China’s coup

Misspent your country’s wealth? Waged war against an ethnic minority? Or just tired of those pesky good governance requirements attached to foreign aid by most Western governments and multilateral institutions?

If you run an African country and have some natural resources to put in long-term hock, you’ve got a friend in Beijing ready to write big checks with no embarrassing questions. That’s nice for governments, but not so nice for their misgoverned people.

Chinese president, Hu Jintao, recently completed a 12-day, eight-nation African tour in which he dispensed billions of dollars worth of debt relief, discounted loans and new investments. His itinerary included Sudan and Zimbabwe, two of Africa’s worst-governed and deadliest dictatorships.

China’s lending banks do not subscribe to the international guidelines, known as the Equator Principles that are used to monitor and manage the social and environmental impact of major outside investments. And a flood of cheap Chinese manufactured goods has pushed some of the poorest and most marginal workers deeper into poverty and unemployment.

China isn’t the first outside industrial power to behave badly in Africa. But it should not be proud of following the West’s sorry historical example.