As China ups game in East Africa, India tries to guard 'home advantage'
| Nairobi, Kenya
On Monday, when China and India stepped back from the brink after weeks of mounting tensions along a disputed Himalayan border, it was a stark reminder of a decades-old rivalry. Agreeing to 鈥渆xpeditious disengagement,鈥� the two countries appeared to damp the flames they'd reignited in June, when Chinese forces attempted to extend a road in the contested Doklam Plateau.
Nevertheless, their tensions continue to play out far from their borders. Some 4,000 miles away, Indian soldiers of another sort are fighting back against a different Chinese road:聽the One Belt, One Road infrastructure initiative, Beijing鈥檚 $900 billion Silk Road for the 21st Century. OBOR made its Kenyan debut in June with the inauguration of a rail line from Nairobi to the coast, replacing the tracks laid by Indian servants under colonialism a century earlier. And on August 1, China formally opened a military base in Djibouti聽鈥撀爄ts first in Africa 鈥撀爁urther intensifying an interest in East Africa that has made the region a playing field for Sino-Indian rivalries.
The soldiers on India's front lines in Kenya wear trim suits. Their battlefields are shopping malls and conference halls. In July, dozens came to Nairobi to present their products 鈥� industrial gears, embroidered textiles, sanitary pads, and motorcycle helmets 鈥� at the third annual 鈥淢ade in Gujarat鈥澛爀xpo, introducing Indian firms to African markets. Meanwhile, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma addressed a hall of Kenyan university students, part of a regional tour alongside聽38 other Chinese tycoons.
鈥淭he regional geopolitics in Asia get refracted outwards globally into these expressions of foreign policy,鈥� says Padraig Carmody, the head of the geography department at Trinity College Dublin.
India would appear to have the home advantage, given its proximity and long-standing trade with East Africa. 鈥淭he Indian Ocean does not separate us,鈥� Suchitra Durai, India鈥檚 high commissioner to Kenya, tells the crowd at the expo. 鈥淚t connects us.鈥�
Yet Indian merchants here face increasing competition, as China鈥檚 growing global ambitions bring decades-old tensions to a new frontier. Indian businesses are racing to keep up, as its historic ties to the region come face-to-face with strategic, state-backed campaigns for influence from Beijing.
Indian influence challenged
The Indian diaspora in Africa numbers in the low millions: some were brought by the British; others settled here centuries earlier as maritime merchants. The men here in Nairobi are but the latest iteration of that tradition, having traded dhow boats for direct flights.聽
These Indian nationals began arriving in the 1990s聽when India liberalized its economy and opened its borders for business. African economies were ripe for investment, thanks to the end of the cold war 鈥撀燼nd corresponding financial support for the developing world.
Now, both the old-guard Indian community and new immigrants find themselves increasingly squeezed by Beijing鈥檚 long reach. 鈥淭he impact has been less state versus state, but taking stabs at an ethnic niche Indians enjoyed in East Africa,鈥� says Jatin Dua, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who studies the region, says of growing Chinese influence.
The plucky Indians at the expo know they can't match China's deep pockets and immense state machinery. So they fight back where they can. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking for quality, you go for Indian products,鈥� Rudvik Sankhala, a carpentry tool salesman at the expo, says proudly. And in the past few years, men like Mr. Sankhala have also found the Indian government behind them, as it tries to reverse its waning influence, eying new political and economic opportunities.
鈥淚n many ways, India is playing catch up on a continent that it actually has historically had much longer and deeper roots on,鈥� Dr. Dua says.
'Balancing' Chinese policy
Shri Chandramouli, the commercial attach茅 of the Indian High Commission, visits each stall at the event, handing out his business card, sharing contacts for established local magnates and potential clients, and promising appointments in his office. 鈥淲e are a young country, and we are not competing with China,鈥� he insists.
Many analysts see a different story.聽In May, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi聽 of OBOR nations. Just weeks later he announced his own initiative, the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, in conjunction with Japan.
Dr. Carmody, author of 鈥淣ew Scramble for Africa,鈥澛爏ays that India has long taken this approach of 鈥渂alancing鈥� Chinese foreign policy.
鈥淭he Indians have been mirroring or mimicking what the Chinese have been doing since 2000,鈥� when Beijing established a regular Chinese-African high-level summit, he says. India held its inaugural African summit in 2008聽and in credit for African development at the last meeting in 2015.
Meeting needs at home
The continent also offers the two countries a cheap supply to meet their citizens鈥� growing demands. Both meet of their oil demand . They鈥檝e bought up oil concessions in hostile environments like , and offered billions of dollars in infrastructure packages to petrostates across the continent.
China and India are also looking to Africa to provide affordable food for their growing domestic populations. In one of the few examples of India outspending China, India extended to develop Ethiopian agriculture;聽China for an irrigation project.聽Similar deals have been made by both nations in Kenya, Mali, and elsewhere聽鈥� projects some criticize as聽thinly veiled land grabs.聽
A defining feature of these development projects, though, is a policy of non-interference, as opposed to Western aid contingent on economic and political reforms. University of Cambridge lecturer Emma Mawdsley, author of 鈥淔rom Recipients to Donors: The Emerging Powers and the Changing Development Landscape,鈥� says India and China are actually benefitting from the economic liberalization pushed by Western agencies, however. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e sort of walking behind the big stick the IMF is carrying,鈥� she says.
However, analysts warn that the Asian superpowers鈥� competition in Africa should not be overblown. Only 3 percent of Africa鈥檚 foreign direct investment , but given the flashy projects 鈥� road systems, power generation plants, multi-million dollar football stadiums 鈥� their engagement is magnified.
Soft power ties
But there are also key differences in the scope and method of their tactics. Massive state-funded infrastructure projects symbolize China鈥檚 strategic presence, while Indian engagement is constrained by its budget. India鈥檚 GDP is about one-fifth the size of China鈥檚, and soft power plays 鈥� often done hand-in-hand with Indian nationals in the diaspora, like the 鈥淢ade in Gujarat鈥� expo 鈥� are becoming characteristic of India鈥檚 engagement.
Indian officials also emphasize ancient trade links and a shared history of colonial suffering in strengthening modern ties. Much of that history, however, has been sanitized: such as the fact that Africans were in the 1800s to serve as slaves and soldiers. Or that Idi Amin expelled Indians in Uganda in 1972. Mahatma Gandhi's attitudes toward black South Africans have likewise been largely forgotten.
Nevertheless, Gandhi hoped for cooperation. 鈥淭he commerce between India and Africa will be of ideas and services, not of manufactured goods against raw materials,鈥� he said. Today, however, the majority of are raw resources. And the lines-of-credit that form the cornerstone of Indian diplomacy require聽that 75 percent of the money .
Indian officials maintain聽that India is a true partner of Africa, and is only trying to share its development experience with neighbors across the sea.
鈥淲e have a saying in India,鈥� Mr. Chandramouli says. 鈥�Vasudhaiva kutumbakam.鈥� The world is our family.
