China-Africa cooperation has lessons for South Asia

China's Afro-South Asia model can unify 4 billion people, fostering trade and stability through economic collaboration

The credo of the Afro-China summit recently held in Beijing needs to be replicated by the emerging superpower in South Asia. China has made great inroads in geo-economics in more than five continents, and its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the game-changer of the century for the developing world, per se. Moreover, the fact that it has flexed its muscles in the political arena too by brokering a thaw between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and managed to cobble an understanding between estranged Palestinian factions has lessons in realpolitik at a time when the West is busy fomenting war and dissent.

The convergence of more than 50 heads of state and governments in Beijing under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping was an epoch-making event. China's strategy to lure African states for a quid pro quo in development and trade, and to subsequently buckle up its own exports and transfer of technology to the Dark Continent is astute leadership. The modus operandi is to pour in big finances in exchange for better access to raw minerals. That policy has put China on the map of Africa as a benevolent friend, making it the continent's biggest lender and investor.

The themes of interaction are startling and are acting as a magnate in furthering Chinese global outreach in arenas of industry and agriculture, renewable energy and an adaptable technology decorum in infrastructure-starved desolate and backward countries, enabling creation of jobs and social mobility. This is no small achievement in an era when economic stagnation is the order of the day, and international lenders, especially the World Bank and IMF, are too politicised in funding the have-not countries.

Africa's China inspiration has a reason. It is recent history that the socialist state has been able to successfully lift more than 800 million people from the abyss of poverty on the Mainland, and this is what makes it the heartthrob of 1.3 billion Africans on the second-largest and second-most populous continent. China has inevitably proved its commitment to help Africa address the issues of poverty by being generous in extending technology. Tales abound where states lingering in distress have risen by making use of digital gadgets, bio-agri innovations, setting up smart cities and trading raw material such as cobalt, lithium, copper and gold for a deal.

It is, thus, no surprise that China is Africa's biggest trade partner, with a quarter of the continent's exports in fuels, metals and minerals, in lieu housing its 16 per cent of imports, pitching the trade volume to cross $300 billion by 2035. Last but not least, Beijing is the biggest creditor in Africa, funneling in more than $200 billion in the last two decades. All this goes on with full confidence despite criticism that China is out to re-colonise Africa through a debt trap, and is the source of one of the biggest environmental hazards.

In contrast to China's quest for economic partnership with all and sundry, and that too without resourcing to gunboat diplomacy, the West is busy fomenting a paradigm of military alliances. AUKUS, QUAD, Squad and I2U2 are cases in point, and it is a pity that NATO and the United States have poured in more than $55 billion in Ukraine to fight out Russia.

Washington's China containment policy is at the root of all ills, wherein it is out to destabilise the Middle East and South Asia with the express intent of failing Beijing's economic advancements. This is where the Sino-Afro amalgamation on a non-military nexus is appreciated and acts as a role model.

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has lessons for South Asia. Beijing has churned wonders by winning over the reclusive leadership of Afghanistan, and luring them into serious state-centric business. The acceptance of Taliban 2.0 nominee as de facto envoy and provision of humanitarian assistance worth more than 350 million yuan since August 2021 is apt articulation.

Other member states of South Asia too have an inclination to reach out to China, and look up to it in financial distress. Nepal is recipient of more than $6 billion in Chinese investments, grants and loans. The Maldives sits with around $1.5 billion Chinese aid. Loans to Sri Lanka exceed $5 billion. Inflow of investment into Bangladesh is over $7 billion, in addition to Chinese contracts portfolios worth $22.94 billion in different sectors. India, despite nursing border tensions, is home to around $4 billion Chinese FDI during the last two decades.

The landmark deal is with Pakistan in the form of $60 billion CPEC and soft loans to the tune of $12 billion, besides mega projects in energy and communications, making it a dependable ally in the region.

This spread-out of China in South Asia is in need of a multilateral-connect, and that can come through by amassing all these states for a New Deal on geo-economics that is sans bilateralism and for the express purpose of furthering trade and tranquility.

This Sino-South Asia affix will come with tremendous dividends for a region engulfed in disputes, distrust and a mindset of destruction. It will unify a populace of more than 4 billion people and an economy of $14 trillion, on a landmass of four seasons with warm waters and all the bounties of nature. China has the economic muscles and the will to connect the dots, and it seeks to further its global leadership. It just needs to ensure that this unison is apolitical on the lines of African treatise. South Asia looks up to China for a more accommodative engagement, and will act as a catalyst in collective development.