China and Africa: Human Rights Perspective

At the turn of the 21st century, China emerged as a major player in Africa’s international relations. This emergence has attracted a lot of attention in literature on what it portends for Africa. Many of the past studies have maintained that China undermines human rights in its engagements with Africa. Of important note was China’s support for the Sudanese government even in the face of human rights abuses; its unconditional aid to Angola, that have helped the government to shun accountability and transparency; its support for inhuman practices meted to the citizens of Zimbabwe by the government, among others. Against this background, this paper examined China-Africa contemporary relations from the human rights perspective. It explored, among others, China’s stance on human rights issues and the rights that China undermines in Africa. The paper argued China’s stance on human rights in Africa, and possibly internationally has a link with its domestic human rights situation. Being that human rights in China are abysmal, ordinarily China would not promote human rights in Africa more than what it does at home. The author concludes that although China may not be labelled a ‘saint’ in human rights abuses in Africa, it still cannot be labelled a ‘sinner’ in many human rights abuses by African governments.