On July 19, South African President Jacob Zuma
opened the 5th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in Beijing, with a warm
and effusive address about China's relationship with Africa.
Zuma even cited Admiral Zheng He's visits to the
African continent as the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Even though he
was off by a few hundred years, Zuma was undoubtedly expressing admiration for
the Chinese that came to trade for a few giraffes to take back to Beijing--unlike
the Europeans that later came to rape and pillage and kidnap natives for the
slave trade.
By simply altering the sequence of Zuma's speech,
the Financial Times adroitly changed the tone of
his speech into one that "warns" China that all was not well,
implying that China was as guilty of exploiting Africa as the European
predecessors. The Washington Post shamefully reprinted the FT
piece without any revision.
We have been led to believe that major publications
in mainstream media have a public responsibility to be accurate and objective.
They are supposed to inform their readers and not to pander to known biases nor
reinforce preconceived but erroneous notions.
In other words, their job is not to merely tell the
reader what they think the reader wants to hear.
Fortunately, in this case President Zuma's speech
has been posted in its entirety by the South African government so that the reader
can compare what he actually said to how his speech was reported.
There were
certain passages in Zuma’s speech that failed to be included in the Financial
Times piece.
“We are particularly
pleased that in our relationship with China we are equals and that agreements
entered into are for mutual gain. This gathering (referring to the Forum) indicates
commitment to mutual respect and benefit.”
Then Zuma went on to declare, “We
certainly are convinced that China’s intention is different to that of Europe,
which to date continue to attempt to influence African countries for their sole
benefit.”
Zuma in the same speech then said, “Over the last decade, and partly because of
China’s unrelenting support, the African continent has seen tremendous growth
rates, making it one of the fastest growing continents and certainly the next
growth pole. Furthermore, global growth estimates suggests that Africa’s growth
will continue in an upward trend for years to come.”
Does the above sound like Zuma was complaining about
China’s treatment of Africa?
Certainly not, according to what Zuma
went on to say, “In particular, we take
note of the infrastructure development China has assisted Africa with in the
past several years.
“ African continent is
now being seen as a major player in global affairs, and is becoming more attractive
to investors and development partners.
“Indeed, this is
proving to be Africa’s decade of change.”
President Zuma basically concluded his speech by calling
on China to continue to be Africa’s partner in meeting future challenges.
Along with helping Africa build its infrastructure, China has overtaken the US as Africa’s biggest trading partner.
Unlike the US, China does not give foreign aid with or
without strings. True to its policy of non-interference, China does not tell
the African nations what to do, nor make suggestions on rectifying human
rights abuses.
Ironically, a recent op-ed in the New
York Times by a Zambian economist argued that foreign aid tend to line the
pockets of corrupt dictators while trade and infrastructure investments were
more likely to benefit the general population and thus empowering the populace
to hold their government accountable.
The same economist
reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had warned Africa to be aware
of new form of colonialism, an obvious but oblique reference to the presence of
China in Africa.
It’s hard to know
if Secretary Clinton truly believed that Africans would find her credible or if
she were merely mouthing a party line that she knew her American constituents
would want to hear.
