Gravitas Plus: The race for Africa

today we'll talk about africa once seen by europe as the anti-thesis of civilization the heart of darkness in the words of a certain joseph conrad centuries later africa remains ignored it makes news for its conflicts poverty and exoticism for the longest time the world saw it as a lost cause then one country saw opportunity and thus began a new race for africa not very different from the scramble of the 19th century when colonial britain and france wanted raw materials slaves and geopolitical influence now in the 21st century global powers are in more or less the same race china the united states india the european union japan israel canada all of these countries are in the race for africa and one country is emerging as the clear winner hello and welcome to gravitas plus i'm palki sharma and this is africa a continent of 54 sovereign states 17 percent of the world's population 9.6 percent of the global oil output 90 of the world's platinum supply 90 percent of the world's cobalt supply half of the world's gold supply two-thirds of the world's manganese 35 percent of the world's uranium 75 percent of the world's colton and 54 votes in the united nations general assembly this is what makes africa so attractive and makes the continent a battleground for global powers there are numerous fronts investment in infrastructure military power diplomacy soft power trade geopolitics every country has its own interest in africa in 2016 israel began its scramble for the continent benjamin netanyahu became the first israeli prime minister to visit africa in 50 years what did he want votes in favor of israel and against palestine in the united nations resolutions africa and israel share similar histories he said israel went on to sponsor solar water and agricultural technologies in the same year 2016 senegal co-sponsored a u.n resolution it condemned the construction of illegal jewish settlements in the west bank what did israel do it cancelled the mushaf drip irrigation project and this is just one example here's another one the european union has pledged more than 54 billion dollars in sustainable investment for africa what does the eu want access to the african market of 1.3 billion people brussels has negotiated free trade agreements with at least 40 african countries but does this ensure a balanced two-way trade it doesn't and no country has a bigger interest in africa than china china is funding one in five infrastructure projects in africa it is building every third one africa has an infrastructure deficit and china has a signed checkbook starting 2005 china has invested at least two trillion dollars in africa it built six thousand two hundred kilometers of railways including the continent's longest railway line connecting ethopia and djibouti beijing has also built the african union headquarters in addis ababa what does china get in return a lot geopolitical influence to start with beijing is selling its culture its currency in guinea bissau exit signs are written in mandarin china has established at least 50 confucius institutes across 33 countries several african countries use chinese currency china also gets a strategic overseas base in 2017 china built its first overseas base at the horn of africa djibouti to be specific djibouti connects the mediterranean sea to the indian ocean via the swiss canal the base has the capacity to accommodate 10 000 troops china also gets a market to dump its goods china is africa's largest trading partner chinese trade has increased 40 fold in the last two decades at least 10 000 chinese firms operate in africa this is according to a mckinsey study africa has resources and china has access did you know that a third of china's investments in africa are in the mining sector and finally it gets to debt trap africa but here's the thing china is not the only country investing in this continent it's not even the biggest the united states is africa's largest investor it accounts for 54 billion dollars of fdi stock there are 600 american companies operating in south africa alone and this even after the us president called africa this for the longest time africa was nothing but a war zone for washington it has over 7 000 troops deployed in the continent they're spread across some 13 african countries including burkina faso cameroon central african republic chad democratic republic of congo kenya libya mali mauritania niger south sudan somalia and tunisia for the u.s africa was a continent for counter-terrorism operations what happened then why is the u.s suddenly interested in africa the answer is this for the u.s africa is now a new front to take on china and washington is now fighting it out for power and influence an article on the u.s state department website reads and i quote africa is the continent of the future thus we need to make the most of its potential by 2050 its population will more than double to 2.2 billion people with over 60 percent under the age of 25. where is africa's interest in all of this also what about india what role does india play in this continent new delhi's ties with africa date back to the time of mahatma gandhi india was part of the bandung project of 1955. new delhi supported africa's anti-colonial struggles it supported the liberalization movements in ghana algeria tunisia morocco angola mozambique guinea-bissau india also raised the issue of racism in south africa it will be unfair to say though that india's newfound interest in africa has nothing to do with china in 2018 indian prime minister narendra modi toured key african states just ahead of chinese president xi jinping's visit in 2018 india decided to open 18 new embassies in africa india has defence partnerships with zambia nigeria ghana ethiopia botswana uganda mozambique and namibia new delhi is currently training african military indian company airtel is a dominant telecom firm in africa new delhi is offering 50 000 scholarships to african students despite everything india is far behind china in the race for africa china's belt and road initiative has sealed its hold on africa if in the 1900s africa was colonized with force in 2020 it is being trapped by loans china accounts for 14 of sub-saharan debt in kenya the volume of chinese loans is six times that of france which is the country's second largest creditor and sri lanka can tell you what happens when chinese loans are not repaid china is looking to capture africa it has a strong diaspora it is spending big money it is selling its movies culture and currency china extracts raw materials it manufactures products with them and sells them back to this continent does this remind you of something what did the british do in india in the 19th century the rivalry between britain and france fueled africa's colonization in the 21st century the trade war between the united states and china is hastening the same just like the 19th century there are numerous countries in the scramble for africa and just like the 19th century there is nothing in it for africa gravitas plus co-presented by skodo simply clever

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Keywords: africa, race for africa, israel, us, united states, eu, european union, global powers, battlefield of global powers, gravitas plus, gravitas plus latest, gravitas plus today, palki sharma, palki sharma upadhyay, gravitas plus wion, africa resources, africa resources stolen, natural resources in south africa, africa mineral resources, western countries in africa, exploitation of african, exploitation of african resources

Id: zrjHY-lD2kU

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 03 2020