Russia and China in Africa

Russia and China in Africa: Interests, Inuence, and Instruments of Power

This section reviews the main areas where Russian and Chinese interests converge and diverge and draws inferences for their overall relationship. A main area where their interests converge is their shared goal of eroding Western inuence in Africa, but they diverge over how to do this. China prefers to oer alternative models of governance, development, and security to those oered by the West in the hope that African states will embrace those models and reject Western ones. Russia prefers to undermine Western states and international institutions in Africa without oering alternatives, except in the case of the Africa Corps, which has arguably caused more chaos than it has eliminated. In essence, China is a builder, and Russia is a disruptor in Africa. Their attitudes toward stability in Africa will be an issue they need to manage moving forward. China needs stability for the long-term return on its economic investments there, but Russia foments instability because it provides opportunities for the Africa Corps. China’s desire for stability could eventually cause it to resent Russia’s role as an agent of chaos on the continent. As dangerous as Russia’s African escapades might be for China over the long term, they oer some short-term benets. First, they allow China to retain its image as a win-win partner while Russia pays the reputational and security costs. Next, if chaos drives out Western investment, China stands to gain. An emerging but still manageable divergence exists in two other areas: arms sales and resource extraction. In the former area, Russia has historically been the leader, but the eects of the Ukraine war and Chinese competition are eroding Moscow’s advantage. The war in Ukraine has revealed the poor performance of Russian military equipment, and sanctions are impacting Russia’s ability to produce enough equipment to replace its losses in Ukraine and make signicant equipment available for foreign customers. China has been touting its equipment as an alternative by noting it is both cheaper and more readily available. In resource extraction, especially mining and energy deals, China usually wins due to superior resources, but Russia has been trying to compensate via security-for-resources deals. Perhaps the best way to characterize how Russia and China interact in Africa is to view it through African eyes. As Dr. Paul Tembe, a South African scholar, sees it, the two have a “passive, proxy-type alliance.” He continued by noting that, while Beijing and Moscow are not partners in Africa, “at the same time they won’t in the next two decades stab each other in the back.” [63]

Page 13

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker