By Nkosazana Dweba
This house believes that the sun rises from the East. Those who do debating will be
familiar with the topic, knowing that it has to do with Eastern economies advancing at a
break-neck pace. The most notable of these economies is China. The Chinese rags-to-
riches story is one that would be inspiring if it weren’t so disturbing.
China is one of the world’s major traders (much to the chagrin of the United States). The
Chinese merchandise that we gleefully purchase was also probably made by a 5 year old
in one of China’s notorious sweat shops. The Chinese seem to think that being
communist and having veto powers in the United Nations makes them untouchable, but
who can blame them? Democratic human rights policies don’t apply to them and they
can veto any United Nations resolutions that they find inconvenient.
China’s exhaustive trading and investing allows them to wield power that is as surprising
as it was alarming. For those who are not familiar with “neocolonialism”, it is
Colonialism version 2.0. Basically, in the context of Chinese neocolonialism in Africa, it is
the use of financial means to control a country/continent. The recent Dalai Lama Visa
debacle (well, debacles) proves just that. For those who live under a rock, the Dalai
Lama is the religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism. He was forced into exile when China
invaded and occupied (“incorporated”, to use China’s words) Tibet in 1950. He
established a rival government in exile and, naturally, the Chinese government did not
take kindly to such opposition.
This is where the Visa issue starts. South Africa may have the biggest economy in Africa,
but that doesn’t mean much in relation to the rest of the world. Disagreeing with China
in any way could result in China withdrawing all trade from South Africa, effortlessly
bringing our economy to its knees. When the Dalai Lama was due to arrive in South
Africa back in 2009 to give a pre-World Cup lecture and was refused a Visa, the South
African government professed high and low that this incident had absolutely nothing to
do with China (yeah, right). This excuse would fly if history didn’t repeat itself in 2011
when the Dalai Lama was due to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80 th birthday
celebration. This time, the government blamed the Dalai Lama, saying that he cancelled
his trip before his Visa could properly be processed. Yet again, our government said that
it had nothing to do with China. No one’s buying the explanation, least of all the
birthday boy. Tutu launched into an anti-ANC tirade that will probably be remembered
for a very long time, saying that the apartheid government was better than the current
government because their actions were at least expected.
China has Africa in the palm of its hand, but that’s not enough. Europe’s economy has
not quite recovered from the economic downturn of 2008 (most notably, the Greek
economy). China has gallantly offered to increase investment in European economies to
help the recovery process. The European Union smells something fishy, and with good
reason. Then again, China has always been an expert in seeking out situations that can
be exploited.
I leave you with the following questions: Is it not more important to protect the citizens
of one’s country rather than abusing them for the sake of profit? Is it fair for China (or
any other country) to be allowed to overrule decisions that are agreed on by the rest of
the world? Yes, the sun is rising in the East, but it sure feels like it’s setting on the rest of
the world.