#精品长文创作季#
Statistics show that since 2000, China has provided loans totaling up to $100 billion to Africa to finance infrastructure construction in African countries. In 2016 alone, China's economic aid to Africa exceeded $60 billion, a staggering amount.
As early as the beginning of the twenty-first century, the international financial institutions proposed a "multilateral debt relief agreement" for heavily indebted poor countries. The main content is to reduce the bad debts of poor countries in international borrowing, and China, as a major creditor in Africa, has also responded positively.
More than 10 billion African foreign debts have been crossed off in this way, and China's move is a stupid person with a lot of money, a swollen face and a fat man. Or do you actively assume international responsibilities and have a longer-term planning arrangement?
1. The history of China's aid to Africa
Over the past 20 years, China and African countries have had very close economic exchanges. In particular, many infrastructure projects such as bridges and transportation in Africa have been completed by China.
Of course, this is not a unilateral effort by China to "give money for nothing", and China's various measures have also won the support of African countries in the international community.
There have been several landmark events in the development of China-Africa relations — the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2000 and the establishment of the China-Africa Business Council in 2004. According to World Bank statistics, Africa accounts for more than 12 percent of the international lending business of China's relevant departments and private financial institutions.
Of the more than 20 African countries with international debt burdens, China is the largest creditor in more than 10 countries. In addition to providing a large amount of financial assistance, China has also provided technical support and manpower training to Africa free of charge, making important contributions to the poverty alleviation of the African people.
In terms of railway transportation, China has built and upgraded more than 10,000 kilometers of railways and 100,000 kilometers of highways with China's help. As many as 1,000 new bridges and hundreds of ports have been built.
However, in the eyes of some Western countries with ulterior motives, China's aid has become a "debt trap". He even compared China to a "neo-colonial country" and said that China was the main culprit in Africa's debt crisis.
For this reason, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has publicly refuted it on many occasions, and the purpose of the Western media to slander China is very simple. It is to take the opportunity to smear China's international image and at the same time sow discord between Chinese and African countries.
Since China's aid to Africa, the West's small actions of splashing dirty water have never stopped. However, China's policy of aiding Africa has never wavered, and a good situation of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation has been achieved in China-Africa relations.
However, in the history of China-Africa cooperation, there have also been some discordant factors. At that time, the Kenyan government needed to build a 480-kilometer-long Mombasa-Nairobi railway, and the problem of funding became their first priority.
The Kenyan government has applied for loans from the United States and other European countries, but they have been ruthlessly rejected. Finally, the Chinese authorities generously lent 3.8 billion yuan to Kenya in 2014, which finally solved their urgent needs.
Not only that, but China has also sent a large number of experienced railway engineers to provide support, money and efforts.
In 2017, the project landed smoothly, but just a few years later, it was instigated by the "Chinese debt trap" in Western countries. Kenya arbitrarily demanded that China extend the repayment period to 50 years, and even accused China of ulterior motives in the repayment agreement.
However, the actual agreement is that all loans will be interest-free for the first five years of the construction of the railway, and the normal payment of principal and interest will begin after two years of construction. If it cannot be repaid on time, it can be pledged with income such as Kenyan ports.
By any measure, the terms of this agreement are very normal and even quite lenient. However, Kenya has seen the momentum of Western public opinion and wants to be an international veteran.
They claim that the railway has been losing money since it was built, and in fact the Mombasa-Nairobi railway in Kenya has generated nearly a billion dollars in revenue so far.
The story of the farmer and the snake is also a reminder to China that there may be a backbite like Kenya's in the future, instigated by the Western media.
In order to maintain the benign development of China-Africa relations, it is better to show a posture than to be passively scolded. Taking the initiative to forgive some African countries from bad debts and dead debts can also win China a better international reputation.
2. The importance of maintaining friendly relations between China and Africa
Until now, there are still some people who believe that China's aid to Africa is a free gift. Instead of throwing so many resources abroad, why not stay and tackle poverty at home?
As a matter of fact, China's assistance to Africa not only fulfills the social responsibility of an international power, but also brings a lot of benefits to China.
In formulating its policy toward Africa, China adheres to a strategy of "taking more and taking less, giving first and then taking, and only giving and not taking". If China's cooperation with Africa is based on economic interests, it will certainly not work.
The reason why we have to do these "loss-making deals" is because Africa's political value to China is far greater than its economic value.
Nowadays, the United States has absolute voice and influence in the international community, and suppressing China has always been its basic national policy.
If China wants to gain support in the international community, it needs friends, and the closest Western countries to the United States are obviously not suitable, and countries like Africa that have had similar experiences with China are more reliable.
It was with the full support of African countries that China, whose international status was in shaky shape after World War II, finally regained its status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. At that time, Mao Zedong said: "China was brought into the United Nations by African brothers."
After the founding of China in 1949, South Africa and other African countries sent messages of congratulations, and China-Africa relations began to be established. In 1955, the first Asian-African Conference was held in Indonesia, attended by more than 29 countries, including China. The successful convening of the Bandung Conference has brought the relations between Africa and China one step closer.
In order to support the independence movements of African countries, China withstood the pressure of France and other Western countries and continued to support the revolutionary struggle in Africa.
In 1959, when the grain harvest in Guinea failed, China generously donated 5,000 tons of rice out of humanitarian spirit. Subsequently, agricultural experts were sent to help Guinea grow rice, teaching people both fish and fish.
By 1963, 34 countries in Africa had broken away from colonial control and achieved national independence.
During this special historical period, the shadow of the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union hung over the world. It was the usual tactic of the Great Powers to use political power and economic conditions as a threat to force these countries to cooperate with them. The intimacy of China and Africa has also become a thorn in their side.
In order to maintain China's international status and enhance its international prestige, it has become a long-term national policy for China to continue to maintain friendly relations with African countries.
During this period, Zhou Enlai visited Africa many times and explained to them China's friendly attitude towards Africa. This 55-day whirlwind diplomacy has allowed China to establish strong alliances with 14 countries, including Egypt and Guinea.
In the face of Western skepticism, Zhou Enlai made it clear that China's assistance to African countries is to fulfill the unshirkable international obligations of major powers.
This attitude of the state has had a profound impact on China's subsequent policy in Africa, and the cancellation of Africa's tens of billions of debts is not a whim. Rather, it is a necessary move with more strategic significance.
3. Will the forgiveness of foreign debt hurt China's economy?
Seeing this, a friend here would like to ask: Even if Sino-African relations are so important, will not directly forgiving this huge amount of foreign debt harm the interests of our people? In fact, the amount of state aid to Africa and the funds used for domestic construction are two concepts and two systems.
The state's internal infrastructure construction and social welfare are directly paid for from the state's fiscal revenue, which is mainly maintained by taxes. The money for Africa is the continent's foreign exchange reserves, which itself does not belong to the scope of people's livelihood.
The main currency in international circulation is the US dollar, and the currency in which payments and receipts are made and received in international transactions must be converted into US dollars. For example, if a Chinese multinational company wants to export goods to a U.S. company, the two sides offer $2 million.
After the U.S. company pays us $2 million, the money will not go directly to the domestic account of the multinational company, but must first be processed by the national foreign exchange department and the bank, and converted according to the real-time exchange rate.
If the renminbi is now 8:1 against the US dollar, then the foreign exchange department will transfer 16 million yuan to the corporate account through the bank, and the enterprise will represent the inflow of 16 million yuan in the domestic market after receiving the money.
This also means that the account of the country's foreign exchange reserves is 2 million more dollars. If the state wants to use this money for social undertakings such as medical care and insurance, it is equivalent to putting the same money twice into the domestic market, which is likely to cause inflation in the domestic market in the long run.
If it flows into the country in the form of foreign exchange, it means that the state allows foreign exchange to circulate in the market, and the exchange price involved in this will cause a lot of trouble.
At that time, Zimbabwe abandoned its local currency and adopted the US dollar as its domestic currency. In 2015, the appreciation of the US dollar led to a large amount of wealth flowing into the United States, triggering economic turmoil in Zimbabwe and making life miserable.
Therefore, this foreign exchange account is generally used for international trade, so how can this money be used to a greater role? Some people will say that American goods can be purchased to alleviate the problem of domestic material shortage.
epilogue
Imagine if China used foreign exchange to buy a large number of goods from other countries, then the demand in the domestic market would weaken. Without the stimulus of consumer demand, the domestic economy will turn from prosperity to decline, which in the long run will lead to an emergency depression and even a large number of corporate bankruptcies.
So what about saving this money? As I said earlier, the dollar is an international currency, and if you have too many dollars in your hands. Once we encounter the depreciation of the dollar, our foreign exchange will shrink a lot, so spending it is the best way to maintain and increase the value.
From this point of view, China's loan relief policy for Africa. It is not only a testimony to the friendly relations between China and Africa, but also a good way to avoid risks and establish the image of a major country at the same time.
Reference: Chinese have a lot of stupid money? Why don't they use money to build poor areas when they spend 60 billion yuan a year to aid Africa?
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