Forget the naysayers, China not exploiting us

Two days after Kenyan independence, China was the fourth country to open an embassy in Nairobi. At the time, our two countries were just recovering from the cruelties of colonialism and the agonies of imperialism.

Before the Arab slave trade and the economic exploitations of Kenya, our country had been the cradle of humanity, with bountiful natural resources and strategically located as a regional trade centre.

Largest economy

Similarly, China’s economy used to be the largest in the world for many centuries. That came to an end with the abominable efforts by British to get opium into the country and make its people dependent on the drug, against the emperor’s decrees.

Sharing a common history, our two countries cooperated ever closer as our scars were healing from the Mau Mau and the Chinese uprisings, both rising into the global stage.

Over time and with a lot of effort, Kenya has become a regional force and a revered leader in counter-terrorism, anti-corruption and environmental protection. Thanks to this record, our country is a likely contender for a seat at the prestigious and influential UN Security Council, which is reserved for East Africa in the 2021-2022 term. If we achieve that, it would also be thanks to the alignment of interests between the Republic of Kenya and People’s Republic of China.

Furthermore, our country is en route to reclaim the tranquility and prosperity of its pre-colonial days. Thanks to steady growth rates, Kenya is making bold steps to eradicate disease and minimize poverty.

Advantage China

In China, development has been staggering: since Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in 1978, its GDP has risen ten-fold and second biggest economy in the world. Its economic strength is coupled with military might (China has the world’s largest army), its far-reaching diplomatic, including a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, and its growing cultural influence, with Confucius Institutes spread across the world.

Albeit on a very different scale, our two countries share a similar trajectory of growth and rising international prominence. We do so in the spirit of partnership and “peaceful development”, as suggested by Chinese policymakers. As Peter Kagwanja of the Africa Policy Institute notes: “Beijing is promoting dialogue on Pan-African and Confucian philosophies and people-to-people diplomacy... to anchor its agenda of building... ‘a community of shared future for humanity’”, instead of the divisive theories of “clash of civilisations”.

For those who consider power as a limited resource to be fought over, Kenyan-Chinese relations might be a cause for alarm. Some of our closest allies in Europe and in North America can sometimes be fixated in their worldview. Sometimes they view the world as bipolar as was during the Cold War. At other times they view it as unipolar, such as the time of US dominance, after the perestroika movement, the glasnost policy and the demise of the USSR. Admittedly, a multipolar reality is confusing to them.

New World Order

It must not be that way. China’s challenge to a centuries-old global hegemony of Europe and North America can be worrying to some, but while we can understand that perspective – we must not adopt such lenses.

Since the time of our Founding President, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, our country has made the wise decision of maintaining positive relations with the US and with our former British colonizers. However, we were never subscribed to an exclusive partnership with that axis.

Those who came after Jomo Kenyatta also built bridges across East Africa, the continent, and beyond. We never sought to exclude anyone. And certainly, not of a country like China, with whom we share a long history and can develop a rich future.

In 2019, instead of a “western” zero-sum game approach, our multilateral foreign policy is enshrined in the the principle of ensuring “that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else”. Jobs that will be created through the Kenyan-Chinese relations don’t come at the expense of jobs that will be created through Kenyan-French or Kenyan-American relations.

Indeed, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is working hard to strengthen trade ties by making it more egalitarian; give hope to our farmers and agriculture sector through new markets; boost our infrastructure outlay through new projects in road and rail and ports and; to embolden our anti-terror cooperation. We should therefore not sulk and frown at this historical opportunity.

Mr Maore is the Igembe North Member of Parliament.

In 2005, he blew the whistle on what was known as the Anglo Leasing scandal