America, the Bull in the China Shop
…time for President Hichilema to holler at Beijing
In the first week of January, I had a great sit down with a hard-nosed young interviewer from Diamond TV named Andrew Mwansa to review the year 2022 in current affairs.
Andrew is no spring chicken, so his questions come hard and fast, this time around we were discussing international relations, inevitably, the United States or ´Uncle Sam´ as I like to call it comes up, just like China, which I like to call the Dragon.
During our discussion live on TV, I said the UPND government under President Hakainde Hichilema missed the memo by not engaging the People´s Republic of China right from the beginning when they assumed office in August 2021.
The reason I advanced was simply that, you cannot put off a meeting with your single largest creditor, in our case China whom we owe about US$ 6 billion, regardless of your love or affinity for the west. Our total foreign debt stock is about US$15 billion.
This is because, he who pays the piper calls the tune and, it is just good diplomacy for you to engage the second largest economy in the world, set to become number 1 in a couple of years, some experts say less than a decade from now.
The long history we (Zambia) share with China was another reason I advanced for the current administration to rekindle the love with the dragon.
Remember in the 70´s, shortly after colonial independence from the United Kingdom, we were thrown under the bus by the ´Rhodesians´ who loved apartheid we hated and fought.
The apartheid regime, favoured by the west closed our sea transit point to South Africa via Zimbabwe, we had to build a railway line called Tazara or Tanzania Zambia Railways using Chinese money (US$500million) when the west laughed us out of the door. China was poor then, but they still rose to the plate to help us.
The saying goes, ´those that don’t learn from history risk repeating it.´
The above is the reason I said, still insist or advice now, as an ordinary citizen of Zambia, with some acumen of diplomacy and communication that President Hichilema should pick up the phone and ask his big brother in Beijing President Xi Jinping.
Let them have a cup of te or cha and iron out our US$6 billion debt because it’s the China in the Bull Shop right now, get Uncle Sam out of the way, don’t get me wrong, I love Uncle Sam and the Dragon on the same level, I am a diplomat.
I was speaking to my brother and mate brother Joe Chilaizya who was Charge D Affaires in Beijing for Zambia for a long time, he told me the US has muddied the waters by ´condescending´ China over the debt to Zambia.
He said, “Zambia should engage China at the highest level or they will get nothing from China going through Uncle Sam in form of the US Treasury or IMF it wont work.”
Having spent substantial time in both Beijing and Washington DC, me, myself personally, I agree with brother Chilaizya, President Hichilema must travel to Beijing like yesterday.
He will be surprised how the trip will positively turn out in his ´work after work after work´, policy, as President Edgar Lungu (number six) did in infrastructure unmatched with the dragon.
Ignoring China in the era of the Thucydides trap is tantamount to burying our heads in the sand.
The proverbial lips of the righteous teaches many while fools die for want of wisdom according to the good book, the bible.
China means well for Zambia, as the US does, ignore them at your own peril.
My forthcoming book ´The rise of China in Africa, Zambia story ‘will offer further insight on this issue, look out for it on Amazon.
Having worked as a senior Zambian envoy in Berlin and actually studied International Relations, penning a thesis on the issue at university in Germany, I believe I have some views that could help answer some questions on our table today, even across party lines. God bless you folks as the dragon roars side by side with Uncle Sam.
Make that Beijing call now Mr President because the IMF deal you love depends on it. Sometimes you must eat humble pie.
Amb. Anthony Mukwita 26.01.23.