African summit set to be diplomatic triumph for China
By Richard McGregor in Beijing
Published: November 3 2006 02:00 | Last updated: November 3 2006 02:00
China hosts an unprecedented summit starting in the Chinese capital tomorrow with the leaders of 48 African countries.
The complex logistics involved in managing so many heads of state and their entourages has allowed the city a mini-dry run for the 2008 Olympics. Some roads and schools are closed and local cars restricted. A legion of police and grim, plain-clothes security guards has spread along main thoroughfares and around five-star hotels, providing a glimpse of the challenge Olympics organisers face in delivering a friendly games.
The summit, however, promises to be a diplomatic triumph, a highly choreographed display of Chinese-style soft power and a graphic reminder of the gravitational pull of China's swelling economy.
"I expect all of Africa will look at China's great transformation, and we'll see the co-operation that is now going on and identify new means by which we can support each other," said Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the Liberian president, on her arrival in Beijing.
The summit's draft declaration, obtained by the Financial Times, underscores this theme, saying that African countries have been "greatly inspired by China's rapid economic development".
The document is replete with the rhetoric of the old-style non-aligned movement, about "respect" for diverse political systems and enhancing "solidarity" among developing nations.
Such rhetoric has firm roots in the 1950s when an isolated China gratefully forged an anti-imperialist friendship with African nations, starting with Egypt under President Gamal Nasser.
"Africa has always been serving us as a reliable partner in terms of international political and economic co-operation," said He Wenping, director of African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
China's attractions for many African rulers are obvious, notes Chris Alden, of the London School of Economics, in a paper written for CLSA, the brokerage.
"The Chinese Communist party provides an apparently concrete example of adaptability to the strictures of the global market economy without sacrificing the interests of its members, who are essentially the prime beneficiaries of any such changes," he says.
"At the core of China's rapid insertion into African markets is its deliberate promotion of a foreign policy of 'no political strings', which, coupled to its willingness to provide direct aid and concessionary loans, has proven to be tremendously appealing."
Likewise, Africa offers China new and relatively unexploited supplies of oil and a host of other resources, including copper, iron ore and uranium, essential to fuel its industrial development.
Angola symbolically overtook Saudi Arabia earlier this year as China's largest single oil supplier. Two-way trade between China andthe continent jumped from about $10bn (￡5.2bn) in2000 to an expected $50bn this year, with the trade balance slightly in Africa's favour.
That Beijing can pull off such a meeting in the same week that George W. Bush has praised it for its help on the problem of North Korea's nuclear weapons is testament to the fleet-footedness of modern Chinese diplomacy.
But the different demands of its partners are stretching Beijing, no more so than in Sudan, where China has refused to put pressure on a large oil supplier to accept a United Nations force to stop horrific human rights abuses in Darfur. Under criticism from the west, China has been forced to shift, although not change, its position, acknowledging the abuses in Darfur and the possible need for outside intervention.
The summit itself, with so many participants, will have little time for detailed policy work, with most African leaders getting just a few minutes each to speak at the main meeting.
Many Africans visiting China's prosperous coastal cities have trouble with the rhetoric of "developing country" solidarity and partnership, especially when the obvious driving force in closer ties is China's need for energy.
"When I explain to my African friends that we are still a developing country, they start laughing," says Ms He. "But I tell them, just go and look across the road from my compound, and you will see all the poverty of a developing country too."
中非峰会展示北京“软实力”
英国《金融时报》马利德(Richard McGregor)北京报道
2006年11月3日 星期五
明
日，中国将在北京举办一次规模空前的峰会，出席者包括48个非洲国家的领导人。
接待如此多的国家领导人及随行人员，涉及复杂的后勤保障工作，也为北京2008年奥运会提供了一次小型演练的机会。一些道路遭封闭，一些学校停课，本地车辆的出行也受到限制。大批警察和表情严肃的便衣保安遍布主干道沿线和五星级酒店周围。北京奥运会组织者要举办一次友好的奥运会，面临的挑战由此可见一斑。
不过，此次峰会有望成为一场外交上的胜利。这是一次经过精心设计的中国式软实力(soft power)的展示，它形象地提醒人们，不断壮大的中国经济具有强大吸引力。
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利比里亚总统埃伦?约翰逊－瑟利夫(Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf)在抵达北京时表示：“我认为，所有非洲国家都将关注中国的巨大变化，我们将探讨目前的合作，并寻求相互支持的新途径。”
本报获得的一份峰会宣言草案强调了上述主题。草案称，“中国的快速经济发展极大地鼓舞了”非洲各国。
这份宣言充满了不结盟运动的老调，其内容包括“尊重”不同的政治制度、加强发展中国家之间的团结。
这种措辞的形成可追溯到上世纪50年代。当时，处于孤立地位的中国心存感激地与非洲国家结成了“反帝”朋友。，最早的就是加麦尔?纳赛尔(Gamal Nasser)执政的埃及。
“在国际政治与经济合作方面，非洲一直都是中国可信赖的伙伴，”中国社会科学院(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)非洲研究室主任贺文萍表示。
伦敦政治经济学院(LSE)的克里斯?奥尔登(Chris Alden)为里昂证券(CLSA)撰写的一篇研究报告指出，对许多非洲国家领导人来说，中国的吸引力不言而喻。他表示：“在适应全球市场经济规则方面，中国共产党提供了一个实实在在的榜样。它没有牺牲其成员的利益，而且从根本而言，他们是这种社会转型的主要受益人。在中国迅速挺进非洲市场的策略中，其核心是它着意宣扬的‘无附加政治条件’的外交政策。此外，中国愿意提供直接援助和优惠贷款，使这一政策具有极大的吸引力。”
同样，非洲也成为中国资源供应的新来源。它向中国提供了其尚待开发的石油及多种其它资源，包括铜、铁矿石和铀。这些资源对中国的工业发展至关重要。
今年，安哥拉取代了沙特阿拉伯，成为中国最大的石油供应国，颇具象征意义。中非之间的双边贸易额在2000年时仅为100亿美元左右，预计今年将跃升至500亿美元。非洲在双边贸易中略有顺差。
本周，美国总统乔治?布什(George W. Bush)对中国在朝核问题上给予的帮助表示赞扬，而北京在同一周内举行规模如此宏大的峰会，证明现代的中国外交雷厉风行。
然而，非洲伙伴的不同需求也令中国政府承受不少压力，最大的问题莫过于苏丹。中国拒绝向这个石油供应大国施压，迫使其接受联合国维和部队进驻，制止达尔福尔地区严重的侵犯人权问题。在西方国家的批评下，中国被迫调整姿态（但没有改变政策），承认达尔福尔地区存在侵犯人权的行为，并可能需要外部干预。
由于出席者人数众多，因此，此次峰会用于探讨政策细节的时间相当有限，大多数非洲国家领导人在大会上仅有数分钟的发言时间。
许多参观过中国沿海富裕城市的非洲人，都对“发展中国家”团结和友谊的论调感到疑惑。在他们看来，很显然，中国与非洲建立更紧密联系的推动力是中国的能源需求。
“当我向非洲朋友们解释中国仍是一个发展中国家时，他们就开始笑，”贺文萍表示，“但我对他们说，只要到我办公室的马路对面去看一看，你就会发现所有发展中国家都会存在的贫困现象。”
