Chasing China, Japan looks to Africa for trade and global influence
- Both countries are competing for influence and benefits on the continent where China is a trade juggernaut
- But they want not only raw materials and markets ‘but also respect and love’, according to an analyst
When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met dozens of African leaders and business executives at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in Yokohama late last month, two things were clear.
First, Tokyo would take on China head to head in resource-rich Africa, where Beijing already has the upper hand in development lending and trade.
China is Africa’s biggest trading partner, with two-way trade growing twentyfold in the past two decades to US$204 billion last year, according to China’s Commerce Ministry.
China’s rapidly growing trade with African countries has jolted Japan, whose total with the continent is less than 10 per cent of China’s, according to the Japan External Trade Organisation.
Second, Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy behind the United States and China, plans to take its battle with Beijing for East Asian supremacy to the doorstep of the United Nations Security Council.
In Yokohama, Japanese officials sought African countries’ support for its push for reforms at the council, including getting Japan, Germany, Brazil, India and other nations added as permanent members.