Emerging China–Africa relations in the context of increasing mobility – The Chinese presence in Africa from a historical and current perspective

Abstract

Since the 2000s, when the Chinese presence in Africa is mentioned, 'the Chinese' no longer refers only to the people, whether they are ethnic Chinese holding non-Chinese passports or Chinese nationals living overseas, but also to the current deeds of the Chinese state. China's strengthened position on the global stage conflates the term with the state. The conflation is clearest in the context of China-Africa relations. The title of Tubei's (2018) article in the Business Insider South Africa, '10 massive projects the Chinese are funding in Africa', presents an example of such conflation. What Tubei means by 'the Chinese' is the state. When 'the Chinese' does refer to the people, they are portrayed as state agents -'colonists'', in French's (2014) China's Second Continent. According to French, there are one million plus Chinese migrants, settling or becoming long-term residents in just a decade's time, nearly everywhere across Africa. Furthermore, these 'ordinary Chinese', who have penetrated every conceivable walk of life, from farming to prostitution, are 'China's export'. French's assertions fuel a neo-colonial view of China, treat Chinese mobility as exceptional and undermine the people's agency as well as history in Africa.In this commentary, I address the importance of distinguishing between the Chinese state and Chinese people who, as part of their livelihood strategy, are sojourning or making Africa their home. For the Chinese people who have lived in South Africa for a number of years (or generations), livelihood matters range from economic prospects to political autonomy, access to clean air and a different pace of life. Their current presence on the continent is part of a longer and broader history of mobility, connected to nineteenth-century British imperial exploitations of both Africa and Asia and to later neo-liberal policies. As significantly, distinguishing between the Chinese state and Chinese people is not only necessary against the backdrop of rising Sinophobia, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but also it is important to do so to recognize substantial changes within the diaspora, beyond the increasing number of Chinese in Africa, in terms of gender, class and regional compositions that complicate notions of 'Chineseness'. The latter is now entangled with and defined through the Chinese state's efforts, as discussed below.