The relationship between China and Africa has evolved noticeably over the last
five decades. This relationship can be traced to the Bandung Conference which was
held in 1955 where Asian and African countries reinforced non-alignment and
sought to promote Afro-Asian economic and cultural
cooperation. The conference agenda captured the vexing issues of colonialism, imperialism and the hegemonic
position of the western powers. What the participating nations had in common was
their shared history and perception of white dominance by the West. Thus, the
conference was significant in spurring anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle of the
colonially subjugated and imperialistically plundered African and Asian people. It is
noteworthy that Africa was of no significance to China prior to this conference. But from
then onwards, China being a victim of western imperialism and exploitation,
unsurprisingly became soft-spotted towards Africa and sought to relate with her hoping
to strengthen international alliances against the capitalist West and the
revisionist communist Soviet Union. The feelings that "we all belong to the Third World,
we are developing countries" seemed to have been uniting and bonding to the
two sides. Following the conference, China supported African countries with
economic, technical and military supports in an attempt to restrain the dominant western
powers and create a new political and international order. African states were at the
same time seeking allies to help them win their fight for independence and financial
support to fund these struggles. Chinese media was replete with reports of African
insurgents studying Mao's theories, and many African revolutionaries did base their
strategies on Mao's success. At the time, China provided material support to African
groups in South Africa, Zaire (Congo), and
Tanzania. Chinese premier, Zhou Enlai's
tour of 10 countries between 1964 and 1965 offered support to Africa's people
and leaders, and Chinese overseas development assistance became a feature of
relations, focusing on infrastructure development as well as technical and student
exchange visits. From 1966 to 1969, Chinese attention towards Africa was diverted mainly
due to domestic change and great proletarian cultural revolution. This period and a
little beyond it, witnessed a significant decline in China's aid and assistance to
Africa, observed a sharp drop in the number of Chinese doctors and medical teams set
to Africa. The explanation was that during the cultural revolution, Chinese
economy struggled, and even with the end of the revolution, there was little money to be
spent on foreign aid. However, aid to Africa did not end with the difficult years of
China's hardship. China's aid continued during the turbulent years of cultural
revolution and was stepped up in the 1970s. In 1975, China reportedly had more
programs in Africa than did the US. The culminating point was reached in 1976 with
the completion of the Tazara aid project, a railway link between Tanzania and
Zambia. This aid project was dubbed the biggest on the continent of Africa at the
time. The building of this very large-scale project employed 1,500 Chinese workers and it
made China one of the main donors to Africa. The cost of the project amounted to
US$400 mn, which was adjudged 10% of the combined GDP of the two
African countries at the time.
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