The beneficiaries in many cases are former liberation movements that won struggles against colonial and white-minority rule decades ago, often with Chinese support. Now organized as governing political parties, they have stayed in power ever since, often while accused of stifling any opposition.<\/p>\n
A major instrument of Chinese influence is a $40 million political training school based in Tanzania and jointly established last year by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and six southern African former liberation movements.<\/p>\n
Each of the six nations participating in the school \u2014 Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola \u2014 has been ruled by the same party since independence.<\/p>\n
Promoting ‘weiwen’<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CCP capitalized on an opportunity to relocate some of its political and ideological programs to Africa,\u201d China-Africa scholar Paul Nantulya said of the school in a recently published paper for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe six FLMSA parties are focused on supporting one another to preserve their rule against perceived threats,\u201d Nantulya explained. \u201cThe CCP term for this is ‘weiwen,’ meaning ‘stability maintenance’ or ‘regime survival.’<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Nyerere Leadership School is the first political school the CCP has built overseas, a bold move by a party that often denies that it promotes its political system abroad. The school enables the CCP to proselytize and methodically share its governance model,\u201d Nantulya continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CCP hopes to gain a return on investment as the school gives it a permanent home for year-round interactions with each party\u2019s new recruits and senior party cadres. This puts it in an advantageous position to shape the African liberation parties\u2019 China friendly policies and long-term influence.\u201d<\/p>\n
China\u2019s position<\/p>\n
China denies it plays a role in keeping ruling parties in power.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t interfere in the African countries\u2019 pursuit for a development path that fits their national conditions. We don\u2019t interfere, nor impose our own will on Africa,\u201d wrote Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington in response to VOA\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n
VOA also asked whether China engages equally with political opposition parties in Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to party-to-party relationship, the Communist Party of China is ready to deepen interactions with political parties and organizations of all countries, including those in Africa. We seek shared views and expand shared interests,\u201d Liu said.<\/p>\n
The United States also provides training in its model of governance to foreign political parties through the congressionally funded National Endowment for Democracy, whose website says it is dedicated to fostering democratic institutions \u201cincluding political parties, trade unions, free markets and business organizations\u201d while supporting “human rights, an independent media, and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
But China itself is a one-party state, and Ray Hartley, research director of the Brenthurst Foundation, a Johannesburg-based policy think tank, said the Tanzania school’s existence is problematic.<\/p>\n
“It is concerning that this particular school is for leaders of selected ‘liberation movements’ only, especially since it teaches the doctrine that the party must be all powerful and trump the judiciary.”<\/p>\n
“In Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania, these liberation movement governments have been in power for decades and have not hesitated to undercut democratic processes to keep it that way,” Hartley added.<\/p>\n
Ruling party and the opposition<\/p>\n
With some notable exceptions such as South Africa\u2019s African National Congress party, Nantulya said many former liberation parties \u201chave been largely intolerant of opposition challenges and have employed wide ranging measures to stifle, constrain and even dismantle opposition parties.\u201d<\/p>\n
One example is Zimbabwe, which has been governed by former liberation movement ZANU-PF since 1980, and whose elections this year were marred by widespread irregularities, according to observers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a cause for concern for us in Zimbabwe and in Africa in general especially in view of the \u2018no questions asked\u2019 policy on the Chinese in their engagement with Africa, their tendency to view Africa as a dumping site and of course undermining human rights democracy transparency in favor of errant regimes,\u201d said Promise Mkwananzi, spokesperson for Zimbabwe\u2019s main opposition party, the Citizen\u2019s Coalition for Change (CCC).<\/p>\n
His party\u2019s members have been jailed, tortured and killed while mounting a challenge to the regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt leaves opposition parties with no choice but to question the motives of the CCP in Africa. We believe that the CCP must have principled, non-partisan approaches to African countries and not blindly side and even aid ruling parties to rig elections violate human rights and undermine democratic entrenchment in Africa,\u201d Mkwananzi added.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe\u2019s governing party, ZANU-PF did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Change of guard?<\/p>\n
However, historical friendships don’t mean China isn’t able to adapt to changes on the continent when necessary.<\/p>\n
What happens to a ruling party when it loses an election or is removed from power is telling, Nantulya told VOA. He uses Zambia as an example, because it has had several changes of power and its former liberation movement lost to the opposition again in 2021 polls.<\/p>\n
Zambia\u2019s former liberation party is not part of the leadership academy in Tanzania, and Nantulya noted, \u201cI think the Communist Party of China does not want to embarrass or complicate its relationship with Zambia. It has a policy of cultivating whoever is in office.\u201d<\/p>\n
He points to the fact that the CCP has been wooing new Zambian leader Hakainde Hichilema.<\/p>\n
Likewise, in some countries in Africa, where things are less stable or specific political parties are less securely entrenched, Nantulya noted Beijing does cultivate relationships across the political spectrum, giving the examples of Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s different \u201cwhen a political party program is only training ruling parties and helping them to entrench their stay in office,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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