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Why China is building gleaming new government facilities in Africa
- From foreign ministry headquarters to presidential palaces, Beijing is funding projects across the continent
- But concerns have been raised over the potential for bugging and how African nations will ‘pay back’ China
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China is funding and building a growing number of government and parliament buildings, police headquarters, military housing and presidential palaces in Africa, helping cement its relations across the continent.
The latest is a new building to house Kenya’s foreign ministry, which its principal secretary Macharia Kamau this month revealed would be paid for by China. That came after China made a similar promise to the Democratic Republic of Congo in January. Work has also begun on a new China-funded US$80 million Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Ethiopia.
The Kenyan foreign ministry announcement was made at an event in Nairobi on May 13 during which the Chinese embassy donated two buses for ministry use. “We have special gratitude to the government of the People’s Republic of China for the generous grant towards the construction of a new ministry headquarters,” Kamau said.
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It follows a pledge made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his Africa tour that Beijing would fund the refurbishment of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s foreign ministry headquarters.
Paying for the construction of grandiose symbols of state such as gleaming presidential palaces and parliamentary buildings, through grants or interest-free loans, has been one of Beijing’s key diplomatic strategies in Africa.
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