Africans must see China’s intentions

The visit to Moscow this week by Chinese leader Xi Jinping showed the world is slowly moving away from being a unipolar entity where most events are dictated by the West.

Xi was warmly welcomed by Vladimir Putin, who has been trying to attract allies after most of them world showered him with opprobrium in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Xi also proposed a peace plan to end the fighting in Ukraine … although this appeared to give the Russians the upper hand in that it would allow them to consolidate their territory gains in Ukraine. Both leaders opined that the peace plan wouldn’t find favour with the West.

Pretty obvious, really… Both China and Russia have always been countries deeply suspicious of foreigners and it will be interesting to see how this nascent alliance matures – or not – with the passage of time.

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Both Moscow and Beijing are pushing hard to extend their influence – and reduce that of the West – around the world.

However, it is in Africa where they are working hardest, perhaps aware that the underdevelopment of the continent and the role played in that by the former colonial powers is something which embitters Africans. Yet, neither of those two superpowers is, in reality, any friend of the African.

Countries in Africa have already found that out to their cost, as Chinese firms take over critical infrastructure projects and import labourers to work on them, leaving locals unemployed.

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Africa is a huge and juicy target, its minerals just as strategically important in the information and communication age as they were in the Cold War.

In the next decade, expect China and Russia to accelerate their programmes in Africa – and expect the West to counter. Africans need to be aware of this and refuse to be used as proxies by anyone.