The round-table conference 'CHINA AND THE WORLD: CHANGING REALITY AND SHARED FUTURE' was held online sucessufully on 31st July 2020, which was co-organized by the Institute for a Community with Shared Future (ICSF) from China, the Centre For New Inclusive Asia (CNIA) from Malaysia, and The Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (DOC Research Institute) from Germany. Experts and reserchers from China, Germany, Malaysia, the UK, the US, Singapore, South Africa and etc. shared their perceptions and ideas with rational arguments from multi-perspectives towards the transforming world situation under both the COVID-19 pandemic and the tension of China-US relation, and then discussed solutions to expect a promising shared future for the whole humankind. The article below was compiled from some expert's speech on the conference. --Eds
Cobus van Staden
Research and Analysis Director, The China-Africa Project;
Senior Researcher in China-Africa Relations at SAIIA’s Foreign Policy Programme, South Africa
Thanks so much. And thank you for the invitation. I really appreciate it. It's fantastic to join everyone.
The COVID-19 has really been a crisis everywhere on top of the health and economic. Africa is also now, because of the kind of sudden nature of confident in pandemic, facing a death process. So one of the big issues that's facing African countries at the moment is the very difficult decision about whether to service their debts and whether gonna to take that money and use. So this is a massive dilemma that African countries are facing. And it comes on the back of long running pressure from the United States. But I think from many sides at the moment, for the global countries in the global south to change, to choose sides between China and the United States.
So we've seen that, for example, in the case of the use of a very big technology partner in Africa. And there's been pressure coming from the United States for countries to stop working with Huawei, which in the case of Africa, is largely possible why we built part about 70% of all 4G networks in Africa. So it's very difficult to Africa to move away from that relationship. Particularly also because there isn't really a concrete, an alternative coming from another country to step into that role. So we also see it very increasing pressure on African countries in relation to their support for Chinese candidates, multilateral institutions. Another kind of a pressure point is that relationship. African countries are the whole that are trying to step away from this pressure to choose partners. Africa once as many partners as they can get. And both the United States, Europe and China are all really important parts of Africa. So Africa is trying to maintain all of these relationships and try to work with more partners rather than being forced to choose between them.
The issue I think the most glaringly at the moment is in relation to debt. So what if, like China, in China is a major bilateral lender to Africa, as is the Bretton woods system, like the World Bank at the International Monetary Fund. However, Africa's also has a lot of debts to private labors particular Eurobond lenders. And what the situation at the moment is that Africa is essentially running out of time, that as the process to try and create a sustainable instrument to allow Africans to freeze that servicing in order to use that money for health care. That process is taking very long and that was pushed by the G20, on which only covers a certain amount of African debt as to logic states stalled. And African approaches trying, like African proposals run by the United Nations economic commission for Africa, to create a one-size-fits-all debts solution that would freeze repayments without pushing African governments either to default or to be downgraded by ratings agencies.
I'm not getting a lot of support either from China or from the other international balance. So this is an extremely dangerous situation because if African countries are pushed, they will essentially through no fault of their own, be downgraded, which will have massive economic effects over the next, while this is already on top of the economic impact of the COVID.
So this is a big problem for Africa, but it is actually a big problem for everyone. Because all of Africa's major partners have very strong vested interests in keeping in maintaining African development. So for China, those basic interests lie in is essentially the entire, like Africa is a very large part of China's entire relationship with the global south. So the logic of win development and south cooperation, which I think underlines much of China's work in the global south, including the Belt and Road initiative of the future success of that corporation. If Africa developed stalls, then many of these narratives start not making sense.
For the United States development, African development is crucial. Because if development fails in Africa, that means massive opportunities for recruitment by terrorist organizations. We've seen this, in parts of Africa where economic development is not working, like in the north of Mozambique, used to be a radical country. So what we will see massive new pressures on US and security was now in Africa come the future.
I think it will be affected the most severely of Africa's external partners by a collapse in African development at the moment will be Europe. African migration to Europe is already a big issue if African economies are allowed to collapse. Now, the kind of refugee crisis that Europe look through around 2014, 2015 where there was massive migration from areas like Syria to Europe, will be dwarfed by the kind of migration crisis will see from Africa.
So it's really in everyone's interest to make sure that the African development continues through the COVID-19 crisis. Most notably because really as this crisis is not Africa's fault, we've seen that Africa's risk. African financial risk is vastly overestimated in the final global financial system. And Africa is essentially treated very unfairly by the global financial system. And China's work in calling for the reform of the financial of the global financial system. And particularly in the reform of very western bias institutions, like the Bretton woods institutions, those are really crucial. It's a really important work.
And I think at the moment, as we're seeing withdrawal from multilateralism, from both European and American actors in different respects, and a withdrawal of energy from the global development system from these actors. I think there's a natural space for China to step into a global leadership position on this issue. So I think there's really an opportunity here for China to take a global position itself as the global south rising global superpower. Because China is in this unique position as being both a global south countries and an emergency power to step into that leadership position to move these processes forward. I think in that sense, the COVID-19 crisis is actually an opportunity for a new form of global south cooperation.
And in the process for a chance for China to position itself against this narrative that many other speakers have also criticized of the idea that it's us versus them, or zero-sum competition or a new cold war. All of these ideas are extremely destructive. And I think this is the perfect time for China to really take Africa hand in moving forward towards a kind of global south-centered model of future development, where I think, but if everyone can actually work together in a more constructive way towards not only getting over the COVID-19 crisis itself, but then to also move towards multilateral problem solving in relation to bigger challenges like climate change, for example. So I think in a lot of ways, the COVID-19 crisis presents an opportunity. But it will really then calls on all of these external about this. You're gonna just step up and move towards a new way of working together. And thanks so much.
中文翻译请见：http://icsf.cuc.edu.cn/2020/1117/c5607a175708/page.htm