China Online Review 丨 Japanese investment in Africa has touched porcelain China, and the distorted mentality cannot be replaced by influence

China Net commentator Huazhang

Editor in charge: Le Shui Yuxin Yuanjing

A few days ago, the 8th Tokyo African Development International Conference (TICAD) led by Japan was held in Tunisia, North Africa from August 27th to 28th. However, at such a conference that discussed cooperation with African countries in various fields in Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Wenxiong has repeatedly told China. "African" is "different" from China.

Under normal circumstances, at the discussion of the two -pointer cooperation meeting, participants will only use mutual benefit and win -win cooperation vision, and it is not uncommon to publicly declare that it will fight against other countries as a goal. The abnormal performance of Japan has nothing to do with the decline in its own strength and the strategic calculation of Lianhe and the United States.

On August 27, 2022, local time, Tunisia's capital Tunisia, the interior scene of the eighth Tokyo Africa development international conference in the conference palace. Figure/People's Vision

Many years ago, Japan realized that Africa has important strategic significance for its status of a great country. Since the first time in 1980, it has been proposed to join the UN Security Council's permanent member of the State for more than 40 years, although Japan has repeatedly applied for "entering" failure, it has always been obsessed with this. The Japanese side believes that in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to achieve the support of as many member states as possible, and to carry out the "golden yuan diplomacy" to draw tickets for itself. There are 54 sovereign countries in Africa, which is a huge "ticket warehouse" in the United Nations, and naturally has become the object of the Japanese side.

In 2013, the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had promised to provide Africa with a total of 3.2 trillion yen (about 148.6 billion yuan) to Africa within 5 years to win the support of African countries. He hoped that the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations in 2015 was an opportunity. "Entering". This time, Kishida promised to provide African development with 30 billion U.S. dollars in the next three years. I am afraid that it will still follow the "Golden Yuan Diplomacy" old road to prepare for the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations in 2025.

In addition, Africa is a "treasure house for energy resources", especially for oil, natural gas, non -ferrous metals and other reserves, which are particularly attractive for Japan with developed industries but poor resources. Some energy companies in Japan have been in Africa for a long time. Japanese media such as "Asahi Shimbun" have also used a large number of layouts to promote African mineral resources, hoping that Japanese companies will increase their investment. At the government level, Japan led the first international meeting of Tokyo Africa as early as 1993 to strengthen cooperation in Japan's non -energy investment and economy and trade. It has a history of nearly 30 years.

It can be seen that the Japanese side has given Africa an important strategic position from its own interests. It is not that it is not to strengthen cooperation with Africa in the past two years, nor is it to achieve the so -called "tough Africa". But as the Japanese government's cognition and desire, in recent years, Japan's investment in Africa has not increased and declined. According to the data released by the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's investment in Africa reached the highest point in 2013, exceeding 10 billion US dollars, and then began to decline. By 2020, it has been less than $ 5 billion. Just. Even TICAD influence, which has been in Japan for many years, is declining. On the eve of this year, many people in Japan worried that the number of participants in this meeting decreased and the scale was reduced, and "TICAD's brand will be lost."

The main reason for Japan's insufficient investment in non -investment is that the Japanese economy continues to be downturn. In the first half of the 1990s, Japan became the first country in Asia to realize more than $ 40,000 per capita GDP, but this number has since fallen into a slow growth or even stagnation. Japan has been surpassed by Asian countries such as Singapore and South Korea. Since 2014, the average annual growth rate of Japan's GDP has maintained below 2%, and it has been less than 1%in multiple years. In 2019 and 2020, negative growth has occurred in two years. With the long -term downturn in the country's economy, the weak investment assistance is inevitable.

Data Map: On October 16, 2019, local time, Nairobi, Kenya, the first phase of the Kenya Nairobi -Maraba Bid Railway (Nema Railway), which was established by Chinese companies, was officially completed on the 16th. Figure/People's Vision

In contrast, under the "Belt and Road" initiative framework, China -Africa cooperation is steadily advancing. As of the end of 2021, among 53 African countries with diplomatic relations with China, 52 countries and the African Commission have signed cooperation documents with China with China. Africa has become the most important partner participating in the "Belt and Road" cooperation. one. According to the data released by the Ministry of Commerce, as of the end of 2020, China has exceeded 43.4 billion US dollars in Africa and has invested in more than 50 African countries; China has maintained its status in Africa's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years. The $ 25 billion mark, a year -on -year increase of 35.3%.

Sino -Japanese cooperation with Africa is obvious. Japan was lacking in actual measures, so he had to work hard on his mouth, taking a "superior student" for non -cooperation as a target, relying on words to discredit other countries to prove that he did better. In addition, in the context of the intensified game between China and the United States, Japan followed the United States' anti -China policy and continued to make improper remarks on issues involving China's core interests and adopted improper action. Fame and goodwill, paving the way for the "normalization" of the country. Specifically, in terms of cooperation with Africa, Japan has more relationships through ionizing China -Africa to win back its influence. However, the strategic competition between China and the United States has clearly seen the world. The latter and its subordinate countries have repeatedly speaking the intention of slandering China, and countries are also known. African Development Bank President Ajinwenmi Adecner made it clear that China has no plan to make any country's debt. China is playing a very important role in Africa in Africa. No debt crisis. Chiran Bahanana, editor -in -chief of South Africa's "Diplomacy" magazine, also reminded that Japan's increase in Africa's willingness to invest in Africa must be transformed into reality and effectively benefit the people in Africa.

In this topic, China's attitude is much more open and tolerant. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly emphasized that China welcomes all initiatives that help develop countries to build infrastructure and promote common development; China also believes that different related initiatives should not be mutually replacement and repulsion, but should be advocated and stored compatible and accumulating , Communicate and coordinate, form a joint force. Tanaka Kenji, chairman of the Japanese Asian Pacific Forum, also believes that the number of people can send to Africa with limited number of people, and Japanese capital has also entered the bottleneck of investing in Africa. At this time, cooperation with China is the best opportunity.

Advise the Japanese side, in terms of foreign cooperation, the influence of disobedience of other countries will not be exchanged, but it will appear to be a small belly chicken intestine; it is better to strengthen the third -party cooperation with China, in order to truly fulfill non -commitment to non -African countries. Build an infrastructure and promote common development of global development.

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