China’s growing bonhomie with Senegal: Why the world should take notice

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with 11 foreign leaders on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. This also included his first meeting with US President Joe Biden. Among these 11 meetings, one key meeting that stands out is his meeting with Senegal’s president on 15 November. The African Union presidency rotates each year, the president of the chairing African nation is invited to the year’s high-level meetings. As Senegal’s President Macky Sall attended the event, Xi Jinping took full advantage of the opportunity to court him by meeting and shaking hands with him. Actually, it was China’s COVID-19 protocols prevented Xi from leaving the country from January 2020 to September 2022. Xi was finally able to shake Sall’s hand on 15 November, nearly a year after the missed opportunity at FOCAC. Both Xi and Sall emphasised the importance of cooperation between their respective countries, as well as between China and the African continent as a whole. Senegal was a French colony that gained independence in 1960. Since then, the country has established a stable electoral democracy, witnessed peaceful power transitions between opposing parties since 2000, and experienced rapid economic growth. Historically, China’s engagement with African countries has been primarily concentrated in southern and eastern Africa, with Sudan and Angola receiving significant Chinese investments and loans. Senegal, on the other hand, has seen far less Chinese involvement. However, the growth trajectory of China-Senegal relations, especially in the last few years, requires careful analysis. Senegal and China re-established diplomatic relations only in 2005. However, things began to really change in 2014, when Senegalese President Macky Sall toured Beijing. During the visit, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping proposed expanding cooperation in economic and trade matters, transportation infrastructure, and other areas, increasing agricultural imports from Senegal, and encouraging more Chinese enterprises to invest in the African country. During the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, east China, the two sides agreed to expand bilateral relations into a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. Another significant step forward in this relationship took place in 2021 when Senegal hosted the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) from 29-30 November. This was the first time in two decades that a FOCAC was held in West Africa. This provided China with an opportunity to enhance its influence on Senegal. Unsurprisingly, in a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Senegal ahead of the FOCAC, Senegalese President Macky Sally emphasised the importance of China in Senegal’s development and how the two countries are significantly expanding their cooperation in diverse fields. In the same year, Senegal announced that it would start moving all digital platforms and government data to Huawei’s Chinese servers. And this was done under the pretext of strengthening Senegal’s digital sovereignty. The Chinese government also funded the construction of a data centre in Diaminadio in collaboration with Huawei, which will serve both the public and private sectors, making Senegal’s digital infrastructure almost entirely reliant on Chinese technology. France and other European countries have historically been the dominant sources of investment in Senegal. China accounted for only about 3.3 per cent of total imports to Senegal in 2000. However, in 2020, China became Senegal’s second-largest trading partner after France, with a 9.2 per cent share. China’s exports to Senegal were worth $2.5 billion in the same year, while imports from Senegal were worth $315 million. Furthermore, the construction of the National Wrestling Arena in Dakar in 2018 is one of the most noticeable outcomes of Chinese investment in Senegal. China has also made investments in Senegal’s other cultural areas, such as the Friendship Stadium, the National Theatre, and the Black Civilisation Museum. Meanwhile, the Senegalese private sector is active in forming alliances with Chinese firms, such as the “Safar” railway extension project in Touba, which is being carried out by China Railways Senegal. China assisted Senegal in two of its most important infrastructure projects since independence, the Thiès-Mbour-AIBD Highway and the Ila Touba Highway. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the PRC also made significant health contributions to Senegal, including the provision of vaccines. In February 2021, China was the first country to provide Senegal with a batch of 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine for $3.71 million. In May, China donated another 300,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and 300,800 syringes to Senegal. Senegalese officials have taken part in annual military education programmes held in China over the years. China supplied Senegal with $36 million in arms (excluding small arms and light weapons) from 2000 to 2018, making it the country’s second-largest supplier with a 23 per cent share of the total value. China recently became the first country to raise the issue of African Union (AU) membership in the G20. Pushing for the AU’s inclusion in the G-20 has ideological as well as practical implications for Beijing. It is ideologically consistent with China’s discourse about championing a more “democratic” world order, one that gives the developing world more leverage. In a more pragmatic way, increased AU representation would imply greater support for China on major issues of concern. China’s aid packages are typically unrelated to political or financial reforms. They do, however, come with various kinds of conditions, such as diplomatic support for Chinese positions in international organisations. To recall, African countries played a critical role in assisting China’s re-admission to the United Nations in 1970, despite US protests. Africa has the largest grouping of any continent in the UN system. Many African countries are also heavily indebted to Beijing and rely heavily on it for the majority of their trade. As poor, developing countries, they are unable to withstand the immediate repercussions of upsetting China. And China knows how to use their helplessness in its favour. The contentious issue of China’s violations of human rights against Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups in Xinjiang. Rights groups and governments in the West have both condemned China’s mass detentions and oppressive surveillance in Xinjiang as crimes against humanity. At least a million Uyghurs are believed to have been detained in a sprawling network of camps in Xinjiang. China is accused of forced labour, forced sterilisation, torture, and genocide, all of which it denies. The Chinese government has defended the detention camps, claiming that they are vocational “re-education centres” designed to combat terrorism and religious extremism. A recent proposal at the United Nations Human Rights Council to hold a “debate on the situation of human rights in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China” was narrowly defeated, owing in large part to African countries’ support for China’s position. The final vote count was 17 in favour, 19 opposed and 11 abstained. Only one of the 17 countries in favour (Somalia) was African. Eight African countries voted to shield China from scrutiny: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Gabon, Mauritania, Namibia, Senegal, and Sudan. Another four African countries abstained: Benin, Gambia, Libya, and Malawi. Earlier, 25 African countries backed China in a vote at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June 2020 on the contentious Hong Kong national security law, which imposed harsh penalties for political dissent and effectively ended the territory’s autonomy. In contrast, Gambia filed a case against Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former leader, for the mistreatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority in her country in 2019. In that case, Gambia received support from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a group of 57 mostly Muslim countries, 27 of which are African. The West has applauded the move, which has resulted in the International Court of Justice ordering Myanmar to take genocide prevention measures. China’s role in Senegal is expanding, particularly in digital infrastructure, but also in manufacturing, infrastructure, culture, and health. Senegal announced in June 2022 that it will move all government data and digital platforms from foreign servers to a new national data centre supported by China, thereby strengthening its digital sovereignty. The data centre, which will be financed with a Chinese loan and built with Huawei equipment and technical support, will connect to global networks via an undersea cable as well as the country’s 6,000-kilometer (3,730-mile) fibre optic network. Senegal, as a former French colony, maintains close ties with France and Europe. On occasion, China also collaborates with France to carry out projects in Senegal. In March 2022, the French group Meridiam, which specialises in the development, financing, and management of public infrastructure projects through its subsidiary Dakar Mobilité, the BRT concessionaire, signed a contract with the Chinese company CRRC Corporation for the acquisition of 121 electric buses in Dakar, Senegal’s capital. China Henan is another example of a state-owned enterprise that appears to have received assistance from Beijing in entering the Senegalese market through subsidised loans. Around 30 years ago, the company was involved in the construction of the “Friendship Stadium”, which was financed by Beijing, and then continued to do business in Senegal, even when the two countries diplomatic relations were severed. The Senegalese government is still awarding contracts to China Henan for large projects like modernising the municipal infrastructure in Touba. A similar trend can be observed in joint ventures formed in the radio industry. It is evident that the Chinese government is eager to participate in Senegal cooperation projects involving its own state-owned enterprises. Using Senegal as the region’s focal point connecting Saharan and Sub-Saharan Africa, it is possible to envision them expanding into neighbouring states using it as a launching pad. Analysing China’s development cooperation instruments in Senegal reveals that China employs a broad range of strategies that are typical of its activities in Africa. The People’s Republic is clearly attempting to build a positive relationship with the country. Senegal’s shifting recognition of China (up to 1996 and since 2005) and Taiwan (1996-2005) is very interesting from a political standpoint. We can assume that China became more interested in Senegal for strategic reasons after the country decided to recognise Taiwan. From an economic standpoint, China is interested in Senegal as a regional trade and service hub. The fact that China’s relatively small export volumes to Senegal are increasing significantly in absolute terms demonstrates this. However, China’s primary motivation for its interest in Senegal is to broaden its sphere of influence in international politics. So far, the West African country has had positive relations with Western countries. Senegal is a regional leader and frequently serves as an intermediary. This republic, led by President Sall, is a member of the Economic Community of West African States, along with 14 other countries in the region (ECOWAS). Senegal is also one of eight members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), whose common currency is the Franc CFA. Clearly, China’s policy in Africa is driven by much beyond its economic transactions. China’s courting of Africa comes principally from its need to garner support in order to counter Western criticism of its internal policies and reject Western hegemony in international organisations. China has prioritised and strengthened ties with African members of global organisations such as the United Nations General Assembly, World Trade Organisation, and International Olympic Committee. Furthermore, African support for the PRC increases its legitimacy on a national and international level through voting alignments. Therefore, China’s growing bonhomie with Senegal follows the pattern and as African Union Chair, it will continue to be a priority in China’s Africa policy. The author is a Senior Research Associate with the Vivekananda International Foundation and doctoral scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Views expressed are personal. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.