CULLED FROM SALONE MONITOR: riday, January 31, 2014 1:38 am, 0 | NATIONAL NEWS China’s Silent Storm in Sierra Leone S i m o n e D a t z b e r g e r There are many faces to China’s presence in Sierra Leone and its present role there. Chinese investments, ‘gifts’ and trading activities have gone some way to reshaping the stereotype of Beijing as solely an exploiter of Africa’s minerals resources. On the contrary, in impoverished Sierra Leone the Red Dragon not only has re-emerged as a serious bilateral trade partner, but also continues to invest in several urgently needed areas of development. By exploring the Sino–Sierra Leonean relationship in the current acute developmental phase of a conflict-shattered country, this policy brief comes to the main conclusion that China’s activities are unquestionably of extreme importance and may promote overall economic growth in Sierra Leone. In the long term, however, Chinese aid and investments may not necessarily lead to significant employment generation and effective poverty reduction. The country’s institutions are still too weak to regulate the behavior of private (hence not only Chinese) investors. Since the 1970s China has invested in sectors such as agriculture, health care, infrastructure and education in Sierra Leone. In 2010, bilateral trade reached $109 million, and total Chinese direct investment was $51,2 million. Unlike that of its Western counterparts, however, China’s assistance to the African continent in general has never been based either on neoliberal ideas or sheer altruism, and has followed a strict principle of non- interference in other countries’ domestic affairs. This applies even in conflict-shattered and corruption- prone societies such as Sierra Leone; China does not concern itself with ‘good governance’, or anti- corruption campaigns and program to foster ‘attitudinal change’; nor does it claim to know better than Africans what Africa must do for its economic development. Indeed Beijing is often criticized for lacking transparency in its bilateral partnerships with African countries. That said, in mineral-rich Sierra Leone China has taken on many different roles and functions during the country’s transition from conflict to peace and development. Now, more than 10 years after the civil war, the time is ripe briefly to assess and unfold the many different layers of the Chinese presence, and, in turn, its impact on the current development process in Sierra Leone. Handing of Hospital at Jui to the Sierra Leone Government Origins of China–Sierra Leone Relations Like that of many African countries, Sierra Leone’s relationship with China is of long standing. Diplomatic ties were first built in 1971 against the backdrop of Cold War politics and Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong’s ‘cultural revolution’. On 29 July 1971 the two countries signed a communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations. Only three months afterwards Sierra Leone voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, which recognizes the PRC as the only legitimate representative of China in the UN. Sierra Leone’s diplomatic support continued with President Siaka Stevens’ temporary and tactical masquerade as an ‘anti-capitalist’. In the early 1970s Sierra Leonean politicians praised communal farming and many other practices based on the Chinese model. Sierra Leone never lived up to its ephemeral communist slogans, but nevertheless managed to become, in per capita terms, one of the larger recipients of Chinese aid in Africa. The Sino–Sierra Leonean relationship was further strengthened by the signing of a cultural agreement in April 1981. Since then cultural delegations have exchanged many visits. Throughout the 1980s the two governments concluded fishing co-operation contracts, and a major trade agreement was signed in 1989. Chinese involvement became more sluggish throughout the 1990s, however, when the country was experiencing its decade- long civil war. Only recently has the Red Dragon revived its ties, demonstrated most obviously by the visit to Sierra Leone of China’s foreign minister in January 2010. Newly built hospital by the Chinese at Jui China’s Approach to Development Aid ‘Finding information on Chinese aid is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle’.5 Aid figures are a sensitive issue for the Chinese. Apart from its different cultural traditions and philosophies on aid, China above all is still a developing country itself. Hence, against the background of existing domestic poverty and a persistent demand for domestic development finance, aid to other countries might be seen in domestic circles as immoral. The consequent obfuscation often leads to an assumption that China provides much less developmental aid than it actually does.6 In the case of Sierra Leone, China’s aid, per se, is still relatively low compared with developmental aid provided by the OECD countries. Its developmental assistance to Sierra Leone normally encompasses donations, education and training programs, food aid, health care and infrastructure. Since the early 1970s (with a hiatus during the civil war) China has sent 14 medical teams to Sierra Leone and every year 30 Sierra Leonean student’s benefit from scholarships to study in China. Recently, Chinese companies working in Africa have also begun to chart a more socially responsible course. Due in part to international and local pressure, but also to China’s own poor record with. Chinese and Sierra Leoneans in Infrastructural Development China as An infrastructure Developer Freetown’s urban landscape started to take on a new shape during the 1970s and 1980s with the construction by Chinese contractors of the multi- use National Stadium and the Youyi Building ministerial complex. Over the past few decades, China reportedly has also built bridges, power transmissions, a dam and some roads. More recently, Chinese contractors finished constructing a new foreign ministry building, additional offices for parliament and the new 100-bed China–Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital at Jui, close to Freetown. Projects in the provinces include a clock tower in Makeni and another multi-purpose stadium in Bo. Early in July 2013, President Ernest Bai Koroma announced that he had signed deals with Chinese Railway International Company to build a new international airport and a railway, together with other large construction projects amounting in total value to $8 billion. Despite these achievements, Chinese involvement in local infrastructural development has had its moments of frustration. The construction of Wilkinson and Spur roads in Freetown serves as a prime example. Due to several co-ordination problems between Chinese and Sierra Leonean contractors, Chinese construction of these two roads has been – and still is – an extremely expensive, slow and protracted process. Local newspapers and leaked documents from the Ministry of Finance. Sino–Sierra Leone Trade Relations Joint ventures and China-funded projects started in 1984 when the Fujian-Africa Fishing Company of China and the Okeky Agent Company of Sierra Leone signed their first co-operation contracts. More recently, China emerged as Sierra Leone’s second largest import and export partner, after the EU. According to its foreign ministry, China’s main exports to Sierra Leone include: mechanical and electrical products, textiles and other light industrial goods, cultural and educational materials, and hardware and articles for daily use. China’s main imports from Sierra Leone are coffee and cacao beans. At present there are 30 Chinese companies operating in Sierra Leone. The reason for their presence is not hard to find: the country is extremely rich in natural and mineral resources and according to the Sierra Leone Investment and Export Promotion Agency (SLIEPA) is ‘full of unrealized potential in the mining sector’. Yet China’s natural resource extraction in Sierra Leone is still in its early stages and, at least for now, ‘Western’ international companies such as London Mining or African Minerals have a much firmer grip than the Chinese. It is notable that working conditions in Chinese mines are perceived to be worse than those of other international companies.10 In 2009 parliament passed the Mines and Minerals Act but local civil society organizations complain that the Act has never been properly implemented and that trade co-operation with Sierra Leone is not attuned to laws that serve the interests of the people. In November 2012, Bai Koroma promised to boost tax revenues from the mining sector; it remains to be seen whether the president’s deeds will match his words.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 06:43:16 +0000