The recently concluded US-Africa Leaders Summit is seen as a “catch up with China” campaign. When President Obama said that “we don’t look to Africa simply for its natural resource …We don’t simply want to extract minerals from the ground for our growth”, he didn’t mention China by name, but everybody can see easily that he was chewing some sour grapes.
With less than half of China’s $210 billion trade volume with Africa last year, economically the US has clearly lost ground. Then what about security arena which is truly US focus? Militarily, is the US more influential than China on African continent?
On the face of it, the US influence seems greater. The US military involvement are so variegated that they range from changing Gaddafi’s regime, combating militant Islamism to counter-piracy and prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Some of these operations didn’t go without controversies. A simple truth is that 7 years after the setup of AFRICOM in Stuttgart, Germany, the US has yet to find an African country that volunteers to accept AFRICOM on its territory.
Chinese military influence in Africa doesn’t look as salient as its trading, but it is deep-rooted. In fact except a very few countries that don’t have diplomatic relations with China, there exists strong and extensive military links between China and the African countries, characterized with visit, military assistance, arms trade, and personnel training both in China and in Africa.
It started with China supporting the independence movement by training thousands of “freedom fighters” against colonial rule since 1950s. Among the most distinguished people trained by Chinese are President Laurent D Kabila and President Joseph Kabila of DRC, President Sam Nujoma of Namibia, President Isaias Afewerki of Eritrea, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, President Samora M Machel and President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. In fact, PLA’s training is so wide-ranging that wherever you go in Africa, you can easily meet military officers trained in China.
China is the largest exporter and the largest trader in the world. It has extensive national interests overseas, and it is ready to shoulder more international obligations as a responsible power. China’s security needs in Africa include the security of Chinese citizens, property, investment and strategic lines of communications in both the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
Unlike the US, China doesn’t have military bases abroad. So far Chinese military involvement in Africa is essentially or almost deliberately humanitarian in nature. PLA assisted African countries in disaster relief and de-mining. PLA Navy’s hospital ship visited Somali Basin two times and provided free medical treatment to the local people. And the military operations of PLA on the continent are just peacekeeping.
Do China and the US have same security interests in Africa? The answer is yes, except in the “humanitarian intervention”. So far China has refrained from using any force overseas. In December 2013, the international media hyped up about China sending “combat troops” to Mali for the first time in history. But the troops are indeed meant to protect the UN peacekeepers. Even in counter-piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the Chinese Navy is more deterrent than aggressive towards the pirates. China would not take part in any military operations unauthorized by the UN. In 2013, Premier Li Keqiang announced that China would support the African people in resolving African issues by African means.
China and the US could cooperate in Africa, primarily in three areas:
Peacekeeping. Of the current ten peacekeeping missions of PLA in the world, eight are in Africa. China is the largest troop contributor among five permanent members of the UN Security Council while the US is the largest fund contributor. The US has also contributed significantly in peacekeeping training of African soldiers. Not only can the two militaries exchange experience in troop’s deployment, rules of engagement, security awareness and logistic support, but they can also provide support and training to peace-keepers of African Union who are considered less effective due to lack of funds, equipment and expertise.
Counter-piracy. Right now piracy is kept at bay in the Gulf of Aden and Somali basin thanks to the joint efforts by the international navies including China and the US. The problem now is the Gulf of Guinea where piracy and armed robbery are rampant. Gulf of Guinea is a vital source of oil import for China. Chinese merchant vessel YUE LIANGWAN was hijacked there. From late May to mid-June, 2014, the 16th task force of PLA Navy had bilateral exercises with Cameron, Nigeria and Namibia, the first time that the Chinese navy appears in the west coast of Africa. Equally the US, French and British Royal navies have patrols in the gulf. They could have joint exercises with the Chinese navy and the littoral states in the waters to demonstrate their collective resolve and enhance their interoperabilities.
Capacity building. TheChinese and the US military can help a lot in the capacity building of African countries. In May 2014, Premier Li Keqiang declared that China will provide assistance to African standby forces and quick response forces, support collective security mechanism in Africa, cooperate with the African countries in training, intelligence sharing and joint exercises and strengthen their capabilities in peacekeeping, counterterrorism and counter-piracy. Given that the US military is making almost similar efforts in these areas, they could collaborate, coordinate and synchronize their efforts. The Chinese and the US militaries used to have a bilateral program on preventing pandemic disease. The outbreak of Ebola in Africa looks like a perfect new ground for cooperation again.
Zhou Bo is an honorary fellow with Center of China-American Defense Relations, Academy of Military Science.
