If you don’t like what China is selling – don’t buy it
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Tanzania has issued a strict set of conditions for a planned $10 billion, Chinese-funded port in the town of Bagamoyo, near the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
This includes the removal of planned tax breaks and other financial incentives. It could spell the end for the Belt and Road project, agreed in 2015 with promises of turning Tanzania into a trade hub.
Trouble began when president John Magufuli took office in late 2015, criticising the project terms as “exploitative”. It was indefinitely suspended in June, and the new demands are effectively an ultimatum.
The take it or leave it approach goes against the conventional wisdom that African countries are largely passive actors in China’s grand scheme for dominance on the continent.
This ignores their agency in signing deals, and the responsibility to ensure these are in line with development needs. Turning down projects that aren’t is just common sense.
Tanzania is not the first to do so. Last year Sierra Leone cancelled a $400 million airport project with Beijing after deeming it “uneconomical”.
In short, just because China is selling something, you don’t have to buy it.
This also applies to Africa’s steadily growing list of would-be suitors, bringing with them big cheques and bigger promises.
Let’s hope African governments are familiar with the Latin term caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.
This report reflects the views of the author alone, not those of How we made it in Africa.
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