China an alternative to "addictive" aid in Africa
Wed 6 Feb 2008, 16:09 GMT
By Alphonso Toweh
MONROVIA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Too much Western aid can become an addictive drug for poor African countries and Chinese investment offers an alternative, mutually-beneficial relationship, China's ambassador to Liberia said on Wednesday.
Zhou Yuxiao urged other countries to follow China's lead in cancelling debt to Liberia, a once-prosperous West African country struggling to recover from a 1989-2003 civil war. China cancelled its $12 million bilateral debt a year ago.
China was also interested in investing in a tax-exempt economic zone being planned by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf's government to kick-start economic activity.
"Too much aid is not good for a country. It's like drugs ... If you are addicted to it, it becomes bad," Yuxiao told Reuters in an interview. "China is calling for win-win cooperation, or mutual beneficial cooperation."
China has pumped billions of dollars into Africa in recent years in search of natural resources for its booming economy. That has unnerved Western donors, who worry that it is ignoring human rights abuses.
Since they opened relations in 1977, China has twice broken off diplomatic ties with Liberia -- when President Samuel Doe and his successor, warlord Charles Taylor, recognised Taiwan in return for generous aid and investment.
In 2004, China deployed 500 peacekeepers to Liberia, its biggest-ever contribution to a U.N. peacekeeping mission, after an interim government reopened diplomatic ties in 2003, shortly after the end of the war which killed some 200,000 Liberians.
DEBT RELIEF
President Johnson-Sirleaf, who took office two years ago, has been keen to court China. Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Liberia a year ago and announced the cancellation of Liberia's bilateral debt.
"We are calling on other counties to cancel Liberia's debt. If the debt issue can not be resolved, it will affect Liberia's economic development," Yuxiao said.
Years of political strife, economic mismanagement and corruption have left Liberia with foreign debts of $4.5 billion, most of that to multi-lateral lending institutions.
The World Bank said in December Liberia cleared its $400 million debt to the organisation, thanks largely to a loan from the United States.
At present, China is helping Liberia build a $3 million military barracks in the centre of country and opening a Chinese teaching centre at the University of Liberia. As in many African countries, the football stadium in the Liberian capital Monrovia was Chinese-built.
Liberia, Africa's oldest Republic, was founded by freed American slaves in 1847, and has long been a staunch ally of the United States. U.S. President George W. Bush is due to visit Liberia this month.
Yuxiao, a 54-year-old diplomat who had previously worked in Nigeria and South Africa, said China was not hoping to step into America's shoes.
"There is no scramble for Liberia. As you know, Liberia has special relations with America and we have normal relations," he said. "We do not compete with America." (Editing by Daniel Flynn)
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL06350538.html