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The Chinese president begins Saturday, July 21, 2018 a week-long tour of the African continent. The first since his re-election last March, the third since he came to power in 2013. Xi Jinping arrived this Saturday in Senegal, then he will go to Rwanda, before attending the summit of emerging countries, the Brics, in Johannesburg, in South Africa. With Dakar in particular, Beijing continues to deepen relations since this partner released Taiwan in 2005.
Xi Jinping, qualified as " poker player " by Donald Trump, begins a crucial part in Africa this Saturday. On this continent, China is for more than ten years the first commercial partner, thanks to its loans in particular. And Beijing intends to continue to advance its pawns.
Objective: to squeeze its grip on natural resources and find new markets, sell its overcapacity, especially in construction. To facilitate trade, the strong man of Peking put on the New Silk Roads which must link Asia to Europe and to Africa.
Example with Senegal, first President Xi's stage. Several cooperation agreements should be signed, probably in the area of infrastructures . China is financing the construction of the biggest road project in the country: a motorway between Dakar and Touba, at a cost of 700 million euros.
There is also the Diamniadio industrial park. Beijing is financing several major projects under the "Emerging Senegal Plan", initiated by Macky Sall, with contracts often awarded to Chinese companies. And these investments could increase again with the recent Senegalese discoveries of hydrocarbons.
A good example of the Chinese method on the African continent
Senegal is not part of the "big" partners of China on the continent. The exchanges are much more important with South Africa, the DRC or Ghana. But Dakar and Beijing have been weaving since 2005, when Dakar turned their backs on Taiwan to reconnect with China, ever closer links.
Senegal imports massive quantities of manufactured goods from China and exports its groundnuts. But the links go beyond the commerce . The Museum of Black Civilizations of Dakar, which should be inaugurated at the end of the year, is also funded by China.
This visit, the second of a Chinese president in nine years in Dakar, will also be the opportunity to inaugurate with great fanfare a new arena of struggle, in the suburbs of Dakar, built and financed, again, by China.
But for now, Beijing does not pray to fill the void left by the West, writes the official journal Global Times : " US President Donald Trump treats African nations as" crap country ", proof that Western elites still tend to discriminate against Africa. While China views the continent as a land full of promise
The risk for Africa: depend more and more on China, which holds a large part of its debt
It is true that China works in Africa in the field of natural resources, but also in many other fields: in the field of industry, in the field of agriculture. Do not forget that today many industrial companies have been created in Africa with Chinese investments, whether in Ethiopia, Kenya, Cameroon … everywhere in Africa you have factories that have nothing to see the exploitation of natural resources. On the economic front, it will be a win-win because China still attaches great importance to this cooperation based on the principle of mutual benefit. When these countries develop, their market grows. At that time, there will be more opportunities for exports of Chinese products. At the same time, for our own purposes, we also need to import manufactured goods from Africa, since it is the largest consumer market in the world. This is a virtuous circle for cooperation between the two countries.
Wu Zexian, former ambassador of China in the DRC: a partnership that goes far beyond the mere exploitation of natural resources
Source: RFI
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