Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino-Zimpapers Politics Hub
The major challenge facing the West in its laboratory is that it is trying to experiment, understand and interpret China’s behaviour using Western political theory and toolkits. It is a challenge which has, however, exposed the Western establishment’s intellectual deficiencies in the comprehension of the sound logic behind the continued ascension of China politically, economically, socially and technologically. China is now an industrial monster. A proud one willing to peacefully share its experiences to help other countries succeed.
This same China the West is describing as a “rising power” has achieved a status that warrants it to be understood as a superpower. Characterisations of superpower states include having an output in manufacturing, advanced military and scientific technologies in every sphere including biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI). Superpowers also possess capabilities in digital technology, quantum computing and space exploration, all which China has in higher proportions compared to the US.
That is why it is not concerned about the “rising power” tag ascribed to it by the West because it has been a historic superpower, then and now, since the evolution of its dynasties from the Han to the Ming, and from the Qing to the modern state. So, as a civilisational superpower, China knows and is not bothered with what it is to “rise” and fall because it has experienced it all. Since going through the “century of humiliation” when the Qing Dynasty was forced by the British to open its borders to the latter’s merchants selling opium from India and to the invasion by Japan in the 20th Century, China has risen from a point of weakness to a position of strength.
It is the West, in particular the US, which is experiencing the demise of a painful declining superpower status for the first time. In fact, the US’ status globally is seen as falling, rather than declining. This is the only logic available to comprehend the behaviour of the Donald Trump administration, how it is declaring ‘wars’ on almost every country, ally, foes and enemies. It wants to rescue its status. But the natural order cannot be wished away. There is no country or empire that remains a superpower forever. Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, British, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires once enjoyed their glory days before they slid into history.
Modernity through exploitation?
Development economists have on many occasions explained Africa’s past and present development trajectory using what they term the “logic of poverty” where the path to modernity in the presence of abundant resources is wrought by contradictions. These paradoxes are based on the absence of an exact model that Africa should follow on its way to modernising economies, infrastructure, social services and the welfare of its people.
What Africans do not appreciate is that the cost of modernity in western thinking is highly unsustainable because it is based on exploitation and an ethno-supremacist Caucasian idea. That is why history records that the system of slavery used to exploit African labour to build the USA and colonialism used to fund western industrialisation have been perpetuated as the West sees development from a position of both privilege and plunder.
This has significantly impacted Africa, which is also a target of Western exploitation today. Glaring examples include the Franc-Afrique policy in West Africa; Germany’s deliberate dragging of paying reparations to Namibia for the Herero genocide; the threat of using tariffs as an instrument of coercion and direct hegemonism on weak states. There is a clear line of reference that the West is what it is today because of some chicanery.
A pulchritude friendship
Unlike the West, China’s “rise” has not been based on exploitation, it has not been driven by the selfish desire to disadvantage Africa’s the path to modernity by use of force, coercion and threats. Equating China with the Western behavioural traits is to misread its intentions.
The West has never called Africa to the path of development and modernity that is premised on a win-win cooperation framework. Western multinational corporations (MNCs) at the behest of their governments, for example, exploit resources in Africa and fund intra-state conflicts in disregard of the right to sovereignty of African states. Where African leaders have sought to challenge this behaviour, they have either been killed or unconstitutionally removed from power. This is not the path of China!
China has promised Africa that it will help it modernise. In fulfilling and delivering on its promises, it has held hands with Africa with the only goal of a shared future based on prosperity, mutual cooperation and respect. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a starting point. The West, knowing that it is losing the infrastructure connection in Africa, has tried to counter the BRI with its Global Gateway Initiative (GGI) started during the 2021/22 period, but is yet to take off.
Abandon not, the ideology!
The world is undergoing a tumultuous reconfiguration and realignment of political, economic and social alliances. It is here that the inevitability of the reality of the Africa-China resilience is manifest. The essence of Africa and China being resilient at a time western dominance is falling is premised on the idea that the two allies are naturally anti-colonial characters. To keep this alliance alive, ideological compatibility is a sine qua non!
While western liberalism as an idea is a key anchor in that establishment, its urge of exploitation is the reason why Africa’s ideological compass should continue to ferociously point northwards. Because Africa fought western colonial plunder influenced by the socialist ideals of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist leaning, it is crucial to continue sharpening the ideological and intellectual bravery to counter western liberal excesses.
The reason why China and Russia, for example, have managed to withstand western liberal dominance from an ideological point is that they have studied and understood the liberal ideology and produced long lasting counter narratives. With China, the refining of Marxism-Leninism in the framework of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” has made it a global player that has resisted liberalism by erecting a ‘great-wall’ of ideological clarity. This wall is not penetrated by any exogenous elements. The same with Russia, from its days as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) following the 1917 Revolution, it made it priority to export socialism and the anti-imperial doctrine against western hegemony.
For Africa, emphasis should be to refine Marxist-Leninism and apply it in the African social milieu. It can be “socialism with Ubuntu or pan-African characteristics”. There is no greatness in abandoning African ideologies of liberation. African intellectuals should continue to study liberalism each time it changes its plan. Institutions of African knowledge production and reproduction should always be available to provide political consciousness for Africans to choose their friends and allies wisely.
Through the Africa-China alliance, push-back mechanisms against foreign influence should be a priority.
