Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:20:46.885Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Chinese Amigo: Implications for the Development of Equatorial Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2009

Mario Esteban
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the last five years China has dramatically increased its presence in Africa. Despite its abundant natural resources, the notoriety of its political regime and its close relationship with Beijing, Equatorial Guinea is a glaring omission in the China–Africa literature. This article intends to fulfil that gap by analysing the bilateral relationship between Beijing and Malabo at both the official and the social levels to assess its impact on the development of Equatorial Guinea. As bad governance is the main obstacle for the development of Equatorial Guinea, the article compares the role played by Chinese companies and government in reinforcing Obiang's authoritarian regime with that played by their Western counterparts. It concludes that Chinese extractive firms play a marginal role in the financial extraversion that strongly links the Obiang regimen with US oil companies. Conversely, the Chinese government offers Obiang more extensive and stable support than Western governments to the extent that most of the undeniable developmental potential of Chinese co-operation is wasted through clientelist networks.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 199 , September 2009 , pp. 667 - 685
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 I thank Eduardo Soler and Alicia Campos for their helpful comments and their help with finding contacts for my research. I am also indebted to all the Chinese and Equatoguinean people who kindly discussed issues with me. I thank the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (I + D project HUM2007-60125) for supporting this research.

2 Lafargue, François, “China's presence in Africa,” China Perspectives, No. 61 (2005), p. 5Google Scholar.

3 Some examples of the “non-interference” policy in Sudan and Zimbawe can be found in Manji, Fironze and Marks, Stephen (eds.), African Perspective on China in Africa (Cape Town: Fahamu, 2007) pp. 73Google Scholar, 88–89.

4 Piano, Aili and Puddington, Arch (eds.), The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2008 (New York: Freedom House, 2008), pp. 39–42Google Scholar; Corruption Perception Index 2007, Transparency International, 26 September 2007.

5 Wood, Geoffrey, “Business and politics in a criminal state: the case of Equatorial Guinea,” African Affairs Security, Vol. 103, No. 413 (2004), p. 565Google Scholar.

6 Silverstein, Ken, “Oil boom enriches African ruler,” Los Angeles Times, 20 January 2003Google Scholar.

7 Central Intelligence Unit, World Factbook 2007.

8 United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2006. Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 285Google Scholar.

9 Bayart, Jean-François, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (London: Longman, 1993), pp. 35–36Google Scholar.

10 On the gate-keeper state see Cooper, Frederick, Africa since 1945. The Past of the Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

11 On the rentier state see Beblawi, Hazem and Luciani, Giacomo (eds.), The Rentier State (London: Croom Helm, 1987)Google Scholar.

12 Marín, José M., “Guinea Ecuatorial: de la política económica a la política de hidrocarburos,” Real Instituto Elcano Working Paper, No. 14 (2007), p. 21Google Scholar; and Canby, Kerstin et al. , Forest Products Trade between China & Africa (Washington: Forest Trends and Global Timber, 2007), p. 10Google Scholar.

13 Energy Publisher, “Equatorial Guinea: energy profile,” Energy Publisher, 3 October 2007Google Scholar, http://www.energypublisher.com/article.asp?id=11370.

14 Airault, Pascal, “Lune de miel Malabo-Pékin,” Jeune Afrique, 13 November 2005Google Scholar.

15 “China inks oil contract with Equatorial Guinea,” China News, 19 February 2006.

16 “Energetic CNPC has a global blueprint,” Shanghai Daily, 24 January 2007; and China National Petroleum Corporation, http://www.cnpc.com.cn/eng/cnpcworldwide/africa/EquatorialGuinea/ (4 March 2007).

17 See Alden, Chris and Davies, Martyn, “A profile of the operation of Chinese multinationals in Africa,” South African Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2006), p. 95CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Kleine, Stephanie and Small, Andrew, “China's new dictatorship diplomacy,” Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 1 (2007/2008), p. 53Google Scholar.

18 Sizer, Nigel and Plouvier, Dominiek, Increased Investment and Trade by Transnational Logging Companies in ACP-countries: Implications for Sustainable Forest Management and Conservation (Brussels: WWF-Belgium, WRI, WWF-International, 2000), p. 54Google Scholar.

19 Monitor, Forests, Sold Down the River: The Need to Control Transnational Forestry Corporations: A European Case Study (Cambridge: Forests Monitor, 2001), p. 44Google Scholar.

20 Canby et al., Forest Products Trade between China & Africa, p. 24.

21 Young, Crawford, “The end of the post-colonial state in Africa? Reflections on changing African political dynamics,” African Affairs, Vol. 103, No. 410 (2004), p. 41CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22 Abaga, Fernando, La Ayuda Externa en el Desarrollo de Guinea Ecuatorial (Madrid: Los Libros de la Catarata, 1997)Google Scholar.

23 Frynas, Jędrzej George, “The oil boom in Equatorial Guinea,” African Affairs, Vol. 103, No. 413 (2004), pp. 527–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24 O'Hara, Terence, “Riggs Bank agrees to guilty plea and fine,” Washington Post, 28 January 2005Google Scholar; and O'Brien, Timothy L., “At Riggs Bank, a tangled path led to scandal,” New York Times, 19 July 2004Google Scholar.

25 Armengol Ondon Ngema was at that time the security chief of Equatorial Guinea and has played a leading role in human rights violations in the country.

26 Silverstein, Ken, “Oil firms' rich concessions to tainted African ruler probed,” Los Angeles Times, 18 December 2004Google Scholar.

27 Silverstein, Ken, “Riggs turns up again,” Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2004Google Scholar.

28 “US says reopened embassy in Guinea mainly to serve expats,” Agence France Presse, 28 October 2003.

29 “EEUU desbloquea fondos de Guinea Ecuatorial embargados tras el escándalo del Riggs Bank,” Afrol News, 23 November 2005; Smoltczyk, Alexander, “Torture and poverty in Equatorial Guinea,” Der Spiegel, 28 August 2006Google Scholar.

30 “El petróleo de Obiang,” El País, 25 June 2006; “Moratinos viaja a Guinea para lograr una mejor relación bilateral,” El País, 23 October 2006; “Teodoro Obiang llega a España para hacer negocios en medio de fuertes críticas,” El Mundo, 14 November 2006; Esteban, Mario, “Vías de acción de España ante la penetración internacional en Guinea Ecuatorial,” Memorando OPEX, No. 33 (2007)Google Scholar.

31 Republic of Equatorial Guinea: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix, FMI, Country Report No. 06/237, June 2006.

32 McSherry, Brendan, “The political economy of oil in Equatorial Guinea,” African Studies Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3 (2006), pp. 23–45Google Scholar.

33 “La cooperación China,” ASODEGUE, 22 August 2006, http://www.asodegue.org/agosto2206.htm (14 February 2007).

34 “El gobierno Ecuatoguineano ha inaugurado hoy la nueva sede de la televisión de Guinea Ecuatorial construida por la empresa China Dalian,” Guinea Ecuatorial.com, 2 January 2007, http://espanol.guinea-equatorial.com/printfriendly.asp?docID=337 (14 February 2007).

35 Chuan Chen, Pi-Chu Chui et al., “An empirical analysis of Chinese construction firms' entry into Africa,” The Chinese Research Institute of Construction Management 2007 International Symposium on Advacement of Construction Management and Real Estate, 8–13 August 2007, Sydney, p. 458. This is not to deny that Chinese state-owned construction firms are helped by their government in ways unavailable to their foreign competitors, such as acces to cheap capital through state-owned banks.

36 “La cooperación China.”

37 Interview with Narciso Ntugu Abeso, Ambassador of Equaotiral Guinea in China, Beijing, 9 January 2008.

38 Those eight principles were first released by Zhou Enlai during a tour to ten African countries from 13 December 1963 to 5 February 1964; see “Premier Zhou Enlai's three tours of Asian and African countries,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ziliao/3602/3604/t18001.htm (8 October 2008).

39 Corkin, Lucy, Burke, Christopher et al. , China's Interest and Activity in Africa's Construction and Infrastructure Sectors (Stellenbosch: Centre for Chinese Studies, 2006), p. 69Google Scholar.

40 Cokenve, , “Los extranjeros en Guinea crecen demasiado y controlan ya el país,” Guinea Ecuatorial.net, 26 March 2007Google Scholar, http://www.guinea-ecuatorial.net/ms/main.asp?cd=ni5207 (5 May September 2007).

41 United Nations Development Program, Human Development Index 2007/2008, http://hdrstats.undp.org/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_GNQ.html.

42 Corkin, Lucy, “China's interest in Angola's construction and infrastructure sectors,” in Guerrero, Dorothy-Grace and Manji, Fironze (eds.), China's New Role in Africa and the South (Cape Town: Fahamu, 2007), p. 162Google Scholar.

43 “El populoso barrio de Campo Yaundé de Malabo contará de aquí al año 2009 de modernísimos edificios para 400 viviendas sociales,” Guinea Ecuatorial.com, 1 February 2007, http://espanol.guinea-equatorial.com/news.asp?docID=338 (20 September 2007).

44 “Comunicado tras la reunión del consejo nacional de CPDS,” Convergencia Social para la Democracia, 29 June 2007, http://www.cpds-gq.org/comunicados2007/noticia070729.html#adjudicacion_viviendas (20 September 2007); “Hojas informativas: Malabo 2,” ASODEGUE, 8 June 2006, http://www.asodegue.org/junio0806.htm (20 September 2007).

45 “Guinea Ecuatorial los desalojos forzosos violan los Derechos Humanos,” Amnesty International, 1 June 2007, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ESLAFR240092007?open&of=ESL-2AF (20 September 2007); and “Guinea Ecuatorial: 300 familias desalojadas y sin techo,” Amnesty International, 23 August 2007, http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ESLAFR240062006?open&of=ESL-2F2 (20 September 2007).

46 In this context, Chinese officials have described Western governments' reticence to engage in corrupt practices to promote their interests as “a weakness which can be exploited by China.”

47 This was confirmed by different former recipients of the scholarship.

48 This was confirmed by an official of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in Malabo in February 2008.

49 For a crude contraposition between an irresponsible China and a modelic West in Africa see Lyman, Princeton N., Morrison, J. Stephen et al. , More Than Humanistarism: A Strategic US Approach Toward Africa (New York: Council of Foreign Relations, 2006)Google Scholarhttp://www.cfr.org/publication/9302 (20 December 2007).

50 Shaxson, Nicholas, Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil (London: Palgrave, 2007)Google Scholar; Burke, Edward, “Obiang y los límites del realismo energético,” Foreign Policy Edición Española, No. 28 (2008)Google Scholarhttp://www.fp-es.org/obiang-y-los-limites-del-realismo-energetico (11 August 2008).

51 Breslin, Shaun and Taylor, Ian, “Explaining the rise of ‘human rights’ in analysis of Sino-African relations,” Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2008), pp. 53, 68–69Google Scholar.

52 “Obiang Nguema destaca que China coopera con África sin condiciones y sin exigir respeto a los Derechos Humanos,” Libertad Digital, 5 November 2006.

53 Soudan, François, “Le mystérieux M. Obiang,” Jeune Afrique, 8 October 2006Google Scholar; Airault, Pascal, “Lune de miel Malabo-Pékin,” Jeune Afrique, 13 November 2005Google Scholar.

54 Smoltczyk, Alexander, “Torture and poverty in Equatorial Guinea,” Der Spiegel, 28 August 2006Google Scholar.

55 “US reopens embassy in Equatorial Guinea,” Afrol News, 16 October 2003.

56 Egurbide, Peru, “El gobierno otorga un perfil bajo a la visita del presidente de Guinea,” El País, 15 November 2006Google Scholar.

57 Ayllon, Luis, “El «veto» del congreso a Obiang deriva en otro patinazo del gobierno en política exterior,” ABC, 16 November 2006Google Scholar.

58 González, Miguel, “Obiang suspende su visita a España tras no darle cita el Rey ni Zapatero,” El Pais, 22 July 2008Google Scholar.

59 Silverstein, Ken, “Oil firms' rich concessions to tainted African ruler probed,” Washington Post, 18 December 2004Google Scholar.

60 O'Hara, “Riggs Bank agrees to guilty plea and fine.”

61 Dare, Sunday, “The curious bonds of oil diplomacy,” Public Integrity, 6 November 2002.Google Scholarhttp://projects.publicintegrity.org/bow/report.aspx?aid=151 (5 August 2008).

62 The full text of this letter can be accessed in http://allafrica.com/stories/200605190861.html.

63 Libertad Digital, 5 November 2006.

64 Bayart, Jean-François, “Africa in the world: a history of extraversion,” African Affairs, Vol. 99, No. 395 (2000), p. 259CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

65 The best account of this failed coup can be found in Roberts, Adam, The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa (London: Profile Books, 2006)Google Scholar.

66 Leigh, David et al. , “Pentagon link to Guinea coup plot,” The Guardian, 27 September 2004Google Scholar; Ross, Will, “Mann signs in in Equatorial Guinea coup trial,” BBC News, 7 July 2008Google Scholar.

67 Govan, Fiona, “Britain ‘knew about Simon Mann coup plot’,” Daily Telegraph, 17 June 2008Google Scholar; Ayllon, Luis, “Guinea acusa a España en la ONU de apoyar el golpe de Estado contra Obiang,” ABC, 24 September 2004Google Scholar; “Obiang: ‘el espionaje español conocía el intento de golpe’,” La Razón, 22 July 2004.

68 These figures are based on the estimations made by the Home Office of Equatorial Guinea and the Chinese embassy in Malabo. None of them has accurate data on the number of Chinese immigrants established in Equatorial Guinea, but both sources make similar approximations.

69 It must be also taken into account that this Chinese immigration wave has taken place within a broader immigration flow towards Equatorial Guinea, triggered by the discovery and exploitation of its hydrocarbon reserves.

70 There are no surveys to analyse the views of the Equatoguinean people on the Chinese presence in their country, so most of the evidence employed in this section is extracted from the interviews I conducted during field research in Equatorial Guinea and also in Spain.

71 All these deficiencies were confirmed by my visits to many of these clinics and interviews with their staff and customers.

72 This was revealed to me in January 2008 by one of the high ranking officials who attended the closed meeting where the minister made this statement.

73 Malabo, February 2008.

74 Bata, February, 2008.

75 Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong, “Friends and interests: China's distinctive links with Africa,” in Guerrero and Manji, China's New Role in Africa and the South, pp. 106–08.

76 Malabo, February 2008.