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)
