Op-Ed Contributors

China isn't really taking over the world

By Ioannis Gatsiounis (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-20 06:10

Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than in Africa, where China has been depicted as the shrewd winner of a neocolonial scramble for resources, offering developmental assistance - mainly in the form of low-priced manufactured goods, infrastructure investment, and soft loans. No doubt China's presence on the continent has expanded considerably in recent years. But the US remains sub-Saharan Africa's largest trading partner, accounting for 15 percent of Africa's total trade versus 10 percent for the Chinese.

Indeed, the bulk of China-Africa trade is made up of Chinese oil imports from five countries, and even with respect to oil - said to be at the heart of China's drive on the continent - America holds a sizable lead. China imports 17 percent of all African oil compared with 29 percent for the US (and 35 percent for Europe). Western companies are the leading foreign partners in oil projects in Nigeria, which is sub-Saharan Africa's largest oil producer, and in the continent's largest emerging oil producers such as Ghana and Uganda.

This underscores America's deeper and more diversified engagement not only with Africa, but many other parts of the world, via international institutions as well as humanitarian aid and military assistance. Despite high-profile ties with Zimbabwe and Sudan, China has little military presence in Africa and almost none in Latin America, and is still overshadowed by the US even within its own backyard. Last month in Hanoi, for instance, the US was a welcome presence at the ASEAN Regional Forum, Asia's largest security meeting, amid growing concerns about China's military buildup.

US President Barack Obama plans to invite ASEAN leaders to a second US-ASEAN meeting in the fall, and ASEAN foreign ministers have invited the US to a regional dialogue, known as the East Asia Summit, which diplomats reportedly said would help counter Chinese influence in the region.

In July Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem said America and Vietnam are "leaving the past behind" as they strengthen commercial and military ties. Their two-way trade leapt from $2.91 billion in 2002 to $15.4 billion last year. The US has made similar progress with Indonesia, signing an agreement in April that will allow greater American capital flows into Southeast Asia's largest economy.