CHINA’S ENGAGEMENT WITH AFRICA: PROMOTING RENTIERISM? A CASE STUDY OF SINO-NIGERIAN ECONOMIC RELATIONS

Abstract

This paper seeks to explore the political implications of China's economic relationship with Africa using the case study of Sino-Nigerian economic relations. China – perhaps the most prominent rising economy of the contemporary era – and Nigeria – one of the Africa's largest economies with a fast-growing consumer population – provide an ideal context to study the economic significance of bilateral ties for the ‘Global South.’ Nigeria's prospects of sustained economic growth, through Sino diplomatic relations, could appear relatively bleak considering issues involving its growing debt burden, unequal trade composition and deteriorating governance standards, some of which are attributable to China. This paper explores both sides of the argument before concluding that certain political aspects of Sino-Nigerian bilateral relations do indeed undermine sustainable economic development in the long run. It is argued that unequal economic practices, lack of transparency, disregard for environmental concerns, exclusion of civil society and absence of serious engagement with wider social actors and other checks and balances could indeed nurture elements of rentierism across Africa – particularly in resource-rich countries like Nigeria leaving significant detrimental effects that could well outweigh short-term gains.

Keywords:

• Africa
• Nigeria
• Rentier State
• China
• Political Economy

Notes

1 As it will be elaborated in Section III this trends has significantly slowed down in recent years even falling below 5% since 2015. As it will be shown that this has significant implications for the Chinses domestic and foreign policies. See Carl Minzner, End of an Era: How China’s Authoritarian Revival is Undermining Its Rise. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020, p. 198.

2 The World Bank in China Report 2019. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview (accessed November 2019).

3 Eleanor Albert, ‘China in Africa’. Council on Foreign Relations Report, 2017. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/china-africa (accessed November 2019).

4 United Nations Environment Programme. ‘Our Work in Africa’. United Nations Environment, 2019. https://www.unenvironment.org/regions/africa/our-work-africa (accessed November 2019).

5 The World Bank, ‘The World Bank In Nigeria’. The World Bank, 2019. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/nigeria/overview (accessed November 2019).

6 Margaret Egbula and Qi Zheng, ‘West African Challenges China and Nigeria: A Powerful South-South alliance’. SWAC/OECD, no. 5, 2011. https://www.oecd.org/china/49814032.pdf (acessed September 2019).

7 Acha Leke, Reinaldo Fiorini, Richard Dobbs, Fraser Thompson, Aliyu Suleiman, and David Wright, ‘Nigeria’s Renewal: Delivering Inclusive Growth’. MCKinsey & Company, 2014. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/middle-east-and-africa/nigerias-renewal-delivering-inclusive-growth.

8 Chair of the African Union Paul Kagame’s declaration as reported in: Abdi Latif Dahir, ‘“Satisfied and Inspired”: All the Ways African Leaders Praised Their Alliance with China’. Quartz, 2018. https://qz.com/africa/1379457/china-africa-summit-african-leaders-praise-relations-with-beijing/ (accessed September 2019).

9 Egbula and Zheng, op. cit.

10 Lemuel Ekedegwa Odeh, ‘Dynamics of China-Nigeria Economic Relations Since 1971’. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria Vol. 23. (2014): 150–162.

11 Yun Sun, ‘Africa in China’s Foreign Policy’. Brookings, 2014. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Africa-in-China-web_CMG7.pdf (accessed September 2019).

12 Afolabi Sotunde, ‘Nigeria’s Balanced and Diverse Relationship with China is Key to Sustainability’. Belt & Road Advisory, 2019. https://beltandroad.ventures/beltandroadblog/nigeria-election-support-china (accessed September 2019).

13 Sun, op. cit.

14 Kwesi Kwaaprah, Afro-Chinese Relations: Past, Present & Future, 1st Edition. Cape Town: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2007.

15 Stephen Chan, The Morality of China in Africa: The Middle Kingdom and the Dark Continent, 1st Edition. London: Zed Books, 2013.

16 Dambisa Moyo, Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better Way for Africa. London: The Penguin Group, 2010, p. 122.

17 Olufunmilayo B. Arewa, ‘Constructing Africa: Chinese Investment, Infrastructure Deficits, and Development’. Cornell International Law Journal, Vol. 49. Issue 1 (2016): Article 4.

18 Moyo, op.cit.

19 Ibid.

20 Pat Utomi, ‘China in Nigeria: U. S. and Chinese Engagement in Africa: Prospects for Improving U. S. – China Relations’. Washington, DC: Centre for Strategic and International Studies, 2008. https://www.csis.org/analysis/china-nigeria (accessed September 2019).

21 Alden, op. cit.

22 Marcel Kitissou, African in China's Global Strategy. 1st Edition. London: Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd., 2007, p. 102.

23 Odeh, op. cit.

24 Ibid.

25 Raj Verma, India and China in Africa: A Comparative Perspective of the Oil Industry. 1st Edition. Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2017.

26 Irene Yuan Sun, Kartik Jayaram, and Omid Kassiri, ‘Dance of the Lions and Dragons: How are Africa and China Engaging, and How Will the Partnership Evolve?’ MCKinsey & Company, 2017.

27 Ibid.

28 Elizabeth C. Economy, The Third Revolution, Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.

29 Alden, op. cit.

30 Institute of Developing Economies Japan External Trade, ‘China in Africa’, 2019. https://www.ide.go.jp/English/Data/Africa_file/Manualreport/cia_10.html (accessed September 2019).

31 Ibid.

32 Miria Pigato and Wenxia Tang, ‘China and Africa: Expanding Economic Ties in an Evolving Global Context’. The World Bank, 2015, p. 19.

33 Deborah Brautigam, The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

34 United Nations Development Programme, ‘Human Development Indices and Indicators: 2018. Statistical Update’. http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-indices-indicators-2018-statistical-update (accessed November 2019).

35 Verma, op. cit.

36 BBC News Reality Check. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-45916060.

37 William Niba, ‘Focus on Africa: IMF warns Nigeria about Chinese Debt’. rfi opinion, 2019. http://en.rfi.fr/africa/20190411-focus-africa-imf-warns-nigeria-about-mountain-chinese-debt (accessed September 2019).

38 Ibid.

39 Moyo, op. cit.

40 Odeh, op. cit.

41 Eric Kiss and Kate Zhou, ‘China’s New Burden in Africa’, in Dennis Hickey and Baogang Guo (Eds.), Dancing with the Dragon: China's Emergence in the Developing World. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010, Chapter 8; Ian Taylor, ‘China Oil Diplomacy in Africa’. International Affairs Vol. 82. Issue 5 (2006): 937–959.

42 Wenjie Chen, David Dollar, and Heiwai Tang, ‘Why is China Investing in Africa? Evidence from the firm level’. Brookings, 2015. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Why-is-China-investing-in-Africa.pdf (accessed September 2019).

43 Babatunde Fowler, ‘FIRS Recovers N3.63 billion from Illicit Financial Flows’. Premium Times, 2019. https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/288415-firs-recovers-n3-63-billion-from-illicit-financial-flows.html (accessed September 2019).

44 See for instance Jennifer Whitman, ‘Fighting the Natural Resource Curse in Sub-Saharan Africa with Supply-Side Anti-Bribery Laws: The Role of China’. Manchester Journal of International Economic Law, Vol. 11. Issue 1 (2014): 121–122; Michael Malakata, ‘Telecom Deals with Chinese Companies in Africa under Spotlight Once Again’. PCWorld, 2015. http://pcworld.com/article/2983210 (accessed September 2019).

45 Matthew T. Page, ‘The Intersection of China’s Commercial Interests and Nigeria’s Conflict Landscape’. Special Report. Washington, DC: The United States Institute of Peace, 2018.

46 Ibid., p. 9.

47 Gboyega Alabi Oyeranti, Musibau Adetunji, and Olawale Ogunkola, ‘An Analysis of China-Nigeria Investment Relations’. Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies Vol. 4. Issue 3 (2011): 183–199.

48 Ibid.

49 Sun, Jayaram, and Kassiri, op. cit.

50 Zainab Gimba and Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim, ‘China-Nigeria Economic Relations: The Need for Greater Resource Management for Development’. International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development Vol. 2. Issue 3 (2018): 176–188.

51 Emeka Umejei, ‘China’s Engagement with Nigeria: Opportunity or Opportunist?’. African East-Asian Affairsthe China Monitor Issue 3 (2015): 54–78.

52 Ibid.

53 Alden, op. cit.

54 Egbula and Zheng, op. cit.

55 Ibid.

56 World Economic Forum, ‘Future of Consumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Markets: China’. Bain & Company, 2018. https://www.bain.com/insights/future-of-consumption-in-fast-growth-consumer-markets-wef/ (accessed September 2019).

57 Kitissou, op. cit.

58 Ibid.

59 Sun, Jayaram, and Kassiri, op. cit., p. 20.

60 Gregory Mthembu-Salter, ‘Elephants, Ants and Superpowers: Nigeria’s Relations with China’. Johannesburg, South African Institute of International Affairs, 2009.

61 See for instance ‘Nigeria Exports to China’. Trading Economics, 2019. https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/exports/china.

62 Page, op. cit.

63 Alden, op. cit.

64 Arkebe Oqubay and Justin Yifu Lin, China-Africa and an Economic Transformation. 1st Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

65 Odeh, op. cit.

66 Murtala Muhammad, Mansur Mukhtar, and Lola Gold, ‘The Impact of Chinese Textile Imperialism on Nigeria’s Textile Industry and Trade: 1960–2015’. Review of African Political Economy Vol. 44. Issue 154 (2017): 673–682.

67 Kwaaprah, op.cit.

68 Elisha P. Renne, ‘The Changing Contexts of Chinese-Nigerian Textile Production and Trade, 1900‒2015.’ Cloth and Culture Vol. 13. Issue 3 (2015): 212–233.

69 Kitissou, op. cit.

70 Page, op. cit.

71 Jennifer Marsh, ‘African Migrants Let Down by the Chinese Dream’. Aljazeera, 2014. http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/africans-in-chinachinesemigrantsinafricachinaafricarelations.html (accessed September 2019).

72 Alden, op. cit.

73 See for instance the recent meeting of the Nigerian Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila with the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, to express concern about the recent episodes of racial abuse against Nigerians in China in the context of the measures taken to contain the COVID19 pandemic at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvifdvd4ucg&feature=emb_err_woyt

74 See for instance Kiss and Zhou, op. cit.

75 Sun, op. cit.

76 The expression ‘The Beijing Consensus’ was first used by Joshua Cooper Ramo to refer to China’s model of development advocating “not simply how to develop their countries, but also how to fit into the international order in a way that allows them to be truly independent to protect their way of life and political choices in a world with a single massively powerful centre of gravity”. See Joshua Cooper Ramo, ‘The Beijing Consensus’. The Foreign Policy Centre. https://web.archive.org/web/20130824150344/http://fpc.org.uk/fsblob/244.pdf.

77 Sun, op. cit.

78 See for instance Egbula and Zheng, op. cit.

79 Ibid and Jamie Monson, Africa’s Freedom Railway: How a Chinese Development Project Changed Lives and Livelihood in Tanzania. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009, p. 44.

80 Sun, op. cit., p. 8.

81 Arewa, op. cit.

82 Kiss and Zhou, op. cit., Ch. 8.

83 See for instance Sun, op. cit.

84 Minzner, op. cit., p. 198.

85 See for instance Jiwei Ci, ‘Without Democracy, China Will Rise No Farther’. Foreign Affairs (October 2019).

86 Ibid.

87 Julia C. Strauss, ‘The Past in the Present: Historical and Rhetorical Lineages in China’s Relations with Africa’. The China Quarterly Vol. 199 (2009): 777–795.

88 Paul G Adogamhe, ‘Reforming the Rentier State: The Challenges of Governance Reforms in Nigeria’. The Journal of Energy and Development Vol. 34. Issue 1/2. (2008): 227–252; also see Hussein Mahdavi, ‘The Pattern and Problems of Economic Development in Rentier States: The Case Study of Iran’, in M. Cook (Ed.), Studies in the Economic History of the Middle East. London: Oxford University Press, 1970.

89 Kiss and Zhou, op. cit.

90 See for instance: Larry Hanauer, and Lyle J. Morris, ‘China in Africa Implications of a Deepening Relationship’. The RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, 2014. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9760.html (accessed September 2019); David H. Shinn, and Joshua Eisenman, China and Africa a Century of Engagement. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012, p. xiii.

91 Obert Hodzl, ‘China and Africa: Economic Growth and a Non-Transformative Political Elite’. Journal of Contemporary African Studies Vol. 36. Issue 2 (2017): 191–206.

92 Leonard Robinson, ‘Rentierism and Foreign Policy in Syria’. Arab Studies Journal Vol. 4. Issue 1 (1996): 34–54.

93 Arewa, op. cit.

94 See for instance Eric Olander, ‘China’s Mystery Deal with the African Union’. This China Africa Project, 2015. https://chinaafricaproject.com/podcasts/podcast-china-african-union-au-mou-transportation/ (accessed September 2019).

95 Uche Ofodile, ‘Trade, Aid and Human Rights: China’s Africa Policy in Perspective’. Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology Vol. 4. Issue 2 (2009): 91–92.

96 Robert I. Rotberg, China into Africa: Trade, Aid, and Influence. 1st Edition. Cambridge: Brookings Institution Press, 2008, p. 128.

97 Taylor, op. cit.

98 Amnesty International, ‘China’s Booming Torture Trade Revealed’. Amnesty.Org, September 23, 2014. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2014/09/china-s-booming-torture-trade-revealed/.

99 Jean-Pierre Cabestan, ‘China's Military Base in Djibouti: A Microcosm of China's Growing Competition with the United States and New Bipolarity'. Journal of Contemporary China (2019).

100 See for instance John Mearsheimer, ‘Can China Rise Peacefully?’ The National Interest, 2014, pp. 1–22 and Strauss, op. cit.

101 Kiss and Zhou, op. cit.

102 Shinn and Eisenman, op. cit., p. ix; Alden, op. cit.

103 See for instance Kiss and Zhou, op. cit. and Sun, op. cit.

104 Indeed it appears that China has always been the side that “determined the agenda in its relations with African Countries”. See for instance Shinn and Eisenman, op. cit., p. 3.

105 See former South African President Thabo Mbeki interview at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6178897.stm; Kiss and Zhou, op. cit.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vahid Nick Pay

Dr Vahid Nick Pay is a Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College.

Elemchi Nwosu

Ms Elemchi Nwosu is a researcher and political analyst of Africa.