China meets French resistance

Their culture is a strength, not a drawback, for Africans, says academic

Sydoine Moudouma says it can be difficult for the Chinese as relative outsiders to operate in Gabon when the country retains such close links to the French.

"There is no Gabon without France, as the saying goes, and there is no France without Gabon. I think therefore if France feels its position in Gabon is threatened by China, tensions will occur," he says. The 36-year-old academic and commentator on China-Africa relations believes China may always take an uphill battle.

China's position in Gabon has actually improved since the new year with Sinopec subsidiary Addax Petroleum Corp agreeing a 10-year contract to extract oil from three fields in the country and ending a potential $1 billion legal dispute.

Chinese companies are also involved in major construction projects such as China Harbor Engineering Company's $120 million revamp of the waterfront in Libreville.

But more than five decades after independence in 1960, the French remain entrenched in the country with some 10,000 French citizens still living in the former colony and some 300 French companies having a presence.

Moudouma, a lecturer at the country's leading academic institution, Omar Bongo University, was speaking in the lounge of the Le Meridien hotel, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Many of the guests were, in fact, French.

"I don't think the French can have it all their own way anymore. Gabonese people have seen what the Chinese have been doing over the past five or 10 years," he says.

"They have seen the new Stade d'Angondje (the new national football stadium built by the Chinese for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations), the Senate building and the roads. They can see the Chinese skills in these areas and how they have made a difference."

Moudouma says the Chinese would always find it more difficult in a country such as Gabon because of the strong ties the French retained in French Equatorial Africa, which also included the current Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Cameroon.

"After liberation Gabon moved to a position more of co-dependence or interdependence rather than full independence. The French have always been involved in what is happening in Gabon, whether it is to do with politics or the economy.

"With the British colonies, it is completely different. In East Africa, for example, with Kenya and Zambia, independence meant self-governance."

The Chinese are far from the new kids on the block in Gabon, having worked on agricultural projects in the country since the 1970s.

Moudouma, an earnest figure with a serious manner despite his open-necked casualness, believes former president Omar Bongo, who met with Chairman Mao in 1974 and visited China no fewer than 10 times, was instrumental in forging close links with Beijing.

"China has first-hand experience of dealing with Gabon. It knows how to run businesses here and it has close knowledge of projects here. I think some of the recent concerns have been issues of transparency relating to overexploitation of the country's ecology such as with deforestation and over-fishing," he says.

The academic also does not believe the current president Ali Bongo Ondimba, who has been in office since 2009, is any less of a Sinophile than his father despite being educated at the Sorbonne.

"I think when it comes to the president, diplomatic relations between China and Gabon are friendly. If there is any kind of conflict it tends to be with government officials over regulations or issues relating to customs duties or other matters."

For Moudouma the raw fact remains that Gabon still needs Chinese investment. He points out that while the country might have a relatively high standard of living with a GNI per capita of $14,090, according to the World Bank in 2012, it came just 103rd out of 181 in the 2013 Human Development Index.

"There can be no doubt that Gabon still needs China's money and China has made clear many times it is willing to give Gabon money," he says.

Moudouma was born in Gamba, a small fishing town in the south of Gabon situated on the Ndogo Lagoon, the third oldest of a family of 10, and has eight brothers and a sister.

He was brought up in Mayumba, a port on the Atlantic coast that handles much of Gabon's timber exports but also boasts an expanse of sandy beaches.

Excelling at school, he did his international baccalaureate and won a place at Omar Bongo University, where he studied English.

After graduating he went to Stellenbosch University in South Africa's Western Cape province to do a masters' in English literature and then a doctorate on the impact migration, both overseas and within Africa, has had on contemporary African fiction.

It was there he was enrolled in the elite African Doctoral Academy and developed an interest in China-Africa relations alongside fellow Gabonese academician Hermanno Ndengwino-Mpira, a leading expert in the field.

Moudouma believes many outsiders underrate traditional African culture and think it is inferior to Western or, indeed, Eastern culture whereas it often has deeper roots.

"I think it actually gives Africans an advantage. I actually believe that when I go to England it is easier for me to learn the ropes and adapt than someone from there coming to Gabon. They would find it harder to get to grips with Gabonese culture because it has this extreme depth.

"People say that Africa finds it difficult to adapt to the modern industrial world. Certainly there is a need for more education and training. But I do think Africans have additional qualities to bring because of their culture."

China's role in Africa has re-ignited the debate among some about colonialism in Africa with the world's second-largest economy being accused of being neo-colonizers.

"If China are neo-colonizers, they would only be aligning themselves with what has gone on for decades so it would not be anything new. I actually think, however, that China has breathed new life into the continent because it has a different way of dealing with Africa."

Moudouma says one of the problems with understanding Africa is that it is impossible to divorce it from all the outside influences it has been exposed to.

"There is no way you can imagine Africa without the presence of outsiders. Africa for millennia has been opened up to the world. You had the Roman conquest of Egypt, the Arab traders and the Europeans from the 15th century. Africa has only had 50 years of independence to undo all these hundreds of years of history."

Moudouma believes there is more optimism on Africa, which is also reflected in Gabon, and that it is not juts a false dawn created by new economic forces like China seeking Africa's resources.

"There is more hope for Africa. Resources are important in Africa because without resources there is no interest in Africa. I think that is not the full picture, however. What we are seeing is not just a resources boom but something more fundamental."

He says among young Africans there is a real sense of wanting to be a part of the resurgent continent.

"One of the issues in Africa for many generations has been the so-called brain drain with many skilled and qualified Africans preferring to live overseas. Many now feel that if the West and new powers such as China want to come to Africa they can also build their lives at home too. They see the potential of Africa as well."

Contact the writers through andrewmoody@chinadailyl.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 04/04/2014 page8)