Interactions including diplomatic relations between states are old in human society and have evolved over time. Historically, this practice dates back to ancient times when kings and rulers sent emissaries and authorized representatives to other kingdoms to deliver messages and bring back information. The same history shows that during this time, powerful emperors received tributes through them. Interestingly, state relations became more defined, organized and consolidated with the signing of treaties, most notably, the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Popularly known as the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations (VCDR), This treaty significantly contributed to advancing rules guiding state relation. VCDR as a case in point, helped in codifying customary rules on relations between states. And today, its provisions have largely become part of general international law themselves and also guides state relations, covering a wide range of areas which include but is not restricted to political issues; economic matters; bilateral and multilateral agreements; public diplomacy; and consular diplomacy.
There is no gain saying that the above has been the blueprint from which states have interacted with each other over time in an attempt of realising their foreign policy objectives which is defined in terms of national interest, and this is not different from the interaction or relations between Nigeria and China.
For both nations, relations started in earnest in 1960, October to be precise, during the former’s independence from colonial rule, when the newly sovereign Nigerian government invited the government of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) to witness the historic moment. However, official and diplomatic relations was established in February 1971. This year -1971, coincided with the year that Nigeria and other developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America supported, despite America’s protestation, opposition and rejection of Beijing’s 21-year campaign to win world recognition as the one true government of China which was realized on the 25th of November 1971 when the PRC officially replaced the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the United Nations and on the UN Security Council.
Undoubtedly since 1971 to date, relations between these two countries have grown to cover political/diplomatic, economic, cultural, social, and others areas, as there has been high level of visits from both sides which has built up both countries’ mutual political trust, exchanges and co-operations in the fields of economy, culture, science, education, health among others.
Having provided this background, I want to spend some time to take stock of just how far the relationship has come in the last fifty (50) years, with emphasis on the gains, and challenges as well.
From the political/diplomatic viewpoint, it is fitting to say that a lot of developments have been witnessed from both sides since the time diplomatic relation was formalized. For me, the event (i.e., the formalization of diplomatic relations) in itself was a watershed for inter-state visits from both sides. Why I said this is that from that time till date, virtually or almost all the Nigerian Heads of State and Presidents starting with General Yakubu Gowon to President Muhammadu Buhari have visited China. China on its part too has done likewise. Chinese leaders who have visited Nigeria are as follows: Vice Premier Geng Biao October 1978. Vice Premier Huang Hua November 1981. Vice Premier Tian Jiyun November 1984. Vice Premier Wu Xueqian March 1990. Vice Premier and foreign Minister Qian Qichen January 1995. State Councilor and Secretary General of the State Council Luo Gan September 1996. Premier Li Peng May1997. Special Envoy of the President Jiang Zeming, State Councilor Ismail Amat May 1999. Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan January 2000. President Jiang Zemin April 2002. Vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress Han Qide December 2003. China’s Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing January 2006, and President Hu Jintao April 2006. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi January 2010, Foreign Minister Wang Yi January 2017. Special Envoy of the President Xi Jinping, Yang Jiechi September 2019. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi January 2021. During the period of these visits, agreements were signed ranging from Agreement for Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments, Protocol on Co-operation on Electric Power Projects in Nigeria to Protocol on Bilateral Co-operation in Steel Industry to Oil Industry Cooperation.
Furthermore, within this period, we have seen Nigeria support China’s principle of “One China, two systems”. In this case, Nigeria supported the return of Hong Kong and Macao to China in July 1997 and December 1999 respectively. Interestingly, in return, China reciprocated Nigeria’s kind gesture by launching Nigeria’s first space satellite to orbit called Nigcomsat 1R satellite, of which China Academy of Space Technology is the manufacturer. Other political engagements between the two states include the cooperation at the level of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) which was initiated at the Ministerial Conference in Beijing in 2000 with the aim of fostering solidarity and cooperation based on equality, consultation, consensus, friendship, partnership and mutual benefit. And the benefits from this engagement has flowed to other areas as we shall see later in this article.
On the economic front, a lot has also been witnessed on both sides. To be sure, since Nigeria established Economic relations with China in 1971, with her assent to the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, and both China and Nigeria being prominent members of G77-group of developing countries within the United Nations (which is aimed at promoting South–South Trade and Cooperation), trading activities for example, has increased and spread to complex businesses between both states. And the reason for this increase in trading activities as captured by many experts on this subject matter including Utomi, is based on the fact that Nigeria has seen China as a better trading alternative because of the genuine interest of China in trading with Nigeria based on some of its comparative advantage products such as energy, raw materials and market expansion. It was in this regard that in 1994, the Sani Abacha regime (1993-1998) initiated a contact with Chinese government which led to the establishment of the Nigerian-Chinese Chambers of Commerce making way for China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to win a $529 million contract to rehabilitate the Nigerian railway system in 1995.
An overview on trade relations shows that the extent of trade between Nigeria and China has tremendously grown. For instance, Nigeria’s total export to China in 2015 alone was US$307.3 million, with the main export commodity being oil and lubricants, which represented US$273.7 million. Thus, in terms of Nigeria’s exports to China, oil and lubricants ranked first, followed by beverages and live animals, while manufactured goods ranked fourth. Trade between the two states reached 15.3 billion dollars in 2018, thereby making it the main channel of boosting economic cooperation between the countries.
The area of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) has not been left out. The Chinese government on its part has invested heavily to the tune of $1.1 billion in Nigeria’s infrastructure, in the form of low-interest loans. These FDI outward flow has been on the increase over the years. In 2019 alone, about 123.27 million U.S. dollars’ worth of direct investments from China was made in Nigeria. One good thing about FDIs coming from China into Nigeria, as posited by prominent scholars – Izochukwu and Daniel, on Sino- Nigeria relations is that these investments have been carried out largely by state-owned enterprises or Joint venture which offer relatively large aid component in form of concessionary interest rates and grant element unlike loans from the multilateral finance organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Today there are over 218 Chinese companies in Nigeria doing one business or the other. The major ones among them include, SINOPEC, which is into oil and gas with staff strength of about 373, 375 staff; CNPC- an oil and gas company whose staff is 1.6 million; SEPCO- they are into Electric and Power construction and have work force of 9,756 people. Others include, CCECC – a 70, 000 staff strength construction company which constructed the Games Village Lekki Free Trade zone; SCEC – a construction and real estate with a staff strength of 121, 500; CNOON Offshore oil and gas who have total number of 21,000 as staff; Huawei and ZTE with staff strengths of 51,000 and, 85,232 respectively.
Furthermore, this period also saw China provide the finance, and as well construct the, Abuja-Kaduna Railway, Abuja Metro Light Rail, Abuja and Port Harcourt Airport terminals Lekki Free Trade Zones, Ogun – Guangdong Free Trade Zone, the Zungeru Hydro Power Dam and the University of Transportation in Daura, Katsina state.
Nigeria has also cooperated with China within this period in the area of culture, education and in the military field. Agreed that China and Nigeria have different historical experiences and cultural traditions, yet both nations have cooperated culturally in a globalized environment. In this regard, we have seen Beijing making remarkable effort in promoting Chinese culture in Nigeria by establishing two Confucius Institutes in Nigerian Universities which is helping in the teaching and spread of Chinese language within the country. They are the Chinese Confucius Institute at the University of Lagos (Unilag) and the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU). The centers have not only helped in language learning and culture but also in vocational training which presents Nigeria the opportunity to tap into the second largest economy and train its teeming youths to acquire the necessary skills needed in this 21st century.
On education, China and Nigeria have signed an agreement on cultural cooperation and a protocol on cooperation between institutions of higher learning of the two countries and that is why 512 out of the 6,845 Nigerian students who are studying in China as at 2019, are on Chinese government scholarship. On the other hand, far back in 2011, 10 Chinese students had enrolled into the Bayero University, Kano to study the Hausa language. I am very sure the number has increased by now. Military wise, in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency, both sides saw the need to put necessary machinery in place to address the security challenge. Towards the realization of this objective, China helped to train Nigerian military.
As I conclude, it is interesting to note the relationship the two states within the period under review have not been without challenges which ranged from trade imbalance (on the part of Nigeria) to unexpected changes of international situations, yet the bond between the two have remained ever new in the face of these challenges. Findings revealed that reasons for this enduring relation are not farfetched. One of the reasons is tied to the perception they both have about each other as being good brothers in political contacts which always make them treat each other sincerely, friendly and as equal partners.
Another reason is that they both see themselves as good friends at the international stage that need to work toward south-south cooperation and for a just, fair and reasonable new international political and economic order. The last but not the least is that they both see themselves as nations saddled with the responsibility of carrying the burden of safeguarding the common interests of developing countries.
I strongly believe that with more hard work, sincerity and collaboration on the part of both countries, Nigeria and China can, and will achieve more goals that will enhance their foreign policies in the nearest future.
Halidu,PhD is of the Department of Political Science & International Relations, University of Abuja with the email: [email protected]
