The idea that the world is now a “global village” is regularly used in our day-to-day interactions. In any part of the world, this notion can be validated by the country’s residents aiming for exemplary leadership and free and fair elections, which may be subjected to the European Union, which monitors and observes elections to give approvals and comments assessments. The consideration and budget implementation, which the executive and legislature are subjected to the knowledge of the violation of prices in the market’s crude oil. The following essay will critically analyze colonization’s connection with globalization and neo-colonization in China and African countries.
Globalization
This term describes different meanings to different people for various reasons, responsibilities, and purposes. It defines the effects of theories that describe political issues and problems worldwide. Globalization also means collecting different truths near each other, which happens through different modes of technology (Ibrahim & Aliyu 2019). It helps countries in the West organize awareness worldwide about neo-liberal concepts and practices used during the trade that attend to their economic interests. All counties globally are working hard to maintain independence as much as possible. Regrettably, no area of human life is left without being impacted by the concept of globalization (Ibrahim & Aliyu 2019). All people across the globe are entertained by the same music, like the same types of food, put on similar clothes, and choose issues of wars and peace that affect them. Countries in most advanced countries welcome foreign investments directly, which significantly impacts economic development and stimulates national profits (Ibrahim & Aliyu 2019). These gains will help improve and produce more significant ways of accessing new technology inventions and raise the awareness of how to produce more profits (Ibrahim & Aliyu 2019) practically. The whole globe and people is the idea of a period of increased globalization which is a process that’s indicated by the speedy production of labor, fashion, knowledge, images, capital, and goods and services. The use of digital communication and wiring of significant amounts of money from country to country and developing tighter relationships and with nation acquiring freedom.
The Third World
The third-world concept originated from the creation of European scholarship. It refers to the perspectives and interests that colonial countries had many years ago, which can be served best by ideological organizations of both the communist and capitalists. The third world also refers to the countries that have delayed developing their industries, have little revenue per capita, and export only the raw resources subjected to high prices. They purchase more to cater to the needs of the people rather than paying for export incomes (Antwi-Boateng, 2017). Third-world countries also have a history of colonialization of not being advanced economically and lacking access to quality education, leaders from the West rule and are knowledgeable politically.
Theoretical Framework
Many studies have been undertaken to explain this concept, for example, the World system theory. It describes how capitalists have joined the world whereby goods and services generated in China are distributed to other countries worldwide. China in East Asia has not been left behind and is working hard to fit into the global organization (Antwi-Boateng, 2017). People in third-world countries have been described as a loser in globalization because capitalist countries have gained more.
The African-China interaction has resulted in two ways which are vibrant to accommodate policy creations and common ideas originating from the other. Researchers have investigated China’s goals in Africa and African people’s views towards China. How China has accustomed its strategies to speak to indigenous people, whether the United States competes with China in Africa’s region, are they have a mutual gain (Lee, 2020). The role of China in Africa has stirred controversial stereotypes and news, news headlines. For the longest time ever, China has been well known to be a well-established investor in Africa (Lee, 2020). The interests in the African continent are not only in raw materials but also in power, diplomacy, trade, and security (Antwi-Boateng, 2017). China has an excellent record as a great donor, though the mode, scope, and scales are not well reported by the press, leading to confusion.
Most of the studies show the partnerships between China and these African countries and their benefits, especially in raw materials and exports. Researchers have concluded that China has four primary African interests (Lee, 2020). One is raw materials, especially gas and oil. Researchers have estimated that by 2020, China will do more importation than the United States, and for them to do that, they are already financing countries like Nigeria, Angola, and Sudan. Secondly, China wants to invest in Africa (Lee, 2020). By China exporting many goods to Africa, it will help them structure the industries again and find a way of reducing labor prices., The third is political validity. China believes that encouraging African countries in leadership will gain International approval from many countries (Lee, 2020). Fourthly, China wants to contribute to the constructive stability of the third-world countries. By China being a significant contributor, it will be able to deal with security issues that seek to threaten its interests economically.
Leaders in Africa hope that China will one-day relationship with the different from how other countries like the United States and governments from the West relate to it. African countries hope that China will start projects that will help them economically and make them stop borrowing from Western countries (Lee, 2020). Also, African countries interacting with China will learn about the strategies used to improve economic development so that levels of Poverty can change completely.
China and Countries of the Mediterranean
The Chinese government had a particular interest in European Union Countries in the Mediterranean Region. For the Chinese to invest in the Balkan has resulted in the expansion of critical ways of trading and investing for the countries that make Eurpeanenan Union (Linden 2018). Four countries based in the Mediterranean Region partnered with China, which formed part of their colonization. The four countries were Italy, Greece, Spain, and Turkey.
Italy
Italy, one of China’s partners, has demonstrated a fast growth by increasing its imports and exports to fulfill the deficit in the Italian market. Before the year 2010, Italy was not known for anything economically but currently, after China started investing billions of money in the right now is one of the grown countries economically. The investment made by China in Italy has focused on top brands and highly valued firms, acquiring infrastructure (Linden, 2018). These investments have made China among the leading countries in the stock market in Italy.
Greece
Like Italy, China’s investment did not do any work in Greece until 2010. Before that time, the investment was below 50 million euros. Still, as China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment grew in Europe, Greece received almost 200 million euros in 2015 and 343 million euros in 2016, and they invested the money into Piraeus Port. The investments by China in Greece are made by State-Owned Enterprises people, which are controlled by the Chinese government (Linden 2018). China is number 3 among the importing countries to Greece. The people of Greece have a very positive view of China.
Spain
According to Linden (2018), Spain benefited from Chinese funds after 2008. In 2016 they received 1.7 billion dollars channeled to the energy sectors, especially the port in Spain. Spain’s port is the largest in the Mediterranean. It belongs 100% to Hong Kong, the management of Noatum, which COSCO does, and a well-furnished terminal container in Barcelona that is fully automated.
Turkey
Turkey is one of the countries that China people love a lot, especially when it comes to investing in their policies. The sea and roads have given the Chinese government a perfect market. In 2015 China gave Turkey 624 million dollars to invest. Although Europe has invested much more in Turkey, China is increasingly growing its investments in that country. The port in Turkey called Kumport is rated number three in the Mediterranean region (Linden 2018). Two-thirds of the port’s wealth is owned by the Chinese government only.
Spheres of Influence
Spheres of influence refer to a state’s dominantly over foreign territory. This term became significant in the 1880s when European countries’ colonial development in Asia and Africa was coming to an end. The final stage of the colonial development was composed of shared rivalry among the colony groups. The arrangement between Germany and Great Britain, which was agreed upon in May 1885, was first used the phrase (Grydehøj, 2021). The agreement led to many other countries doing the same regarding East Africa, like another one done on July 1, 1890, between Germany and Britain.
According to Grydehøj (2021), China underwent a period of developing foreign imperial powers when it lost two wars near its borders. In the mid-1800s, nations like Japan, Russia, Germany, Britain, and France came up with “spheres of influence .”In the 19th and 20th centuries, there were the worst effects of colonialism in China, led by the Qing State. During his era, his government turned out to be very weak financially, administratively, and politically hence unable to move positively. A perfect example of spheres of influence was in the 19th Century when Russians and British developed spheres in a convention held in 1907 in Persia and adopted by eight different nations during the reign of the Qing.
Imperialism negatively impacted China because the citizens had to work very hard to meet daily living and pay taxes (Ciocchini & Greener, 2021). The livelihood was affected, which was a disadvantage for the Chinese people. Western countries developed a 19th-century world-class economy in the Chinese market, made market exports, introduced new ways of communication, and updated their modes of transport.
Neo-Colonialism and Colonialism
Neocolonialism applies cultural, political, and economic forces to influence countries, particularly those that depended on that country before. For example, a country that needs money borrows from a rich country. If the developing country cannot pay the debt, it loses resources, land, and valuables (Mullen, 2021). Neo-colonialism is connected to globalization in that the agreement to have free access to capital, free trade, and a global market at the expense of raw resources supply and foreign labor is reduced.
There is a difference between colonialism and neocolonialism. Colonialism refers to a situation whereby a rich country gets authority and power over a developing country and dominates it until the rich country becomes the colony of the emerging country (Mullen, 2021). On the other hand, neo-colonialism is an era that started after the colonial period, whereby wealthy countries exert their political and economic forces to influence the colonized countries. This situation happens because when the emerging country was colonized, it did not empower them to have the capacity to generate its resources (Mullen, 2021). Therefore, they continue depending on their colonizers by borrowing and paying slowly.
Patterns of Colonialism
Many historians have described the patterns of colonialism, namely, manipulation colonialism and immigrants colonialism. In manipulation colonialism, a few people participate as colonists (Lee, 2020). For example, people who go to a country to do trade. They provide administrative roles and rely on the country’s citizens for labor and collection of raw materials (Lee, 2020). On the other hand, colonialism is when many colonists invade a country searching for rich land to do farming.
China is interested in Africa because of raw materials and market exports. This interest began in 1955 at the Bandung Conference convention, where China expressed interest in leading a third-world country. In 1963 and 1964, Zhou Enlai started an Africa tour to introduce and develop friendships. Those activities resulted in many Chinese doctors being sent to Africa to hospitals, and development projects began (Langan, 2017). These processes have continued to date. The primary resources that Africa exports to China are agricultural products, crude oil, metal, and minerals. China created the sphere of influence after the war between 1894 and 1895, referred to as the First Sino-Japanese War (Langan, 2017). The Chinese people were very bitter about great forces from powerful countries, which led to the loss of their independence due to the faintness of their government.
Conclusion
When decolonization started in Africa, words like neocolonialism started being used in Africa. People living in Africa realized that they were still being subjected to new ways of colonialism even after their countries gained independence. The situation has resulted from African countries’ challenges, like state and governance and social-economic, cultural, and political problems. The only solution to Africa is for them to realize their potential and work towards exploiting it in all areas of their countries. Failure to do that will stagnate them in the same dependency and colonization.
References
Antwi-Boateng, O. (2017). New World Order Neo-Colonialism: A Contextual Comparison of Contemporary China and European Colonization in Africa. Journal of Pan African Studies, 10(2).
Ciocchini, P., & Greener, J. (2021). Mapping the pains of neo-colonialism: A critical elaboration of southern criminology. The British Journal of Criminology, 61(6), 1612-1629. doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azab041
Grydehøj, A., Bevacqua, M. L., Chibana, M., Nadarajah, Y., Simonsen, A., Su, P., … & Davis, S. (2021). Practicing decolonial political geography: Island perspectives on neocolonialism and the China threat discourse. Political Geography, 85, 102330. doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102330
Ibrahim, S. G., & Aliyu, M. A. (2019). Globalization and The Recolonization of the Third World: A Critical Analysis. African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research, 2(2), 19-28.
Langan, M. (2017). Neo-colonialism and the Poverty of development in Africa. Springer.
Lee, C. K. (2020). The specter of global China. In The Specter of Global China. University of Chicago Press.
Mullen, C. A. (2021). From Miseducation to Education in the Global Canadian Indigenous Context. Prospects, 7, 8.
Linden, R. H. (2018). The new sea people: China in the Mediterranean. Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI).
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