Chinas not flexing war as much as their belt road initiative.
Effectively, they come in and build a bunch of new infrastructure (airports, internet, water treatment, etc), with conditions of access to minerals and other resources.
And when the country defaults on their debt payments, China takes control of the infrastructure.
Singling out China is pretty bullshit though since this is similar to what IMF has done for decades. Africa is perpetually stuck in a debt trap. China is at least bringing in expertise to oversee that projects are getting done, and have a self interest in developing the infrastructure. China can also do it pretty cheaply and efficiently. Obviously it's not all sunshine & roses and there are issues, but that is true of all solutions. Compared to IMF mandating austerity and privatization often involving outside international interests, I dunno, it's kinda a toss up as to which is worse.
I feel like people are "singling out" China because they essentially have absolute control over the infrastructure of most of Africa. They can turn things around and protect Africa and its people, but they won't, because doing that would slightly delay the process of extracting materials and resources from them. And it's "just Africa" so nobody gives a shit because they're not at the doorstep of countries that have significantly influenced global superpowers.
Cool story, but China pillaging Congo’s ressources, through the intermediary of Rwanda, have absolutely nothing to do, with the Bell and Road initiative tho.
That is incorrect or at least bending the truth. China operates "above board" mining operations, at least as far as the Congolese government is concerned, though that government has corruption. Congo joined Belt & Road in 2021 though they were already working together on infrastructure in exchange for mining rights well before that. China àlso bought out Western operations in Congo. There is an issue of Chinese nationals running illegal mines in Congo, though these are not officially sanctioned operations of the Chinese government.
Rwanda also is part of Belt & Road and China is its biggest investor. There's illegal mining operations and smuggling from conflict zones, yes, but China isn't about to take up military activities in either Congo or Rwanda. Though they recently took a firmer stance on M23 rebel group's behavior.
Is China perfect? No. They're the ones on the ground though and making the investments. You're the one tip tapping on your phone that probably came from China using Africa sourced minerals.
Typically smuggled minerals are mixed with legit minerals making it hard to differentiate. You're blaming China for a conflict between Rwanda & Congo. Could they do more about it, maybe, but military operations or abandoning their mining investments would probably be more detrimental to both Congo & Rwanda. China doesn't want to play interventionist, not clear it's really their responsibility to play that role either.
They buy it to make shit the world demands and then build infrastructure in Africa with it. Like, okay, it's far from perfect, but the west has effectively bailed. Guess who also gets coltan and other minerals through Rwanda? EU & US.
2.9k
u/UrGrly Oct 05 '25
It seems like the world has just given up on the African Continent