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China's Growing Security Relationship With Africa
China's Growing Security Relationship With Africa
The percentage for small arms and light weapons (SALW) was almost certainly higher
during all of these periods, but reliable data are lacking. In the past 5 years, in addition to
SALW, China has delivered to African countries tanks, self-propelled guns, artillery pieces,
armored personnel carriers, small combat ships, supersonic combat aircraft, helicopters, and
surface-to-air missiles. The quality of its equipment has improved and the prices are low. Most
of these deliveries are sales; China earns foreign exchange and African leaders welcome the
shipments because no questions are asked. Countries under Western sanctions such as Sudan and
Zimbabwe are especially appreciative.
Chinas policy is to transfer weapons only to governments and not to opposition or rebel
groups. While China seems to abide by this policy, the quantity of Chinese weapons, especially
SALW, in Africa today is so large that some weapons inevitably find their way into conflict
zones. In the early years of the Darfur conflict, the government of Sudan provided Chinese arms
to the Janjaweed, which used them against Darfur rebel groups and for ethnic cleansing. This
outraged the Darfur rebel groups and led to several attacks on Chinese personnel and facilities in
Sudan.
Following the outbreak in late 2013 of civil war in South Sudan, the Chinese company
Norinco delivered arms to the government of South Sudan in 2014 as part of a $38 million
package. The first shipment caused such a furor that China stopped the remainder of the
delivery. Chinese (and Western) arms have also shown up in conflicts in Somalia and the eastern
Congo. Some of the arms have been obtained on the international arms market. China has not
put in place strict guidelines for monitoring the transfer of weapons to third parties once they
have been delivered to an African government.
Today, Africa remains a relatively low security priority compared to countries on its
periphery and major Western powers. But China relies heavily on Africa for energy and certain
minerals, giving the continent an increasing security importance. There is a loose correlation
between Chinas military cooperation and resource rich African countries.
Protection of Chinese Interests and Nationals
China is paying more attention to the protection of its interests outside its borders.
President Xi Jinping stated in 2014 that we should protect Chinas overseas interests and
continue to improve our capacity to provide such protection. In recent years, Chinese interests
and nationals have encountered increasing threats and attacks.
Chinese ships and crews became subject to Somali pirate attacks. More than a dozen
Chinese business persons have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region. In 2007, a rebel group
killed 9 Chinese energy prospection personnel in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. Several oil and
construction company employees were kidnapped and some killed in Sudan.
China evacuated 36,000 contractors from Libya in 2011 and more than 1,000 in 2014
after some had returned to the country. The initial evacuation from Libya was a wake-up call.
Most of the Chinese were working on contractual infrastructure projects valued at about $19
billion for Chinese companies. While China orchestrated a successful evacuation, this incident
underscored the large number of nationals it had in Libya and exposed Chinas limited ability to
protect its economic and security interests in Africa.
In 2014, 10 Chinese construction workers were kidnapped in northern Cameroon by
Boko Haram and eventually released. In 2015, China evacuated more than 400 oil workers from
South Sudan, a country where it has significant oil investments, following the outbreak of civil
war. In 2015, 3 senior Chinese managers were killed during a terrorist attack at the Radisson Blu
hotel in Bamako, Mali, by an al-Qaeda linked group. Chinese nationals, who number more than
one million in Africa, are getting into harms way just as Westerners have done for decades.
These events are causing China to take a harder look at risk assessment before making
such a large commitment in certain regions of Africa. Traditionally, China has relied on African
governments to protect its nationals in Africa. While this is still the policy, China is also looking
to the private security sector to provide protection. The Chinese private security industry is,
however, at an early stage of development and largely confined to China. One of the first
arrangements in Africa was between the Shandong Huawei security company and a South
African security company.
Non-interference Principle
China prides itself on a policy of non-interference but its growing interests in Africa and
resultant security challenges are putting this principle to the test. There is a major debate in
China concerning a possible reinterpretation of the non-interference principle. While the
government of China insists there has been no change in policy, officials and academics are
beginning to use terminology such as constructive involvement, creative involvement,
conditional intervention, and flexible engagement.
A Chinese official recently explained that there is no violation of the non-interference
principle so long as there is no violation of another countrys sovereignty. If, for example, the
parties to South Sudans civil war invite China to mediate the conflict, there has been no
violation of sovereignty and thus no violation of non-interference. A major study of this issue
published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute concluded that China has
engaged in a policy of pragmatic adaptation and shown growing flexibilities in its practice of
non-interference.
Peacekeeping
China was initially cool to the idea of UN peacekeeping operations anywhere in the
world. Its response has evolved and since the beginning of this century China has become
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also used submarines in the anti-piracy operation in an effort to improve the skills of its
submarine force.
Naval Expansion
Chinas 2015 military white paper emphasized that the role of the PLAN will gradually
shift from offshore waters defense to a combination of offshore waters defense and open
seas protection. It added that great importance must be attached to managing the seas and
oceans and protecting maritime rights and interests. The paper said China will develop a modern
maritime military force commensurate with its national security and development interests,
protect the security of strategic sea lines of communication and overseas interests, and participate
in international maritime cooperation so that it can become a maritime power.
President Xi Jinpings announcement in 2013 of the Maritime Silk Road, which is
designed to connect Chinas coast to Europe through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, will
add to Chinas interests in eastern and northern Africa. The vice president of the Peoples
Liberation Army Dalian Naval Academy commented in July 2015 at a symposium on the
Maritime Silk Road that military bases are an important part of the PLANs maritime strategic
pre-positioning. He said the PLAN will establish strategic support points overseas with a focus
on personnel and materials support and warship maintenance.
China subsequently confirmed that it has reached an agreement with Djibouti to construct
a facility that will enable China to better fulfill escort missions and make new contributions to
regional peace and stability. China says the facility in Djibouti is to provide logistical support
to Chinese fleets performing escort duties in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali
coast.
China has a long standing policy of no foreign military bases. It is making every effort to
avoid describing the facility in Djibouti as a military base. Once the facility is functioning and
visible to the outside world, it may be difficult to describe it as anything other than a military
base. Whatever it is, however, it marks a major turning point in Chinas security policy generally
and especially in Africa.
Future Trends
Looking to the future, China is poised to play an even greater role in African security. It
is in the process of expanding its naval reach into the western Indian Ocean and will eventually
extend this engagement around Africa as it becomes a major maritime power. This will raise the
question of a need for additional support facilities in African ports. While there has been much
publicity given to the concept of the Maritime Silk Road, it remains unclear what this initiative
means for Africa.
China has expressed a willingness to collaborate more closely with African governments
that are experiencing terrorist threats. Growing terrorist concerns involving a Muslim minority
in western China may, however, complicate this collaboration with predominantly Muslim
countries in Africa or those that have a significant Muslim minority.
China has established a solid record in supporting UN peacekeeping operations and has
pledged to increase that support. It has also indicated that it is prepared to be more supportive of
African Union peacekeeping efforts.
Chinas approach is to take its cue from the Africans; it is reluctant to get involved in
security operations where Western countries have the lead or play a prominent role. China will
almost certainly continue to follow this policy, although there will be cases where Chinese and
African interests diverge. Burundi is a case in point. Xi Jinping was one of the first leaders to
congratulate President Nkurunziza after his controversial reelection in August 2015. The African
Union subsequently proposed sending a 5,000 person peacekeeping force to Burundi, which
Nkurunziza rejected. The African Union asked China to support this effort as part of an African
solution to an African problem. This posed a dilemma for China.
China is learning as the United States has learned on many occasions, the more you get
involved in foreign security issues, the more complicated and challenging you may find your
own position. From an African perspective, the big question is how the African Union and
African governments can maximize the benefits of Chinas increased interest in African security
issues.