Gyude Moore Tries To Dispel Some of the Most Durable American Misperceptions About the Chinese in Africa

February 25, 2021

Gyude Moore, the former Liberian public works minister and now a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development joined prominent China scholar Damien Ma, director and co-founder of MacroPolo, the in-house think tank of the Paulson Institute in Chicago, for an online discussion that took aim at many misperceptions about China-Africa relations that are still widely believed in Washington, D.C.

Key Highlights From the Ma-Moore Discussion on “China, Africa and Beyond”

[8:30] DEBT TRAP: “There’s never really been any evidence that China was intentionally ensnaring its partners into debt and in the event they can’t pay the Chinese would take over flagship infrastructure in the country. It’s just never been any evidence for that. But it’s a good story to tell. China is now a peer competitor to the United States and building infrastructure across the world has been a significant Chinese strength. So, if I was the Americans, I would definitely try to craft a narrative that would make that strength a weakness, and I think to a large extent that’s what it’s become.

“The crazy thing is that I think there is a risk because Chines infrastructure financing is done through debt and a number of countries took more debt than they could actually sustain or service… so, I think there is that risk but the idea that China is actually leveraging that risk to be able to take over infrastructure, there’s no evidence for that.”

[11:48] WHY DEMOCRACIES LIKE CHINA: “It might seem counterintuitive but countries, the more democratic they become, the more they turn to China because the pressing need in your average African country, especially in a Sub-Saharan African country, is the need for infrastructure. And Chinese companies are able to provide that infrastructure at very competitive prices compared to European contractors. And the Chinese contractors coming into this country sometimes come with the backing of Chinese policy banks who provide loans to be able to do that.

“So, when we go into campaigns, one of the things we promise people is that we’re going to build your infrastructure. When the campaign ends, and you win office, you need to find the financing to build that infrastructure. And the point that I’m trying to make is that the thinking behind building infrastructure has nothing to do with great power competition. Right? It’s driven by domestic needs and it’s important to understand that.”

[19:40] POLITICS, NOT ECONOMICS: “My view, and I think this view is shared by others who look at it, that Africa’s economic importance to China isn’t as great as its political importance. It’s a 54 block region in international fora where at the UN or other places China’s quest for legitimacy and prestige, it’s important for China to have those 54 countries, or a significant number of them, voting for China. So, it gives Chinese actions, whether in Asia or elsewhere in the world the kind of legitimacy that China requires.”

Watch the full 30-minute discussion on the MacroPolo YouTube channel.

The post Gyude Moore Tries To Dispel Some of the Most Durable American Misperceptions About the Chinese in Africa appeared first on The China Africa Project.

source https://chinaafricaproject.com/2021/02/25/gyude-moore-tries-to-dispel-some-of-the-most-durable-american-misperceptions-about-the-chinese-in-africa/

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Rajpriya Gautam