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C O N F I D E N T I A L LONDON 002858 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2018 
TAGS: PREL PINR EAID XA CA NZ AS CH TW UK
SUBJECT: AFRICA/CHINA: MORE ENGAGEMENT IS A TWO-SIDED COIN 
 
Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Jim Donegan, reasons 1.4 (b/d 
). 
 
¶1. (C//REL TO FIVE EYES)  China's increasing engagement with 
African governments is a two-sided coin.  China more readily 
works on its Africa partners' behalf in the United Nations 
(sometimes in unhelpful ways for the West), and it also 
provides significant direct investment and infrastructure 
creation projects that enable the West's goal of expanding 
Africa's private sector economies.   London-based Africa 
Watchers (from the UK's Cabinet Office, UK's Foreign Office, 
and the Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and U.S. missions) 
informally compared notes at an Embassy London-hosted 
discussion on China-Africa relations on November 12.  Below 
is a summary of the major points: 
 
A) The Byzantine, top-down, and opaque nature of China's 
bureaucracy makes officials-level coordination and follow up 
on initiatives agreed at the political level difficult.  The 
UK and NZ approach has been to ratchet Africa up the 
bilateral political agenda while simultaneously pursuing on 
the ground cooperation on development projects to demonstrate 
concrete coordination.  Officials are also trying to build 
working-level, non-political bridges with the Chinese 
bureaucracy to foster a better understanding of the Chinese 
system and to create a relationship capable of withstanding 
political shocks.  In multilateral fora in Asia, NZ has tried 
to make China's engagement more constructive by preempting 
discussions about China-Taiwan relations. 
 
B) China works bilaterally with African countries (rather 
than through Africa's regional organizations) and coordinates 
bilaterally with donor countries (rather than through 
multilateral development mechanisms).  China appears to be in 
multilateral listening mode on Africa, coming to the right 
meetings (Sudan Consortium, the Africa Clearing House, etc.) 
and making limited commitments (signing up to the Millennium 
Development Goals' Call to Action).  The UK noted improved 
interactions with China in the run-up to the High-Level MDG 
event and "growing space for dialogue" more generally on 
development.  With China's increasing bilateral partnerships 
on development, it will likely be forced to become more 
involved on the multilateral development agenda, albeit very 
gradually. 
 
C) China is image conscious in Africa.  It often funds 
prestige projects (like stadiums and monuments) in African 
countries that traditional development partners will not. 
China is becoming more aware that its labor practices and 
cheap goods are often not popular with African populations, 
while African governments are seeking to develop strong 
relations with China. 
 
D) Increasing engagement with China is attractive for African 
governments.  China's non-interventionist political and 
unconditional development policies, support in the UN, 
bilateral loan offers, military and technical support, large 
infrastructure projects, and economic demand for Africa's 
natural resources all turn African leaders toward Beijing. 
 
E) China's greater engagement poses some risks for 
traditional donors.  Undermining aid effectiveness, 
challenges to good governance and transparency initiatives, 
future debt relief problems (from China's bilateral loans), 
and trade competition all have the potential to cause 
setbacks in Western development objectives. 
 
F) While not focused on traditional effectiveness, Chinese 
aid does seek a return on its investment.  It provides levels 
of direct investment and infrastructure projects that the 
West does not.  In some ways, this focus complements the 
West's current development focus on capacity- and 
institution-building. 
 
 
Visit London's Classified Website: 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom 
 
TUTTLE