Commentary: China, the West in Africa: more room for cooperation than competition

The past decades have witnessed China and Africa accelerating their steps in expanding cooperation in various fields despite headwinds of fantastical theories from some in the West.

The theories on China-Africa engagement over the years like "Neocolonialism," "Resource Diplomacy," "Concrete Diplomacy," to name a few, have actually not been sold well in Africa because these critiques and views apparently did not hit the nail on the head.

For example, China has been depicted as a plunder of Africa's raw materials, especially petroleum. It is true that African oil is important constituent part of exports to China. But the argument is disingenuous.

The United States had been for the past decades the world's biggest consumer of African oil, importing more than a quarter of the continent's total exports until 2010, which saw the U.S. began to boost shale oil production domestically.

According to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA), China is importing 22 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa's oil. The U.S. began to cut way back on Sub-Saharan African oil, importing 13 percent in 2012, and Europe gets 28 percent.

As for the claim of "Concrete Diplomacy," it is even not to merit refutation because poor economic foundation and insufficient construction funds have been factors limiting the development of African countries for so many years.

China's investments are by no means a threat to the Western interests in Africa. There are always overlapping interests between countries nowadays. Britain, the conventional Western power, decided in March to join a China proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and Downing Street believes its decision is "in the U.K.'s national interest." France, Germany and Italy also expressed intentions to join the China-backed financing mechanism.

Similarly, a secure, stable and prosperous Africa is also in the interests of China, the West and the world. In Africa, despite the need for healthy competition, there is more room for cooperation than competition between China and the West.

Both China and the West need to focus on helping Africa improve poor infrastructure, narrow wide gap of jobs and skills as its population explodes, and deal with persistent security threats.

Africa is striding towards an more integrated continent preluded by the looming tripartite grand free trade area encompassing 26 countries.

However, the continent is constrained by insufficient infrastructural investment despite increasing investment from China. According to the World Bank, an extra 93 billion U.S. dollars is needed every year over the next decade to bridge the infrastructure deficit alone in Africa, while some donors have withdrawn their support to the poor continent's transport sector.

Africa has already been benefitting from China's engagement with it. Bridges, roads and railways built by Chinese companies are promoting intra-African trade and helping Africa integrate into the global economy.

Knowledge transfer is key to sustainable development and poverty alleviation for Africa, a continent with high number of unemployed young labor force.

Weak industrial base in Africa explains to a large extent the dilemma of dwindling trade volume between the continent and the West over the years despite unilateral preference schemes.

Since 2000, the U.S. trade relations with Africa have been dictated by the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) meant to boost bilateral trade and development of the continent.

However, the U.S. trade in goods with Africa has demonstrated a perplexing downward trend since 2011. Statistics show double-way trade dwindled from 125 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 to 99 billion in 2012 and 85 billion in 2013. This happens after the U.S. cut oil imports from Africa following its boosting production of shale oil in 2010.

China-Africa trade is another story. Two-way trade volume exceeded 200 billion dollars for the first time in 2013, and China has been Africa's largest trade partner for the past five years in a row.

By the end of 2012, China's direct investment in Africa accumulated to nearly 20 billion dollars, with 75 percent going to such sectors as finance, processing and manufacturing, trade-related services, agriculture and transportation. China's investment in Africa's manufacturing industry ranges from sugar refineries, glass, fur, medical capsule and automobile factories, textile and steel pipe manufacturing projects, etc.

There is already an example of China-West cooperation in humanitarian aids in Africa. During the fight against Ebola epidemic in West Africa when three large Chinese chartered airplanes arrived in Liberia on October 26 and 29 last year, the American air troops at the airport offered support by sending a number of forklifts to help download the supplies.

China's investments in Africa are also facing pressing security risks threatening the physical safety of ongoing projects and people. China has started to increase its fight against piracy and provide more support to UN missions in Africa.

Anyway, portraying China as a threat does not necessarily help improve the West's position in Africa. If the West values strong economic relations with a stable, prosperous Africa, it should explore the potential of cooperation with China in a more serious way. Endi