Kinshasa’s missing millions

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The new stand-off between Beijing and Washington could take Africa back to the Cold War era of rival superpowers. Last month, China’s People’s Daily described the USA’s sale of US$6.4 billion of arms to Taiwan as ‘Cold War thinking’. This follows spats such as the trade in chicken feet and car tyres, mysterious hackers into Google mail and the failure of the climate change talks in Copenhagen. Beijing sent a deputy foreign minister to negotiate with President Obama on environmental rules last December. China’s argument was simple: the US (and Europe) should not lecture developing countries on the need to cut carbon emissions. Underlying the fractiousness are simple economics: China’s yuan has stayed at the same value since mid-2008, and is reckoned to be undervalued by 25-40%. This racks up the US deficit and unemployment. China and the US are edging towards a trade war, which could push the global economy back into recession – a disaster for Africa that would offset any slight gain in the terms of trade. Africa’s autocrats would welcome a diplomatic war in the G-2: Beijing has been making supportive noises towards President Omer el Beshir, weeks ahead of Sudan’s critical elections while Sinophile President Robert Mugabe looks on with renewed hope.