Equatorial Guinea and China

By Dave Durbach

More than medals and records, the Olympics are a time for the underdogs, also-rans, minnows and no-hopers to stake their claim on the world stage.

For example, the first time many people heard of Equatorial Guinea was during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, thanks to Eric ``the Eel'' Moussambani, who started swimming only eight months before the games, and Paula Barila Bolopa, who recorded the slowest time in Olympic history for the women's 50m freestyle.

There's more to Equatorial Guinea than that, though. In June this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pastor Micha Ondo Bile traveled to Beijing to hand over one million euros to Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for victims of the Sichuan earthquake, as well as to express his appreciation of China's preparations for the Olympic Games, and wish the Beijing Olympics a great success.

Now it's not every day that an impoverished African state willingly donates money to a superpower. But in Equatorial Guinea, they're used to not going by the book.

Located in west-central Africa, Equatorial Guinea declared independence from Spain in 1968. Its first president, Francisco Macias Nguema, ruled with a heavy hand, and the country fell into ruins. In 1979, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo led a successful coup d'etat and has held power ever since.

While arguably more levelheaded than his predecessor, few would call Obiang anything other than a dictator. Equatorial Guinea finds itself on most shameful lists ― from the most-censored countries (according to the Committee to Protect Journalists) to the most corrupt (Transparency International), to the worst places to do business (the World Bank).

Once one of the poorest countries in the world, the discovery of oil reserves in 1995 has driven economic growth at well over 10 percent per annum and given the only Spanish speaking African country one of the highest GDP per capita in the world.

However, its half-million citizens have gained little from this boom, whereas President Obiang's family and foreign oil companies have made fortunes.

Equatorial Guinea is now the third biggest producer of crude oil in sub-Saharan Africa, after Angola and Nigeria. While the U.S. has until recently dominated Equatorial Guinea's oil industry, China has been taking increasingly bigger bites of the pie, also importing a huge amount of tropical timber, alarming Americans and environmentalists alike.

Although China and Equatorial Guinea established formal relations in 1970, it was in June 2005 that Chinese Vice-President Zeng Qinghong announced that the time had come to boost bilateral ties to ``a new level."

In October that year, at the invitation of President Hu Jintao, President Obiang paid his fifth visit to China, during which he also met with Premier Wen Jiabao. The two countries pledged to strengthen cooperation to seek ``the establishment of a just and sound new international political and economic order."

The wheels were set in motion a few months later, in February 2006, when a subsidiary of Chinese oil and gas giant China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) signed a contract for an offshore block in Equatorial Guinea.

In early 2007, China's then Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing visited Equatorial Guinea, where he canceled debt to the tune of $75 million, promised aid and opened a new Chinese-built media center.

President Obiang hailed China as the ``best friend" of his country and welcomed further Chinese involvement. He countered critics who accuse China of exploiting Africa by stating that China genuinely wanted to help all African nations.

With oil greasing palms on both sides, things seemed to be running smoothly, until March this year, two Chinese nationals were killed and four injured in a face-off between disgruntled Chinese workers and Equatorial Guinea's police.

This was after over a hundred Chinese workers went on strike over work conditions, in violation of local laws. The Chinese government was furious, and in April decided to withdraw more than 400 of its workers from the country.

Equatorial Guinea's government swiftly imposed a news blackout on the incident. While details were sketchy, it was believed to be the first case of Chinese workers being killed in a labor protest in Africa and possibly the most serious dispute to affect Chinese involvement in the continent.

This is the context in which Equatorial Guinea decided to offer assistance to Chinese quake victims. Pastor Micha Ondo Bile was well received in Beijing, and his country's cheque would have gone a long way to patch up the relationship, as would the prospect for China of losing one of its most lucrative African allies.

Surely, China's involvement is no worse than that of the West. Equatorial Guinea returned to the news on July 7, when British mercenary Simon Mann was sentenced to 34 years in Black Beach prison for plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea.

Also implicated was Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who pleaded guilty in South Africa to ``unwittingly" funding the purchase of an aircraft to be used in the elaborate coup plot.

During the trial in the capital of Malabo, Mann claimed that he had official endorsement from the governments of Spain, South Africa and the U.S., as well as major U.S. oil companies and senior members of the Equatorial Guinea army, police and Cabinet, all of whom gave ``tacit approval" for regime change.

Mann also claimed to be sympathetic to the fact that oil money was not reaching the people. ``I believed it was right," he said.

Foreign involvement in Africa has never been simple. China may be in bed with a dictator, but at least they're not interfering with the country's sovereignty by planning to overthrow its government.

Ultimately, it seems fitting that Equatorial Guinea will get to write the next chapter of its unique Olympic story in Beijing.

The writer is a South African teaching English in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province. He can be reached at durbdev@yahoo.co.in.