China At 71, A Clear Model for Africa's Transformation

OPINION

By Mubarak Mugabo

This week the People's Republic of China (PRC) is celebrating its 71st anniversary since it's founding in 1949 by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The founding father Chairman Mao's vision was to see a China that sustains itself and contributes positively to global growth and development.

In the last 71 years, PRC has gone through all stages a nation is meant to pass, from a poor, middle income, developing and now targeting developed country status. There's a very serious debate to whether PRC has indeed reached the developed country status or still a developing country.

In fact some powers in the west have persistently referred to PRC as a developed country while others are insisting that it passed all the stages of a developing country. With all fairness, such estimates should be left to those leading the PRC to explain as no one understands it better than themselves and for that discussion will be for another day.

The status at which Africa is on currently was China's position about 40 years ago, China has since advanced quickly but Africa seem not to be closer, Why?

A number of questions have been raised to why Africa has not managed to go through a faster transformation like that of China, many especially those advocating for their culture into African societies tend to link this failure to bad leadership, bad policies and inadequate desired human resources.

They therefore, keep riding on these issues as reasons for their mingling into Africa's internal issues hence endangering the stability of the many fragmented African states.

Instead of listing problems that have hindered Africa's transformation, discussing them on media platforms and conferences, wouldn't it  have been better for Africa to study and adopt the policies and systems that aided the miraculous transformation of China!
This calls for exploring conceptual pathways through which  China has used to becoming the world's second biggest economy and not about validating or repudiating existing  rhetorics or various international interests.

China developed a unique model in dealing  with the two concepts and analytical approaches to development as traded by powers that have been referred to as masters of economic growth and development!

First is the issue of the means and the ends, that is,what should be first and last? This led to the argument that for any poor country to develop, it  should first build institutions  and then create wealth. The west which has had much influence in Africa for decades have advocated for this approach and still imposing it on the rest of the world!

PRC rejected this approach, explaining it using a very simple phenomenon and dilemma, between the chicken and egg, what came first?

Obviously the debate can't end, but China's progress has showed that whatever came first, both chicken and eggs do exist and can give us the desired results regardless of what is done first or last.

CPC first dealt with building an advanced infrastructure, increasing food production and then started building institutions. This model works and it gives a clear background as to why CPC under Xi Jinping is increasing infrastructural development funding in  Africa.

Apparently Africa collectively requires to spend  about $160b per year to bridge the infrastructural development gap that would guarantee a transformative speed like that of China, unfortunately, funding is still a challenge.

 PRC swiftly came into action by extending over $120b to Africa since 2015 to deal with this challenge. Even when the west is smearing this initiative calling it a debt trap, Africa shouldn't be moved.

We Africans should, therefore, use the Chinese chicken or egg equation to solve our challenges. For PRC, it was never their problem, they solved their problems in a model that worked for them.

Secondly is the issue of  how politics and economics are linked to the distribution of bargaining power and resources among the populations, that China being an authoritarian and a regulatory state, nothing tangible can be achieved!

These kind of proponents further urge that a market economy and dictatorial or authoritarian regime like that in China cannot coexist. These also advances a school of thought that opened economy and structural reforms automatically leads to economic and political reforms. This has, however, never been evidenced anywhere in the world..

The PRC also rejected these theories and managed to achieve beyond expectations even with the so called authoritarian regime!
These theories have unfortunately found a fertile ground in Africa, the preliminary results, however, shows stunted economies, resource excavation, conflict and war.

These advancements suggests that it's only a particular political and economic model that leads to economic emancipation. This is not only a dangerous but a serious imported virus that requires a cure as early as yesterday.

Although it's very hard to employ the exact Chinese system in any other country because China is unique starting from it's multi-ethnic society and the CPC set up is a socialist and communist with its own rare and unique characteristics.

Obviously China is not ready to export its model, but it opened up doors for every other country to learn from it.

But from the African perspective and given its history that has a lot in common with PRC, this formula can help us build a pragmatic African society that believes in similar values.

Only at 71 years, PRC is soon overtaking the hundreds and hundreds of years built economies.

African Union Agenda vision 2063 aimed at making our continent a global power house is now just 40 years away, the above approaches and the achievements so far reached out of the Sino-Africa relations, if well-embraced handled and managed can smoothly deliver it with ease,  now that the PRC is ready to share and help teach its successful model, why can't Africa pay much attention, who knows, 71 years later Africa could be the World's biggest economy.

The writer is a China-Africa Press Fellow-19