China’s strong PR powers divert attention from Japan’s hard work in Africa

“The Chinese, they are very strategic,” said Prof Macharia Munene of the United States International University-Africa in Kenya, adding that China is better at public relations than Japan.

“Sometimes we have a joke in Nairobi,” he said. “Japanese build some good road networks and people think it is the Chinese who did it. Which basically means that the Japanese PR is not as good as it should be.”

China’s reputation has been rising as Beijing aids Africa’s development with huge infrastructure investments.

According to a public opinion survey of 34 African countries released in 2021 by Ghana-based research organisation Afrobarometer, 63 per cent of Africans gave positive assessments of “the economic and political influence of China in their country”.

The figure is the highest among all choices, with the United States at 60 per cent, United Nations at 57 per cent and even their former colonial power – with which they have strong historical ties but also intense opposition to colonial rule – at 46 per cent. Japan was not even on the list of choices for the question.

While wary of debt traps, Africans positively view China because of factors such as Beijing’s support for their independence struggles against European colonial rule across the continent and its strategic approach to placing importance on Africa since the Cold War.

China’s stance not to interfere in internal affairs is also welcome by African countries.

For example, Zimbabwe has been under sanctions imposed by the West due to human rights violations and the authoritarian administration’s oppression of the opposition. But the country built its new parliament building, completed in June, with China’s assistance.

According to a Kenyan newspaper, Zimbabwe’s information minister welcomed the construction of the building, saying it symbolises deep relations between the two countries.

The Japan News

Asia News Network

Asia News Network: The Nation (Thailand), The Korea Herald, The Straits Times (Singapore), China Daily,  Jakarta Post, The Star and Sin Chew Daily (Malaysia), The Statesman (India), Philippine Daily Inquirer, Yomiuri Shimbun and The Japan News, Gogo Mongolia,  Dawn (Pakistan),  The Island (Sri Lanka), Kuensel (Bhutan), Kathmandu Post (Nepal), Daily Star (Bangladesh), Eleven Media (Myanmar), The Phnom Penh Post and Rasmei Kampuchea (Cambodia), The Borneo Bulletin (Brunei), Vietnam News, and Vientiane Times (Laos).