{"id":60662,"date":"2024-12-13T06:46:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T06:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades"},"modified":"2024-12-13T07:21:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T07:21:39","slug":"botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades","title":{"rendered":"Botswana has not Borrowed from Chinese Policy Banks for Almost Two Decades"},"content":{"rendered":"

writes Sara Van Hoeymissen<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Despite occasional efforts by the two sides to establish cooperation, the gap between Botswana\u2019s expectations as a borrower and China\u2019s loan offering has proven hard to close.<\/b><\/p>\n

Botswana and China will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations in 2025. Recent ties between the two countries have been relatively smooth. Former Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi visited Beijing twice during his time in office from 2018 to 2024. His last visit, on the occasion of the Summit of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September 2024, saw the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two sides. Among the possible areas for cooperation mentioned in Chinese news reports were industry, agriculture, mining, clean energy, education and health. One area, that of finance for infrastructure, was conspicuously absent from the list.<\/p>\n

Finance for infrastructure, once a pillar of China\u2019s Africa policy, has become less important in Sino-African cooperation in recent years as sustainability concerns have driven China to turn down and reorient its offering. In Botswana, however, reservations about Chinese loans for infrastructure building emerged years ago. Botswana stopped borrowing from Chinese policy banks after 2006 and concluded its last loan agreement with a for-profit Chinese lender in 2009. Botswana has nonetheless continued to benefit from grants as well as debt cancellation from China.<\/p>\n

The shift from borrowing to solely receiving aid from China seems counterintuitive for an upper middle-income country with a relatively strong credit rating like Botswana. In fact, Botswana is in a relatively favourable position to drive a hard bargain when negotiating terms for external funding for infrastructure development. Botswana\u2019s policy-makers see China\u2019s loan offering as unattractive and have shifted to other lenders.<\/p>\n

One of the key aspects of China\u2019s loan offering that went against the wishes of Botswana\u2019s policy-makers was the requirement to work with a Chinese contractor for the construction of infrastructure financed through a Chinese loan. This requirement forms an integral part of the \u2018state-co-ordinated investment partnerships\u2019 that China offers to African countries. It brings together the Chinese state, which facilitates project negotiations, a Chinese policy bank that finances the project, and a Chinese company that executes the project.<\/p>\n

The Botswana government values its independence to award tenders according to its own processes and standards. It has therefore avoided accepting tied loans and is even reluctant to accept tied aid for grant assistance. There is thus a structural incompatibility between China\u2019s loan offering, which is essentially tied to the execution of the project by a Chinese contractor, and Botswana\u2019s principles and preferred practices for foreign borrowing for infrastructure building.<\/p>\n

The Nata-Maun road project emerged as a possible area for cooperation after President Masisi\u2019s first visit to China in 2018. It was a time of heightened optimism for Botswana-China relations as Masisi showed more interest in working with China than his predecessor Ian Khama.<\/p>\n

This optimism proved unwarranted. In September 2020, Botswana government sources announced that the negotiations with China had reached a stalemate and would be discontinued, attributing the impasse to the requirement that Botswana had to use a Chinese contractor for the project.<\/p>\n

Botswana\u2019s insistence on its right to choose the contractor on its preferred terms is not unique to its relations with China. In 2014 Botswana threatened to pull the plug on a loan agreement with Japan for the construction of the Kazungula Bridge over differences over the selection of the contractor.<\/p>\n

There is growing African agency as a variable shaping Africa-China relations. African countries\u2019 engagement with China does not appear in a historical and political vacuum.<\/p>\n

In spite of the failed collaboration on the Nata-Maun road project, Botswana continued to seek good relations with China, joining the Belt and Road Initiative in January 2021 and recently establishing the Strategic Partnership. This pragmatist orientation in its foreign policy is perceived in Botswana as conducive to its ability to maximize national benefit in its foreign relations. Botswana has recently entered a new era with the historic power shift brought about by the recent general election, it will be interesting to observe whether Botswana will continue to adhere to these principles and practices under the leadership of its new president Duma Boko.<\/p>\n

LSE<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

writes Sara Van Hoeymissen Africa-Press – Botswana. Despite occasional efforts by the two sides to establish cooperation, the gap between Botswana\u2019s expectations as a borrower and China\u2019s loan offering has proven hard to close. Botswana and China will celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations in 2025. Recent ties between the two countries have been relatively […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,244],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-60662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-to-homepage","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nBotswana has not Borrowed from Chinese Policy Banks for Almost Two Decades - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite occasional efforts by the two sides to establish cooperation, the gap between Botswana\u2019s expectations as a bo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Botswana has not Borrowed from Chinese Policy Banks for Almost Two Decades\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite occasional efforts by the two sides to establish cooperation, the gap between Botswana\u2019s expectations as a bo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-13T06:46:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-13T07:21:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1734061823.437501.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Botswana has not Borrowed from Chinese Policy Banks for Almost Two Decades\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-13T06:46:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-13T07:21:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2024\/12\/sm_1734061823.437501.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/botswana-has-not-borrowed-from-chinese-policy-banks-for-almost-two-decades\",\"name\":\"Botswana has not Borrowed from Chinese Policy Banks for Almost Two Decades - 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