China has the second largest economy behind the United states , with a national income in excess of $12 trillion and annual economic growth over the last 30 years often reaching double digits. This might seen remarkable to people who still see China as a communist country but Beijing prefers to characterise the country as being 'socialist with Chinese charasteristics'.
Suffice to say , the state maintains a prevasive role in 'managing' China politics and society but over the last thirty years, the Chinese government has engaged in a reform programme that has enable private enterprise to flourish The reforms have also sought to turn China outwords so that it trades more with the rest of the world and build influence across the globe.
Yet as China has changed and grown, challenges have emerged, an already large population has continued to grow placing huge strain upon the country's resources. Demand for infrastructure has risen dramatically , whilst the consumption of resources such as oil and gas has also increased.
However , the country's economic reformation has recently, in relative terms, begun to stall, with growth how down to around 6 % . The Chinese government therefore worries about the future , especially it will meet the needs of its population whilst at the same time sustaining the country's economic growth but one of the ways in which Bejing hopes to tackle there issues is by building its sport industry , which it wants to become the world's biggest by 2025.
Since 2015, the country's goverment, businesses and investors, have therefore taken an active role in acquiring overseas football assets. Several clubs have been procured , including England's Wolverhampton, Southhampton and West Bromwich Albion , Ado Den Haag in the Netherlands , and the Czech Republic's Slavia Prague.
Chinese companies are also now leading sponsors of FIFA and several big names have headed eastwards, former Newcasle United manager Rafa Benitez being the most notable recent example. China views football as means to various ends from enhacing image and reputation through to building the nation's brand and enabling it to project soft power influence. And whilst many are familiar with the sums spent on domestic football in the country , and the investment in European clubs , less in known about what China is doing in Africa.
The 2017 Africa Cup of nations ( CAN) in Gabon was the latest in a long line of tournaments into which the East Asian giant has significantly invested. Gabon previously hosted the CAN in 2012, when two new stadiums were constructed for the event- which was co-hosted with the Equatorial Guinea) . One of Gabon's two stadiums , in Libreville , was funded and constructed by China . For 2017, two aditional new stadiums were used ( as well as the existing stadium in Libreville and another in Francevill ).
The two new venues , the Stade d'Oyem and the stade de Port-Gentil, were funded by China, and designed and constructred by the company Shanghai General construction. It was hardly surprising therefore that ahead of tournament ,President Ali Bango of Gabon and Xi Junping of China met one another in Beijing. The visit was market by China's announcement that Gabon would become a comprehensive cooperation partner ( raised from its status as a bilateral partner), Xi asserted that China's "willingness to deepen cooperation on mutual benefit" .
Football, specifically the CAN, therefore nicely connected the dots in a Gabonese- Chinese relationship that already saw the African national sending 14.2% of all its exports to its East Asian partner. Unsurprisingly, Gabon's biggest export to China is crude petroleum , although it also sells a large quantity of manganese ore, which is widely used in iron and steel production.
China's game plan for 2019's African Cup of Nations was supposed to be the same . Cameroon was initially supposed to serve as tournament host , which inevitably attracted the Chinese government's interest. Egypt stepped in as a replacement host though, unfortunately for China ( and its strategy in Africa ), the country is not a carbon fuel producer on the same scale as others in Africa are.
However, China's use football as a means to an end still became evident at the tournament. Telecommunications giant Huawei quickly become an event partner ,which is utilised as a basis for the African rollout of its 5G network. This extended what is now a long history of Chinese involvement in the tournament .
In 2008, the country funded the renovation of two of the stadiums used in Ghana's hosting of the competition, and paid for the construction of others . Two years later, for the Angolan edition of CAN, China financed and constructed all four of the stadiums used . It shows a very abvious pattern, but also details how football in Africa is serving as a bilateral diplomatic tool that is intended to benefit all parties involved.
Ali AMADGOHUS
Football Manager
