Dragon in the Bush: Peking's Presence in Africa

Abstract

African looms large in the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China. Notwithstanding the influences upon external behavior and international status stemming from the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the twin problems of hostile attitudes and rigid policies, China has continued to be active in Africa. To be sure, overt activity has been reduced geographically since the height of the Chinese presence in Africa in 1964/1965. Seventeen African states maintained formal diplomatic ties with China in 1965; in 1968 only thirteen remained. Yet even this number is misleading, as several African states-e.g., Kenya-maintained little more than nominal relations with China. Really meaningful interaction with China involves less than six states, including Guinea, Mali, and Tanzania. However, one must caution against equating the reduction in China's overt presence in Africa, geographically and otherwise, with the idea of Africa's rejection in toto of China. Nowhere have the dynamics of China's conduct of foreign policy toward Africa and the response of Africa to China been more evident than in East Africa, comprising Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Early in their independence China recognized and sought formal relations with these three states, each of which reciprocated by entering into diplomatic relations with China. There the similarity between the states ends, with regard to both China's policy and the African response. The pattern of interaction which has since evolved has been characterized largely by selectivity, both by China and Africa. The process of selectivity, moreover, has been both voluntary and involuntary, depending upon the actions and reactions and the environmental-situational context of all parties. Within this frame of reference, our discussion of China in East Africa will focus upon, but not be limited to, the following: (1) the Chinese model, (2) China's economic presence, and (3) China's overt informal foreign policy instruments. China has long sought to present itself as the model for the Third Worldpolitically, economically and otherwise-and its obj ectives in Africa must be seen within this context. However, -4while China makes little distinction between substance and means, i.e., between the end product and the techniques of building and sustaining the model, most African elites, be they