EMERGING ECONOMY: Africa Should be Paying more attention to the professionalism displayed by the Chinese government on Russia — the NATO alliance Tensions.
Africa, with vast resources in its hands, given its weak economy with its openness, fragmented and contested policy space makes it a strong candidate for these tensions. likely, Africa as an emerging economy will be negatively affected by the western sanctions on Russia.
Ironically, the Chinese government has surprised me, in these events but in a good way. Going through their statement given randomly by their state media through the ministry of foreign affairs, I see there is a real sense of reason in their statement, not much focusing on creating problems, rather than resolving them, while still keeping their national interest in the forefront.
Good Job china, on playing an active role in diplomacy, so Africans as the forgettable citizens can benefit from the balance brought to the table, given its history and weak economy Africa may not be a strong competitor in productive investment, trade, and Aid compared to china, the EU and U.S. Russia alone exports to Africa were mere USD13B in 2019 (Irwin-Hunt,2020). Russian companies in Africa have largely focused on the extractive sectors such as diamond and nickel as well as nuclear energy where they have a comparative advantage.
Russia is also likely to push African countries to transition to nuclear energy, where it has a huge advantage, given the continent’s large deficit in energy generation and this was discussed as an agenda during the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, as it estimated about 600 million Africans are without access to electricity. These are a few of many influences Russia can bring to the table for the African nations. As I said given its nature as one of the emerging economies, Africa, most notably Tanzania and East and Central Africa, should be the one arguing the logic of free-market economies like China.
Sanctions may be necessary for some situations, however, when implemented wrong may have unintended negative drawbacks to unrelated third parties, i.e Africa. Sanctions may add to the increase in global smuggling trades and if becomes too painfully clear, these actions will increase the financial income and output abilities of the criminal organization, and potentially, the terror group that is Al-Shabaab on the coast of Africa will also be benefited from smuggled War Weapons. This, of course, increases the requirement of nation-states to direct more resources towards combating criminal activity that was not a serious problem before.
We as the African community must bring to the table ways to bring Russia back to the global community and end the conflict in Ukraine as I highly condemn such actions of Russia and Vladimir Putin against the people of Ukraine, we need to create trade deals that are mutually beneficial to all parties involved. This is not a matter of days or even Years, the measures used by the international community have a long-standing impact on global commerce and even encourage the breakdown of diplomacy.
Ask Yourself, If Russia can be tormented by this community, how would Africa as the weaker economy survive?
“Doing the right thing isn't always easy, in fact sometimes it's really hard, but just remember doing the right thing is always right”.- David cottell
