By He Wenping
On December 8-9, the second EU-Africa Summit was held in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon after "removing" a few "obstacles". Seven years had passed since the inaugural gathering took place in Egypt in 2000. The second EU-Africa Summit has been billed "a historic meeting" and described as a "milestone" by current the EU president, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates as well as current African Union (AU) chairman, Ghanaian President John Kufuor.
Indeed, as far as the content of three key documents passed at the summit, which included the Joint EU-Africa Strategy and Action Plan and the main theme of the meeting (building a partnership of equal rights and shared responsibilities), is concerned, the traditional master-subordinate relationship between Europe and Africa has been upgraded, albeit only in words so far, to an "equal strategic partnership".
For one thing, documents such as the Joint EU-Africa Strategy and Action Plan clearly spell out that the two sides will forge "partnerships" in: peace and security; good governance and human rights; trade and regional integration; the Millennium Development Goals; energy resources; climate change; immigration and employment; and science, information society and space over the next three years.
Meanwhile, the EU also promised to substantially reduce or write off African debt, while increasing aid to the continent in a bid to build a strategic partnership between the two sides in the coming decade and help Africa reach the Millennium Goals laid out by the United Nations.
On the other hand, the European heads of state emphasized repeatedly during the summit the "equal nature" of the gathering. They vowed to "abandon the traditional relationship and build an equal, genuine partnership aimed at the same goals". They said Europe was not pursuing an African strategy, but a "joint strategy" with Africa, and described the passage of the above-mentioned documents as the birth of a "new relationship based on mutual respect" between the two neighboring continents.
However, now that the glamorous clamor has died down, questions remain over whether the promises Europe made will be fulfilled. What is more, the scratches and bumps between Europe and Africa over issues such as trade, human rights and illegal immigration will be difficult to eliminate in the short run.
After the end of the Cold War, African nations were treated as recipients of "handouts", as "aid" was tied to "democracy, human rights and good governance", chilling rather than warming relations between the two sides. African nations found particularly repulsive the overbearing attitude and arrogance some European governments maintained as they told Africa what to do.
During this year's summit, for instance, the two sides found themselves arguing over issues such as illegal immigration, human rights in Zimbabwe and trade pact negotiations, with the European side insisting on assessing Africa's political development against European political and human rights standards and held Africa mostly responsible for the rising problem of illegal immigration, while Africa saw colonialism as the evil root of many outstanding problems and believed Europe's idea of democracy "may not fit Africa's democracy".
As it turned out, the two sides ran into particularly strong resistance in their negotiations over the Economic Partnership Agreement, as African nations were worried that some of their fragile industries would suffer very badly at the hands of their European counterparts once they opened up their markets, as the trade agreement, designed by Europe, would have required.
This just goes to show that, between the strong and the weak, it seems easy to talk in general terms about "equality" and "respect" between former colonial rulers and colonies. It is no walk in the park for certain European countries to relax and ditch the habit of patronizing Africa when it comes to specific issues involving national interests.
The second EU-Africa Summit also revealed that some people simply cannot help bringing up China. There were hints that one of the EU's main goals in focusing on Africa is to "counter China's influence there" and elbow China out of that market; and observers said China's shadow could be found on all documents discussed at the summit as well as in its new catch line.
The way I see it, the two attempts to "link" China to the EU-Africa Summit are not totally off the mark. For sure the EU has felt the pressure (some people call it a "threat") as China's influence has spread across Africa in recent years, prompting some "zero-sum-minded" people to sling mud at China. Meanwhile, people with a more sober view of China-Africa relations have realized that the magic that has allowed China-Africa ties to develop at a sustained fast pace in recent years includes "equality and mutual benefit" and "mutual respect".
Naturally, we are pleased to see the EU also hold up the banner of "equality" and "respect" this time around, though the realization of such slogans requires that the EU first abandon its "zero-sum" mentality, stop viewing Africa as its "property" and join efforts with countries like China to help Africa shake off poverty and develop. Only by doing so can the EU-Africa Summit live up to African people's expectations while lending some momentum to the development of China-Africa relations.
The author is a researcher and director of African studies at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
(China Daily December 21, 2007)
