|
'Nous
attendons aux Chinois'
He said it several times, with each time having its own
significance.
I was by the Congo river, on the Kinshasa side, talking with a
Congolese guy about just about everything but the US elections.
He was my age – mid 20s. But his dad had walked away years ago
leaving him to look after his mother and sisters. Kinshasa is,
believe it or not, the fifth most expensive city on earth:
because of the lack of infrastructure, everything is imported,
including most of the relatively well paid aid workers. But this
guy would have $10 left each month after rent, water and
electricity.
We dwelt on the incredible scale and depth of poverty in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 'What can change this?',
I asked. He replied, urgent and strained, 'We're waiting for the
Chinese.'
This echoes round the world today – and through the history of
the DRC.
In its proliferating coal power stations, in its growing stake
in America's mounting debt, in its infrastructure projects in
Sudan, the whole world is waiting to see how China will take its
growing international responsibilities. A dragon that big
doesn't move unnoticed.
And the DRC is the obvious playground for a new power. At a
discussion in London recently, I heard someone say that a $50bn
deal with China had been enough to sap the Congolese
government's interest in talking to anyone else's Ambassadors.
Predictably, it was a discussion about natural resources and
conflict.
For hundreds of years, the Congo basin has been pillaged and
savaged for its abundance of gold, tin ore, coltan, timber,
diamonds – and people. This has almost universally been either
by, or with the connivance of, outside powers. Yet still the
Congolese are waiting for the Chinese.
But here's the twist. No people is destined to be tyrant,
saviour, or serf. China has some choices to make. The rest of us
should get used to seeing China finding its place in the Great
Game. But whether you fear or relish this new prospect, perhaps
we should watch more closely how it plays in the DRC. For it is
here, and places like here, where the stakes are at their
highest. |
