businessincameroon.com

From 20 to 22 July 2011, the Cameroonian Head of State, Paul Biya, paid a State visit to China, at the invitation of the Chinese authorities. The visit provided the two countries with the opportunity to consolidate their fruitful cooperation.

The first large-scale investments were made over thirty years ago with,
among others, the construction of the Yaounde Conference Centre.

President Biya's current State visit to China is a follow-up on his four official visits to this country. It is worth noting that the Chinese President Hu Junta, also paid a State visit to Cameroon in January 2007. The Cameroonian President's presence in China occurred in the wake of the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. A multifaceted cooperation which has proven to be among the most fruitful, after forty years of existence. Analysts and observers agree that China's offensive is creating problems for Cameroon's traditional partners like France. Because, even though France is still the country's leading bilateral partner, China has become the largest donor and obviously, one of the country's key suppliers.

China takes the lead among countries and institutions which have expressed their willingness to support Cameroon on the path to economic emergence.

During the past four decades, cooperation between China and Cameroon has been profitable, diversified and mutually beneficial. While China buys raw materials and ores from Cameroon, Chinese expertise have become a reality in Cameroon. The first large-scale investments were made over thirty years ago with, among others, the construction of the Yaounde Conference Centre, the construction of the Lagdo dam in Northern Cameroon (which enables the country to supply electricity to neighbouring Chad), a significant presence in the health sector with Chinese medical teams in several communities and villages around the country. In the infrastructure sector, Chinese presence is marked by the construction of roads; it is also involved in agriculture particularly in the development of rice farming and, recently, in the farm mechanization.

Developmental projects
However, it is worth noting that over the past decade, there has been an increasingly significant Chinese presence in Cameroon: A diversified presence with investments exceeding the threshold of 1000 billion CFA francs. At a time when Cameroonian authorities are banking on the country's economic emergence by 2035, it is obvious that Cameroon alone, with its resources, will not be able to achieve this goal. It would necessarily need the support of reliable bilateral and multilateral partners to implement this development programme. China takes the lead among countries and institutions which have expressed their willingness to support Cameroon on the path to economic emergence. By way of example, China's participation in developmental projects can be mentioned: The construction of the 150 billion CFA francs Lom-Pangar dam under the direction of China International Water & Electric Corp (CWE); the construction of the Kribi deep water port by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) costing 207 billion CFA francs; the construction of the Memve'ele hydroelectric dam by Sinohydro with Chinese funding of up to 243 billion CFA francs. Moreover, the Mekin dam built through Chinese financing of 22 billion CFA francs, the construction of the Douala water treatment station, the modernization of the telecommunications sector with the installation of the 5000 km long fibre optic are also worth noting. For all these projects, China injected more than 100 billion CFA francs through Exim Bank.

China invades the reserved areas
Even though Chinese presence is not yet visible in the oil exploration or production sector, it has started diversifying its fields of operations, invading areas that have so far been considered as "reserved". Thus, the Middle Empire will soon be among Cameroon's major suppliers of light weapons. During the first half of this year, top authorities of the Chinese army paid «exploration visits » to Cameroon, while Cameroonian military officers and weapon experts travelled to China on an « inspection visit ». Their discussions led to the signing of several cooperation agreements. In the past, this sector was reserved to Europeans, and it is understandable that countries like the United States and France are not comfortable with the Chinese offensive aimed at selling arms to Cameroon.

Pending the offshoots of President Biya's State visit, the Chinese Ambassador to Cameroon, Xue Jinwei, expresses optimism stating that « this visit is very important for the consolidation of friendly ties between our two countries. China and Cameroon are brotherly countries with the same development goals. We have the same firm determination to develop our cooperation, at both bilateral and multilateral levels », he stated. Taking into account the socioeconomic situation with the recent economic crisis, as well as the political and diplomatic situation with the UN reform in sight, expected to translate into a possible presence of emerging and African countries in the Security Council, the Chinese diplomat believes that the Cameroonian President's visit is also an opportunity for consultations, to enable the two countries to speak with one voice about major international issues : « at the international level our two countries are used to supporting each other mutually. I think that in future, cooperation between China and Cameroon will be more efficient, fruitful and closer ».

Achille Mbog Pibasso, Douala