Signs of China's 'Africa Policy' in trouble due to the Sudan Conflict -

Beijing/Khartoum: Over the past decade, China has emerged as the largest credit lender for African countries. The increasing demand for fuel and other natural resources and the ambition to become a global superpower is said to be behind China’s economic policy. Until the last decade, the picture of China’s policy being successful stood at the international level. However, in the last few years, the picture has begun to change, and China’s ‘Africa strategy’ has started to be questioned. The immediate reason for this has been the conflict raging in Sudan for the past few weeks.

The violence that erupted in Sudan last month shows no signs of calming down in the near future. On the contrary, warnings have been issued that the civil war that sparked in Sudan will intensify. This becomes a concern for China’s ruling regime. China’s loan to Sudan was estimated at more than five billion dollars. It does not include prepayment facilities for fuel. If this happens, it could add a few more billion dollars to the debt figure.

According to the claim of the American research group EdData, by 2020, Chinese companies and institutions have provided more than 15 billion dollars in financial aid to Sudan. More than 130 Chinese companies have investments in Sudan currently, and thousands of Chinese nationals have been working in Sudan. China’s investment sectors include fuel, agriculture, infrastructure, health, and minerals. The ongoing conflict has hampered all these investments in Sudan.

China appointed a special envoy for the Horn of Africa (HoA) some time ago. The motive behind it was to increase diplomatic influence in Africa. Despite this, China has refrained from trying to intervene or mediate in the conflict in Sudan. Western analysts claim that one of the reasons behind this was the lack of accurate estimates of the groups fighting in Sudan. Although the conflict in Sudan has hampered China’s investment and lending in this country, this is not the first incident.

In the past few years, African countries have been in trouble due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the food shortage caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, and the global economy’s recession. Zambia has already declared that it cannot repay the Chinese loan, while countries like Angola, Ethiopia, and Kenya were said to be on that path. Angola has borrowed 42 billion, and Ethiopia has borrowed nearly 14 billion dollars. China’s share of the debt burden on African countries has been more than 12%.

The international community, including African countries, has demanded that China restructure these loans or give some loan waiver. However, China has not specifically responded to it, and because of this, resentment towards China has been increasing in African countries. A few months ago, China’s Foreign Minister visited African countries and attempted to ease the resentment. However, even this did not get much success. Along with the debt burden, various projects carried out by China in Africa have faced difficulties, and many projects have been partially closed. This has also caused discontent in African countries.

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