has similarly been disillusioned with America’s approach. On the Iraq War and Syria today, he writes: “Bad political judgement won over a rational and respectable approach that destroyed many lives with enormous economic consequences.” However, his thinking goes beyond that. Mr. Kouyate is more than happy to see Western nations topple terrible dictators like Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi, and in fact urged France to take action in Guinea--- but only if the West was willing to make sacrifices and stay for the long haul. Here, the United States could take notes from China. Instead of destabilizing an entire region with the removal of a dictator and fostering repressed fundamentalist or extremist sentiment, the West should seek to foster growth both economically and politically in the long run. If she had the guts to make war in Iraq, then she should have the patience to ensure peace. Just like China, the West should encourage economic investment in war-torn areas, instead of shrouding itself in aloof righteousness. Our modern administration should seek to intervene, but tread carefully, and be willing to pick up the pieces for the long run. Further, one of the reasons China has been able to curry favor in Africa is because of President Xi’s ability to treat African leaders as equals, no matter the squalor, history, or GDP of their nation. For many, China is the only venue where their concerns can be addressed and remedied. This essential lesson in diplomacy will prove vital to negotiations in the Trump administration, and hopefully spell an end to the “America First” policy. In the end, is Mr. Kouyate correct in saying that “Guineans own Guinea?” Maybe. Unlike the economic imperialism of the past, in which corporations fed into the greed of caudillos at the expense of the people, China is overwhelmingly investing in stable, democratic governments. Chinese inspired economic growth has legitimized the governments of Tanzania and Malawi, inspiring the election of more liberal social reform candidates--- and in Guinea, Chinese funds are being used by the legislature to streamline the electoral system and limit corruption in the executive branch. That is why, despite a justified mistrust for the Chinese government and all its associations, I leave Africa with hope.
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