{"id":43618,"date":"2023-04-24T07:56:27","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T07:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/why-china-is-building-africas-new-parliaments"},"modified":"2023-04-24T08:19:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T08:19:55","slug":"why-china-is-building-africas-new-parliaments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/why-china-is-building-africas-new-parliaments","title":{"rendered":"Why China Is Building Africa’s New Parliaments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Zimbabwe\u2019s new parliament gives an architectural nod to the country\u2019s famous ancient ruins; Lesotho\u2019s has a design resembling a \u201cmokorotlo,\u201d the conical straw hat that\u2019s part of national dress; and Malawi\u2019s has a dome that looks like a calabash.<\/p>\n

These local elements make these modern parliaments notable departures from southern Africa\u2019s old European-style legislatures built in colonial times, but in fact the new buildings were also designed and built by a foreign power: China.<\/p>\n

Despite the African design elements, the imposing buildings aren\u2019t that different from China\u2019s own brutalist architecture, and stand out in developing countries, some of which, like Malawi, are among the poorest in the world.<\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s largest trade partner has become known for its multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure projects on the continent, such as railways and ports. But for years it has also been building grand new parliaments and other government buildings, which cost less but are equally part of Beijing’s diplomatic push in the region.<\/p>\n

These buildings, like the new $200 million Zimbabwean parliament, which opened last year, are usually given as gifts, with no loans attached.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prestige diplomacy helps to strengthen China\u2019s ties with the African governments, especially the top leaders,\u201d according to Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cBuilding a government building named after a president does not cost much, but the goodwill and reputational benefits are tremendous,\u201d she told VOA.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in it for China?<\/p>\n

China has so far built or refurbished parliaments in some 15 African countries, including the Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, the Seychelles and Guinea Bissau, as well as other government buildings such as Burundi\u2019s presidential palace and the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n

Innocent Batsani-Ncube, a postdoctoral researcher at SOAS University of London, has a forthcoming book on China\u2019s parliaments in Africa. He told VOA such buildings aren\u2019t just bricks and mortar; \u201cyou have to locate this within this idea of building influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond goodwill from African leaders, China\u2019s parliament-building drive benefits the Asian giant in multiple other ways, he says.<\/p>\n

It allows Beijing to gauge the \u201cpolitical temperature\u201d of a country, he says, because while China often deals directly with ruling parties on the continent, in a multi-party democracy you\u2019ll find all political factions in the parliament and it\u2019s the one place China can connect with the opposition \u2014 which is valuable just in case there\u2019s regime change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides a way of hedging their bets,\u201d says Batsani-Ncube.<\/p>\n

Even in political systems dominated by one party, he notes, there\u2019s occasional leadership turnover and \u201cit\u2019s not enough to target the guy who\u2019s in power now, you have to play the long game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, echoes that idea, saying \u201cit affords China the opportunity to cultivate local elites.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it might garner the Chinese political savvy and connections as well as open the doors for Chinese economic interests, analyst Yunnan Chen says China\u2019s parliament-building drive is not necessarily an attempt to export Beijing\u2019s one-party system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be a very convoluted argument to make that the structure of a building carries a philosophy with it,\u201d said Chen, a researcher at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), an independent global think tank. But, she noted, China does provide training and foreign exchanges for African government officials.<\/p>\n

Batsani-Ncube agrees that the architectural efforts are different from more overtly political initiatives such as a leadership academy for African politicians opened by China last year in Tanzania. Beijing seems indifferent to the political systems in the countries where it is building parliaments, he says.<\/p>\n

Concerns have also been raised that the new buildings could be equipped for future Chinese espionage in light of a 2018 controversy over the reported bugging of the Chinese-built African Union headquarters in Ethiopia \u2014 something Beijing has repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n

Asked about such concerns by reporters ahead of the opening of the new parliament in Zimbabwe last year, Cai Libo, from Shanghai Construction Group, the government-owned company that built it, responded that China and Zimbabwe were friends and \u201cyou would not do such kind of things to your friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in it for Africa?<\/p>\n

The Washington-based Heritage Foundation, whose research on the topic has found that \u201csince 1966, Chinese companies have built or renovated at least 186 African government buildings,\u201d said China\u2019s \u201cpalace diplomacy\u201d serves \u201clittle purpose other than to curry favor with recipient governments.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the ODI\u2019s Chen says many of the new buildings are not only wanted by African governments, but also needed because the old ones have become so dilapidated \u2014 even if the shiny new structures do \u201ccarry an element of vanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nantulya notes that countries like the U.S. don\u2019t usually put money toward such projects, and for African governments, \u201cone way that political support domestically can be mobilized is by showing voters that investments have been made in visible, tangible outputs like a building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batsani-Ncube agrees there\u2019s a need for new buildings as African legislatures and institutions expand in size, as increased staff entails more office space.<\/p>\n

But, he adds, the big construction projects have little economic benefit for the recipient countries because China and Chinese firms control everything from the drawing table to completion.<\/p>\n

That control of the process also leaves Chinese firms best equipped to handle future maintenance of the buildings, he said. China has just completed renovations on the parliament it built in Malawi.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt leads to complaints [that] countries are not developing local expertise,\u201d said Nantulya.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s institutional building drive in Africa is set to continue. A few weeks ago, ground was broken on Ghana’s new foreign ministry building, which is being paid for entirely by China, along with the new headquarters of West African bloc ECOWAS, currently under construction in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Namibia. Zimbabwe\u2019s new parliament gives an architectural nod to the country\u2019s famous ancient ruins; Lesotho\u2019s has a design resembling a \u201cmokorotlo,\u201d the conical straw hat that\u2019s part of national dress; and Malawi\u2019s has a dome that looks like a calabash. These local elements make these modern parliaments notable departures from southern Africa\u2019s old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":43617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-43618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy China Is Building Africa's New Parliaments - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zimbabwe\u2019s new parliament gives an architectural nod to the country\u2019s famous ancient ruins; Lesotho\u2019s has a design resem ...\" \/>\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\/namibia\/all-news\/why-china-is-building-africas-new-parliaments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why China Is Building Africa's New Parliaments\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zimbabwe\u2019s new parliament gives an architectural nod to the country\u2019s famous ancient ruins; 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