Angola and China Strike A Deal To Completely Wipe Out The West.
Channel: Africa Reloaded
Date: 25/03/2024

#africanews #Angola #china

In 2002, after the end of the 27-year-long civil war in Angola, the only country willing to come to the aid of Angola was China. In fact, the West considered Angola as a risky and uncertain investment. But, China, which at the time needed oil for its economy saw potential and opportunities in the oil-rich Angola and went ahead to form a partnership with the country in which China would find infrastructures and in return would have access to its oil. This partnership became known as the Angola model and China began to use it for other African countries because it was successful and led to Angola becoming Africa’s biggest destination for Chinese capital. In fact, since 2002, Angola has received 45 billion dollars from China which is more than a quarter of China's total lending to other African countries combined. And, this fund went to the construction of massive projects from airports, housing, and roads to hydropower stations such as the 4.1 billion dollar Caculo Cabaca hydropower station. In fact, it can rightly be said that China is instrumental to the infrastructure that can be seen in Angola today. 

So, everything was going well but you see, Angola like every other oil-rich African country is completely dependent on oil as a source of its revenue and exports, and seventy percent of this oil is exported to China in the form of debt repayments and so when oil prices began to fall as it did in 2024, it pushed the country into an economic recession and a debt crisis which it is currently trying hard to emerge from. So, those people always saying that China has an ulterior motive in Africa because most African countries are indebted to them and that China is no different from the West because they are also interested in African resources do not know what they are saying because the fact is China is just a country like Angola and you cannot expect it to invest in the country without getting anything in return. And, the reason why African countries are in so much debt to China is not because China deliberately made it so but because most African countries are dependent on primary commodities like oil which are vulnerable to price shocks in the international market which inadvertently makes them struggle to generate revenue and pay their debts. So, we can rightly say that the problem lies with African countries and not with China which has always upheld its side of the deal.