Is the China trip a win-win situation or strategic move

By JEVANS NYABIAGE

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s latest expedition to the East, analysts argue is a strategic political game. And with ‘fears’ of a snub by the west, Uhuru has made his diplomatic priority. His first post-inauguration trip abroad led him to Moscow and Beijing.

He would bypass the United States, Kenya’s sixth-largest trading partner and a major aid donor, should come as no surprise. US President Barack Obama also chose to bypass Kenya – his own father’s homeland – when he travelled to Africa this year, shortly after Kenyatta won the election.

Kenyatta’s very candidacy in that poll was a point of contention with Western powers. Both Kenyatta and his deputy president William Ruto have been indicted by the International Criminal Court.

Some west nations have warned that the impending trial would threaten the legitimacy of the administration, but China and Russia, India and a number of East nations meanwhile, have voiced no concerns whatsoever about the repercussions of the ICC case.

His latest trip is sending a clear message: if Western powers are hesitant to back his presidency or engage with Kenya economically, Eastern countries will be able to pick up the slack.  Already, last week, China and Kenya signed agreements worth Sh425 billion to be spent on antipoaching initiatives, infrastructural improvements and energy projects.

But, the Chinese business plan is simple— in exchange for access to vital resources, they offer massive infrastructure and or development projects.

Soft policy

But, the majority of these are supplied with Chinese workers and completed by Chinese construction companies. Further, the Chinese offer a ‘no-strings attached’ policy, one that many, often controversial.

And a look at Africa, China’s key focus is in resource rich countries such as Angola, Zambia, South Africa, Sudan, and Zimbabwe, but many questions remain unanswered.  Oil and coal accounted for half of China’s imports from Africa in 2012, minerals and other raw materials made up most of the rest.

But, what is bothering a number of analysts is whether the association is a symbiotic one. It is no secret that in the quest to export jobs and satisfy domestic demands for an array of energy resources, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, Chinese interest and investment in Africa have simultaneously increased in the last decade.

China’s resource intensive growth model – propelled by heavy infrastructure spending and its manufacturing machine – requires large amount of commodity inputs.

In addition, underpinning Beijing’s engagement of Africa has been a desire to secure a number of strategic commodity supplies, in particular oil, iron ore and copper.

The Asian tiger, the world’s second-largest economy has ramped up its presence all across the African continent in recent years, though Kenya’s relative lack of oil and gas has kept it on the sidelines of China’s mad grab for energy resources.

That may change, however; British company Tullow Oil PLC found crude in Kenya just last year and says deposits may total about 10 billion barrels. They expect to begin pumping in 2014.