China–Kenya relations

China–Kenya relations refer to the bilateral relations between China and Kenya.

Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Yi meeting with Jomo Kenyatta on his visit to Kenya in February 1964
Sino–Kenyan relations

China
Kenya

Political ties

This bilateral relations date back to 14 December 1963, two days after the formal establishment of Kenyan independence, when China became the fourth country to open an embassy in Nairobi.[1] Military exchange between the two countries has been increasing in the past decade. General Liu Jingsong, commander of the Lanzhou Military Region, led China's first military delegation to Kenya in December 1996; Major General Nick Leshan, commander of the Kenya Air Force, paid a return visit in 1997.[2] Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki visited Beijing in August 2005.[3]

In 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta visited China. He held talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Kenya and China ended up signing deals worth (US$5 billion).[4]

Chinese premier Li Keqiang visited Nairobi on his 2014 Africa tour. He and President Kenyatta signed 17 multi-billion-shilling deals to fund multiple infrastructural projects and various agreements. This included the establishment of a China-Africa Development Bank.[5]

Economic ties
Countries which signed cooperation documents related to the Belt and Road Initiative

Bilateral trade amounted to US$186.37 million in 2002; China exported US$180.576 million to Kenya, while only importing US$5.798 million of Kenyan goods, mainly black tea, coffee, and leather.[2]

Early in 2006 Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya; the latest in a series of deals designed to expand Chinese overseas economic engagement with Africa. The deal allowed for China's state-controlled offshore oil and gas company, CNOOC Ltd., to prospect for oil in Kenya, which is just beginning to drill its first exploratory wells on the borders of Sudan and Somalia and in coastal waters. No oil has been produced yet, and there has been no formal estimate of the possible reserves.[6]

In April 2007, the Jinchuan Group, a state-owned metal manufacturing group, became the first Chinese company to enter Kenya's mining sector, purchasing a 20% stake in Tiomin Kenya.[7]

Incidences of racism by Chinese expatriates accompanying Chinese investments in Kenya towards black Kenyans has been a source of recent controversy.[8][9][10][11] This has negatively impacted bilateral relations between the two countries.[8]

Debt financing

Between 2006 and 2017, Kenya has taken large loans of at least $9.8 billion (Sh1043.77 billion) from China.[12] Chinese debt accounts of 72% of overall foreign debt.[13]
China lent Kenya extensive loans of more than $5 billion[14] to build a standard gauge railway (commonly referred to as SGR), between Mombasa and Nairobi and highways in Kenya.[15][16] In November 2017, the Kenyan Auditor warned that the terms of SGR financing were written cryptically and designed to favor the China Exim Bank and said that if the Kenya Railways Corporation defaults in its obligations, the China Exim Bank would become a principle over some Kenyan assets, including the Mombasa port. In addition to the Mombasa port, Kenya could also be made to give China control of the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi.[14] In 2018, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyata banned Chinese fish imports in response to public outcry over the unregulated importation of fish from China with Kenyan fishermen lamenting on how the foreign fish had flooded markets.[17] The Chinese government use the Standard Gauge Railway as leverage against Kenya by threatening to completely pull funding for the project as well as threatening to impose trade sanctions.[18] The Kenyan government soon after lifted the ban of Chinese fish imports.[19]

The Kenyan government reportedly waived the sovereign immunity of its largest and most lucrative port, the Port of Mombasa, to be used as collateral for Chinese loans to construct the Standard Gauge Railway. It was reported in late December 2018 that Kenya may soon face default on Chinese loans, which could force Kenya to relinquish control of the port to China.[20][21]

The Kenyan media has debated whether Chinese loans are worth the risk of falling into "debt traps", drawing analogies with § Sri Lanka's Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port deal, and some commentators have argued that these loans could jeopardize Kenyan sovereignty.[15][22] Sri Lanka's new government as of 2019 has looked into renegotiation of its 99-year port lease agreement with China.[23]

Chinese development finance to Kenya

From 2000 to 2011, there are approximately 65 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Kenya through various media reports.[24] These projects range from a US$108 million grant from Chinese government to build the North and East Ring Road sections in Nairobi,[25] to a concessional loan to finance the construction of the Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital Project in 2011.[26]

Reports of racism and neo-colonialism

There are reports of racism and neo-colonialism against Kenyans by Chinese with cases including a Chinese restaurant refusing service to blacks,[27] a Chinese expat calling Kenyan people and even the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta a monkey[28] and a Chinese restaurateur captured on video beating, caning, and torturing a black worker.[29][30] There were also reports of racially segregated office bathrooms and a Chinese manager directing Kenyan employees to unclog a urinal of cigarette butts even though only Chinese employees smoked there.[31]

As a result of the large Chinese investments and business interests, there has been a large migration of Chinese workers and business persons to Kenya. There are reports of this causing friction with the local entrepreneurs who's livelihoods have been threatened by the arrival of Chinese traders.[32] Kenyan businesses have suffered due to the flooding of markets with cheap substandard imports from China.[29] Chinese companies are said to have won contracts by allegedly bribing corrupt officials, with the contracts being opaque, with the contract terms not being publicly available.[29]

There are also reports of discrimination against Kenyans in the SGR railway, with Kenyan employees being paid less than a quarter of their Chinese counterparts for the same job, and not being allowed to sit on the same tables as Chinese employees. Kenyans are also reportedly not allowed to enter staff vans if there is even a single Chinese present in it.[33]

Cultural ties

PRC state-owned China Radio International has operated radio station CRI Nairobi 91.9 FM since 2006.

See also

References
  1. "Kenya, China Mark 40-year Diplomatic Ties". Xinhua News Agency. 2003-12-11. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  2. "Kenya: Bilateral Relations". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. 2003-10-12. Retrieved 2007-11-06.
  3. "China to promote cooperation with Kenya: Chinese premier". People's Daily. 2005-08-19. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  4. "Kenya's Kenyatta and China's Xi sign $5bn deals". BBC. 2013-08-20. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  5. "Kenya signs 17 multi-billion deals with China". Business Daily. 2014-05-10. Retrieved 2015-01-19.
  6. Barber, Lionel; Andrew England (August 10, 2006). "China's scramble for Africa finds a welcome in Kenya". Financial Times. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  7. Onyango, Jim; Allan Odhiambo (2007-10-30). "Kenya: Attention Shifts to China After Latest Catch". Business Daily, Nairobi. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  8. Goldstein, Joseph (2018-10-15). "Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimination". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  9. Ellyatt, Holly (2018-10-16). "Chinese investment into Kenya is reportedly bringing racism and discrimination with it". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  10. Nairobi, Juliet Okoth, University of. "Kenya must face up to rising claims of racial discrimination by Chinese against locals". Quartz Africa. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  11. "The racist face of the Chinese presence in Africa". DW.COM. 9 November 2018. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
  12. Hairsine, Kate (18 October 2019). "Kenya struggles to manage debt for railway to 'nowhere'". DW.
  13. "Kenya: caught between debt and political indifference". Committee for the abolitionof illegitimate det.
  14. Jacques, Jeremiah (25 December 2019). "Kenya: The Next Nation to Fall Into China's Debt-Trap Diplomacy?". The Trumpet.
  15. "KISERO: Kenya must avoid China debt trap or fall into Sri Lanka". Daily Nation. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
  16. "Chinese company helps build new railway in Kenya". africa.chinadaily.com.cn. China Daily. Retrieved 2018-12-30.
  17. Mumbi, Mutuko. "President Uhuru Kenyatta Bans Chinese Fish From Kenyan Market". www.kenyans.co.ke.
  18. Oruko, Michael Ollinga (31 October 2018). "China threatens to stop SGR funding after Kenya bans Chinese fish imports". Tuko.co.ke - Kenya news.
  19. Roberto, Muyela (2 November 2018). "Government lifts ban on Chinese fish imports". Tuko.co.ke - Kenya news.
  20. News, Taiwan. "China's African Debt-trap: Beijing Prepares to Seize Kenya's Port of Mombasa". Taiwan News. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  21. BCNN1. "China's African Debt-trap: Beijing Prepares to Seize Kenya's Port of Mombasa | BCNN1 - Black Christian News Network". Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  22. "Debt diplomacy threat to sovereignty". www.mediamaxnetwork.co.ke. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  23. Moramudali, Umesh (January 1, 2020). "The Hambantota Port Deal: Myths and Realities". The Diplomat. Diplomat Media Inc. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  24. Austin Strange, Bradley C. Parks, Michael J. Tierney, Andreas Fuchs, Axel Dreher, and Vijaya Ramachandran. 2013. China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection. CGD Working Paper 323. Washington DC: Center for Global Development.http://china.aiddata.org%5B%5D
  25. Strange, Parks, Tierney, Fuchs, Dreher, and Ramachandran, China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection.http://aiddatachina.org/projects/202
  26. Strange, Parks, Tierney, Fuchs, Dreher, and Ramachandran, China’s Development Finance to Africa: A Media-Based Approach to Data Collection.http://aiddatachina.org/projects/1290
  27. Shankar, Sneha (25 March 2015). "Chinese Restaurant In Kenya Shut Down After Refusing Service To Africans". International Business Times.
  28. "Kenya deports Chinese man who called citizens 'monkeys'". Africa News. 6 September 2018.
  29. Mutua, Makau (19 April 2020). "An eye for an eye leaves us all blind, but on this China issue…". Daily Nation.
  30. Mabonga, Masolo (9 February 2020). "Chinese restaurant where Kenyan worker was caned closed". Tuko.
  31. Goldstein, Joseph (15 October 2018). "Kenyans Say Chinese Investment Brings Racism and Discrimination". New York Times.
  32. "Letter from Africa: Kenya's love-hate relationship with Chinese traders". BBC. 25 June 2019.
  33. Wafula, Paul (8 July 2018). "Exclusive: Behind the SGR walls". The Standard.
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