China: learning to invest in peace

 (Picture from Xinhu News Agency)

Can China build, not only the pipelines and roads, but also the peace in Africa? That was the question posed in last week’s Economist.

It is not an easy task for Hu Jintao, China’s president, on his eight-nation tour of Africa. Following last November’s Sino-African festival in Beijing, Mr Hu’s latest visit is definitely a good chance for the hungry dragon to grab more from Africa, rather than the headachy issues such as human rights or internal peace.

China, of course, has been good for all in many ways in Africa. Despite building roads, railways and powers stations, it also provides scholarships and helps in training the local engineers. All looks so familiar, if compared with Mao’s China fifty years ago, when China was the pioneer in the “third world” with great credit.

Today, however, China has turned out to be a typical example of the “realistic diplomacy”. It ordered Boeing aircrafts to ease the American Congress; it hosted African leaders in Beijing, including those who still have the relations with Taiwan; it even sternly criticized North Korea, its firm alliance (at least during the past fifty years), for Kim Jong il’s hazard nuclear programme. Mr Hu’s gesture provides a hint: the country’s interests are much more important than the ideology.

With a billion dollar investment, undoubtedly, Africa’s peace is a critical element of China’s sustaining development. The tragedy in Darfur, for instance, is completely a new challenge to Mr Hu, but also a great chance for China to show its muscle in Africa.

As an emerging superpower, the honour and the profit are both important to China. But how to balance the interests and the reputation is still a puzzle for the chewing dragon.

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