A few weeks ago, whilst forty (40) plus African heads of state were being dined and sweet-talked in Beijing at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), over 1.2 billion Africans where being treated to a distasteful mix of misinformation and rantings by various pundits and interest groups about the true benefits of a China-Africa cooperation.
At home in China, the government was itself struggling to justify to its citizens why on earth it will doll out some 60 billion dollars (even though a significant part of that money are loans that will be repaid with interest) to Africa, when there were still over 30 million Chinese, mostly residing in rural China, fighting for food every day by the end of 2017.
The just ended FOCAC summit in Beijing brought to fore the significant mis-understanding, disgust and displeasure of the peoples of China and Africa about what their leaders are busy planning for and about them.
In the end FOCAC may have achieved for the politicians nothing they can emotionally boast about to their people, rather it has opened up a long simmering no love lost situation premised on deep-rooted misconception and misunderstanding that Africans hold about China and that the Chinese hold about Africa.
I spent three great weeks travelling in China during FOCAC, I was in Beijing, Shanghai and Jinan. In all these three exciting modern cities, testimony to the rising power of China, I could feel the curious stares, the secret rumblings of children telling their parents to stop me so they could just touch me, people asking to take photographs with me etc. People were generally warm, and as a black man in a foreign land I felt much more welcome than I often do walking the streets of London or New York.
Later a friend told me that most people I had interacted with likely assumed I was from America, as those are the only well-dressed, well-spoken black people that Chinese are familiar with, thanks to American movies.
So, beneath the curiosity, I realised a deep misunderstanding and misconception of Africa.
As always, most people shape their perceptions about a place far away from them based on popular culture, news and other mainstream imagery. The Chinese are not different.
Most Chinese youth have no idea of rising African pop culture phenomena such as afro beats music or of the innovation hubs pioneering new tech trends in East Africa; news and other imagery continue to be dominated by wildlife and poverty. In this China is not alone, as Africa continues to be portrayed in the same vein in the West as well.
However, with the growing importance of China in Africa this needs to be systematically and deliberately addressed.
I went to one of the many side events organized around FOCAC, where a senior Chinese corporate executive, in an attempt to sell the great virtues of Africa, spent over 30 minutes talking about gorillas and chimpanzees as some of the great fascinations of Africa — this to an audience already over exposed to such one-sided images of Africa.
In spite of the Chinese government’s best efforts — to be fair, they did try: FOCAC and favourable Africa news was on every news station on TV, online and print media — the majority of Chinese citizens still have little or no knowledge about Africa other than wildlife.
On the other hand, during the same FOCAC period back home in Africa, from Nairobi to Lagos and many other African major cities, political pundits and some economists were busy trumpeting the debt trap debate.
Vociferous arguments were being made about Africa’s over exposure to Chinese debt and how China could one day control the resources of Africa. Such arguments of course refuse to accept the responsibilities that African leaders have in ensuring debt sustainability but more so in securing the best deal for their countries’ citizens without the usual corruption which is the bane of our challenges as a continent.
In short, many Africans is convinced FOCAC was a grand design by China to scam the continent and thus the Chinese cannot and should not be trusted.
Yet a McKinsey study from 2017 says there are over 10,000 Chinese businesses spread across Africa. These are businessmen and women who have ventured into Africa not with state owned enterprises of the Chinese government but as private investors.
In Guangzhou several flights from Dubai, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Addis Ababa land every day filled with Africans doing business with Chinese.
As someone who has had the privilege of studying in a prestigious Chinese Business School (CEIBS), I have had the opportunity of not only reading the interesting case studies about China’s amazing development trajectory; I have also interacted with Chinese business executives and it is clear to me as daylight, that there is a lot that the African business world could learn from China to transform this continent for good.
In the same vein, there are many ways in which Chinese business people could benefit from Africa, and while some are eager to learn about Africa, most are completely clueless about its people and way of life.
The question then is, why is there so much mistrust between the people of China and Africa? The answer is simple: ignorance! Ignorance of our societies, cultures and of each other’s true potential for mutual growth.
President Xi Jinping himself acknowledged during FOCAC that it’s time for people to people interaction between African and Chinese citizens.
So, moving forward after FOCAC, it is time for emerging African business leaders, young and influential politicians, African sports celebrities, musicians, entertainers etc. to begin to collaborate. It is time for African content to be shown on Chinese TV and online platforms. It is time for Afro Beat music to be played on Chinese music platforms.
This is the only way that trust can be built and the true potential of an obvious win-win partnership can be achieved.
If FOCAC will work it is not only the old wise men in Beijing and the capitals of Africa that will make it happen. It is also the ordinary people of these blocks by actively collaborating.
Beyond government to government dealings in huge infrastructure projects and trading in consumables by businesses, the African and Chinese middle class need to start thinking deeply about how they can tap the resources of each other for a partnership that is truly win-win. One which is built on trust and a deep understanding of the cultures and potentials of both realities.
We must look forward to a time when middle class Africans begin to take their families to the Disney Resort in Shanghai instead of Florida or when middle class Chinese students begin to spend a year abroad in an African country. A time when Chinese tourists do not only go for the wildlife tours in the Serengeti but can be seen on sunny white beaches of Cape Town, Maputo and Mombasa.
Until then, FOCAC will never get the true social acceptance it deserves among the citizens of Africa and China.
*By Kofi Mangesi, an alumnus of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and founder of the China Africa Leadership Network (CALN).