Chapter 9 - Mortgaged to China: A New Imperialism?

Summary

Introduction

For a long period of time after attainment of political independence in 1963, Kenya's foreign economic relations remained principally tied to her former colonial power, Britain and, by extension to the European Union countries and the United States. Beginning with the Kibaki administration (2003–13), however, Kenya has increasingly looked East to China in terms of its economic relations and sourcing of development loans. Although these relations between Kenya and China existed under President Moi when China helped with the construction of Nairobi's Nyayo National Stadium and the Moi Sports Complex in Kasarani, in Nairobi as well as the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, the relations picked up pace under President Mwai Kibaki and intensified under Uhuru Kenyatta, measured in terms of volume of amounts of development financing involved. The construction of the Thika Superhighway under Kibaki, and the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), and the Nairobi Expressway both under Uhuru Kenyatta, are three of the biggest projects financed by Chinese loans in Kenya.

This chapter examines the increasing role of China as Kenya's development financier and seeks to answer the question as to whether the partnership between the two countries is mutually beneficial or whether Kenya is increasingly being mortgaged to China in a new form of imperialism. The chapter begins with an exploration of the economic rise of China and its increasing interest in Africa. It then focuses on the theme of the country's development loans to Kenya, which have increased dramatically since the decade of the 2010s. The main argument of the chapter is that as an emerging global economic power characterized by tremendous economic growth over the last several decades particularly as a consequence of Deng Xiaoping's (1978–89) reforms, China's interest in Africa in general, and in Kenya in particular, is dictated by its voracious economic needs in the form of natural resources to feed its industries and markets for its industrial goods and burgeoning labor force as well as its strategic geopolitical ambitions. Being so, China's dealings with countries such as Kenya may not be as benign as they are made out to be. As pointed out in Chapter 4, foreign policies of states are planned and implemented with the sole purpose of advancing self-interest. Helping others is never the primary purpose of any country's foreign policy in their relations with others.