A New World Order? Africa and China

By

Ousman Murzik Kobo

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Cold War-era poster with the slogan 'Chairman Mao is the great savior of the revolutionary peoples of the world.'

Revolutionary propaganda

Cold War-era poster with the slogan "Chairman Mao is the great savior of the revolutionary peoples of the world"

This Chinese painting from 1414 depicts a giraffe brought as tribute from Bengala

Tribute giraffe

This Chinese painting from 1414 depicts a giraffe brought as tribute from Bengala (modern-day Somalia). It is described in J.J.L. Duyvendak, "The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century."

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)

Logo of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which has held five summits since 2000.

Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana.

Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, invited the Chinese military to train freedom fighters in Africa in the 1950s and 1960s.

Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere, illustrated on the cover of Time magazine.

Julius Nyerere

Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere (illustrated here on the cover of Time magazine), attempted to emulate China's path of industrialization and worked closely with the Chinese.

Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe.

Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, said in 2005: “We have turned east, where the sun rises, and given our back to the west, where the sun falls.”

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Hillary Clinton

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern about China's intense involvement in Africa during her tenure, implying the economic relationship was a "new form of colonialism."

This U.S. Department of Defense map illustrates how the military created a new United States Africa Command.

AFRICOM

This U.S. Department of Defense map illustrates how the military created a new United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) by reassigning parts of the existing United States European Command (USEUCOM), United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) and United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) in 2007.

People's Republic of China Premier Wen Jiabao.

Wen Jiabao

People's Republic of China Premier Wen Jiabao denies that China's economic relations with African countries are imperial in nature.

China's President Xi Jinping walks with Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata.

China welcomes Zambia

China's President Xi Jinping walks with Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata during a welcoming ceremony in Sanya, South China's Hainan province, in April 2013.

South Africa NAM

Logo of the South Africa Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement

Chairman Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Mao Zedong

Chairman Mao founded the People's Republic of China in 1949 and was determined to help China free itself from colonial rule.

China built the $200 million African Union Headquarters at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

African Union headquarters

China built the $200 million African Union Headquarters at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, perhaps to secure the support of African members of the United Nations in its conflict with Taiwan.

Lu Shaye, the director-general of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of African Affairs.

Lu Shaye

Lu Shaye, the director-general of Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of African Affairs.

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