The Inconvenient Truth with Prof. Douglas BOATENG: Africa can learn from China but only after it decides what it wants

…How discipline, institutional continuity, and strategic intent have shaped China and continue to elude Africa

By Ing. Prof. Douglas BOATENG

Africa’s engagement with China is one of the most discussed, misunderstood, and emotionally charged relationships of the 21st century. It is debated in parliaments, criticised in editorials, praised at summits, and condemned on social media; often by the same voices, sometimes in the same week. Yet beneath the noise lies a sobering reality that Africa rarely confronts honestly:

Africa cannot learn meaningfully from China until it is brutally clear about what it wants.

Not what sounds good at conferences.
Not what wins applause during campaigns.
But what it is prepared to fund, protect, enforce, and defend over decades.

China’s rise was not accidental, charitable, or improvised. It was engineered with patience, discipline, focus, and an unrelenting clarity of purpose. Africa’s tragedy is not that it lacks opportunity; it is that it often lacks decisiveness.

Silent preparation versus loud declarations

One of the most underappreciated differences between China and Africa is behavioural, not ideological. Before China goes public with a complaint, it already has a solution, a budget, an institutional anchor, and an execution plan. Africa, by contrast, often goes public with a solution before it has secured the fundamentals: power, skills, logistics, governance, or enforcement. China rarely announces ambition without architecture. Africa often announces ambition, hoping architecture will follow. This difference explains why China can move from policy to project to platform, while Africa too often moves from slogan to summit to silence.

China’s industrial plans, whether ‘Made in China 2025’, semiconductor self-sufficiency, or clean energy dominance, were not press releases. They were backed by financing, skills pipelines, infrastructure, protection of domestic firms, and disciplined timelines. African industrial policies, by comparison, are frequently vulnerable to election cycles, donor fashions, and leadership changes. The inconvenient truth is painful: Africa does not suffer from a shortage of plans. It suffers from a shortage of follow-through.

Long-term thinking – The currency Africa spends the least

China’s greatest competitive advantage has never been cheap labour. It has been long-term thinking institutionalised. Between 1980 and 2020, China averaged close to 9percent annual GDP growth, lifting nearly 800 million people out of poverty, according to the World Bank. This was not magic. It was consistency. China invested relentlessly in infrastructure. By 2024, it had built over 47,000 kilometres of high-speed rail, more than the rest of the world combined. Africa, by contrast, still struggles to connect its own capitals efficiently by rail, despite being the most urbanising continent globally.

China’s spending on research and development reached approximately 2.7percent of GDP, translating into over US$500 billion annually. Africa’s average R&D spending remains below 0.5percent of GDP, with only a handful of countries, such as South Africa and Kenya, making modest progress. You cannot innovate with slogans. You innovate with laboratories, engineers, technicians, and patience.

Adapt, don’t adopt – Why copy-paste development fails

Africa’s mistake is not learning from China. It is learning the wrong things. Africa often copies China’s visible outputs: stadiums, railways, and industrial parks, without mastering the invisible disciplines that made those outputs viable: governance, maintenance culture, supplier development, skills transfer, and accountability.

Ethiopia offers a mixed but instructive example. With Chinese support, it invested heavily in industrial parks, such as Hawassa, thereby creating tens of thousands of textile manufacturing jobs. Exports grew, and skills improved. Yet weaknesses in foreign exchange management, logistics bottlenecks, and policy instability constrained long-term competitiveness.

The lesson is clear: projects without platforms create dependency, not development. China never built infrastructure in isolation. It built ecosystems. Africa too often celebrates ribbon-cutting ceremonies without asking who will maintain, upgrade, and monetise the asset twenty years later.

Relationships versus transactions – A different way of doing business

Another inconvenient truth Africa must face is that China builds relationships for long-term strategic positioning, whereas the West is generally more transactional. This is not a moral judgement. It is a strategic observation. Western capital often prioritises quarterly returns, shareholder optics, and rapid exits. Chinese capital often prioritises market presence, supply security, and long-term influence even at the cost of short-term inefficiencies.  African leaders frequently misread this difference. They treat most transactions as short-term, then are surprised when long-term consequences emerge.

Countries such as Rwanda and Morocco have demonstrated greater maturity by negotiating partnerships that align foreign investment with national priorities. Morocco’s automotive sector, now producing over 700,000 vehicles annually, leveraged long-term partnerships, local content requirements, and skills development, drawing lessons not only from China but also from East Asia and Europe. Africa must learn to negotiate relationships with rules, not relationships without boundaries.

Brand China versus Brand Africa

China protects Brand China fiercely. National credibility is treated as a strategic asset. When Chinese firms underperform abroad, the state intervenes quietly. When standards slip, they are tightened. When reputation is threatened, damage control is swift.

Africa, unfortunately, often undermines Brand Africa casually:

• Contracts are renegotiated arbitrarily,
• policies change without transition,
• institutions contradict each other publicly,
• Corruption is excused as inevitable,
• Maintenance is postponed until collapse.

The result is predictable: higher risk premiums, reduced investor confidence, and capital that demands quick returns because it lacks confidence in continuity.

According to PwC’s ‘World in 2050’ analysis, China is projected to remain one of the world’s two largest economies by purchasing power parity, with sustained influence over global manufacturing, technology, and trade systems well beyond mid-century. Africa’s collective GDP could rival that of major economies, but only if fragmentation, policy inconsistency, and governance weaknesses are addressed. Potential without credibility is just poetry.

Trade realities – Who adds value and who ships hope

China–Africa trade exceeded US$290 billion in 2024. Yet Africa continues to run a structural trade deficit with China, exporting mainly raw commodities and importing finished goods. This pattern is not exploitation by default. It is a reflection of Africa’s industrial choices.

The inconvenient truth that many shy away from is that China is not exploiting Africa, but Africans are exploiting Africa through indecision, self-gain, and short-term thinking. Botswana offers a counterexample. By insisting on local diamond beneficiation and renegotiating its value chain position, it transformed diamond exports into domestic skills, revenue, and institutional capacity. China did not resist Botswana’s clarity; it respected it. The inconvenient truth: partners respect countries that respect themselves.

Accountability, discipline, and cultural respect

China’s governance system is not democratic in the Western sense, but it is brutally performance-oriented. Officials are promoted, rotated, or removed based on delivery metrics. Failure has consequences. Africa’s governance challenge is not democracy; it is the absence of consequences. Development cannot survive where incompetence is recycled, failure is rewarded, and accountability is postponed. Cultural respect does not mean tolerating inefficiency. It means respecting citizens enough to deliver results.

A way forward – what Africa must do differently

If Africa truly wants to learn from China, here is the inconvenient but practical agenda:

1. Decide what you want – Each country must choose a small number of non-negotiable priorities: energy, agro-processing, minerals beneficiation, pharmaceuticals, logistics, and commit to them beyond elections.
2. Institutionalise long-term thinking – Create delivery institutions insulated from political cycles, with clear performance metrics and public reporting.
3. Negotiate for capability, not just capital – Every major foreign partnership must deliver skills, supplier development, maintenance capability, and technology transfer.
4. Protect brand Africa relentlessly – Enforce standards, contracts, and policies consistently. Credibility compounds faster than capital.
5. Adapt lessons, don’t import models – China’s discipline, not its ideology, is the transferable asset.

A reflective conclusion – the Nyansakasa (words of wisdom) inconvenient truth

China did not rise because it complained less.
It rose because it prepared more.

China did not wait for perfect conditions.
It built conditions patiently.

China did not confuse ambition with achievement.
It measured, corrected, and persisted.

Africa stands at a familiar crossroads: rich in potential, loud in vision, fragile in execution. The world is racing toward 2050 at an unforgiving pace. No partner will slow down for Africa’s indecision. No investor respects possibility without performance. And so the final inconvenient truth, in the spirit of NyansaKasa (words of wisdom): a continent that announces solutions before mastering discipline will forever admire builders while importing their products.

>>>the writer is a globally celebrated thought leader, Chartered Director, industrial engineer, supply chain management expert, and social entrepreneur known for his transformative contributions to industrialisation, procurement, and strategic sourcing in developing nations.

As Africa’s first Professor Extraordinaire for Supply Chain Governance and Industrialization, he has advised governments, businesses, and policymakers, driving sustainability and growth. During his tenure as Chairman of the Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) and Labadi Beach Hotel, he led these institutions to global recognition for innovation and operational excellence. He is also the past chairman of the Public Procurement Authority.

A prolific author of over 90 publications, he is the creator of NyansaKasa (Words of Wisdom), a thought-provoking platform with over one million daily readers. Through his visionary leadership, Professor Boateng continues to inspire ethical governance, innovation, and youth empowerment, driving Africa toward a sustainable and inclusive future.

The post The Inconvenient Truth with Prof. Douglas BOATENG: Africa can learn from China but only after it decides what it wants appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.

Read Full Story