The international engagement of the People's Republic of China (PRC) by use of its soft power policy, especially since 2000, has been a focus of attention for the international community. Soft power is a non-coercive tool in international relations, a concept first developed by Joseph Nye of Harvard University in the 1990s. It means the ability to fascinate and co-opt as a means of influence, rather than coerce or use force. The sources of soft power are use of economy, culture, political values and foreign policies.
Common stand of China and most African countries for the Third World cooperation and against imperialism has made them closer. Though it is said that the Chinese engagement is only for Africa's natural resources, its interests are political, economic, security and ideological. Rich culture, media, people-to-people exchange programme, health diplomacy and economic assistance are used most of the time by China as a soft power policy there. The fundamental objectives of Chinese foreign policy are to achieve modernisation and create a benevolent and peaceful internal and external environment to ensure its development. For this reason, Beijing follows soft power foreign policy to ensure its interest.
China always wants Africa's support and cooperation in multilateral forums. Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party gets its legitimacy internationally through the African countries. In the World Trade Organisation, China gets support from African countries on the issue of trade policy, and in the United Nations, China and African countries like Sudan and Zimbabwe support each other on the issue of human rights which are against the interests of the US. But the US places emphasis on human rights, good governance and anti-corruption in order to maintain relations with African countries whereas China-Africa ties ensure that human rights and good governance can be an obstacle to cooperation in international relations. This has been especially true in the UN where China and its African partners have consistently weakened the UN Commission on Human Rights.
American companies like Boeing continue to do well in Africa and have no Chinese competition. On the other hand, electronic giants such as Garmin, Sonim, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Siemens, and Ericsson are increasingly losing business to Chinese companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo. Both China and the US have also shown their interest in Africa's huge natural resources. For this reason, Africa's energy and mineral reserves could be a battleground of cold war for the US and China. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), China imported 22 per cent of sub-Saharan African oil in 2012 while the US imported 13 per cent.
Chinese engagement in Africa is expanding day by day while the US has been busy with its military involvement in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. As a result, the US policymakers are focusing on the critical implications of China's increasing engagement in Africa through its soft power. For this reason, to counter Chinese presence in Africa, the US arranged the African-American conference in 2014. This year President Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia to upgrade America's relations with African countries. Now it is a billion-dollar question how these two countries will maintain their influence and compete with each other while other countries like Japan, India, France and Germany too are getting involved with the African continent.
The writer is Assistant Researcher, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit, University of Dhaka.
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