Cameron's sermon to Africa another example of Western countries trying to belittle China's achievements

During British Prime Minister David Cameron's first visit to Africa, which was much shrunk by the eavesdropping scandal at home, he didn't forget to find time during his busy schedule to teach a class on Western democracy and free trade to Africans in Nigeria. He sent a clear warning to African countries: Do not copy China's development model, which is authoritarian capitalism, only a free society can bring stability and development to Africa.

That is to say the Western system is the only choice for African countries.

It is common for Western leaders to preach about the "evils" of China in their visits to Africa. Cameron's sermon was the second in a month, following hard on the heels of a similar lecture by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton a couple of weeks ago. Both were eager to discredit China's development model.

In my opinion, the Western countries' approach, which is to "belittle others to elevate themselves", is not only detrimental to their diplomatic efforts toward Africa, but also fully exposes their envy of booming relations between China and Africa.

Is the West a standard by which to measure the merits or otherwise of a development model? The answer is no. Different national conditions and cultural diversity determine that there is no one-size-fits-all social system or development model. The actual conditions of a nation should be the starting point for putting any development model into practice and its results the sole measure of whether the blueprint is feasible or not.

The West, sizzling, as it does, with pride and prejudice, likes to uphold the Western model of development as the universal norm and disdains any other development models. This approach is the embodiment of its hegemonic and authoritarian mindset, which is actually contrary to the spirit of democracy.

Is the Western model really so perfect? Regardless of the lamentable results caused by the enforced implementation of a Western adjustment to the political system and economy in Africa during the 1980s and 1990s, or the humanitarian disaster that has resulted from the NATO-led bombardment of Libya today, even a brief look at the scandals in Western countries will show how ugly the Western model is.

Financial crises, debt crises and phone tapping scandals all expose the maladies and flaws of the Western system, and reflect the greed and self-serving character of the financial and media giants who proclaim their actions are in the name of freedom and democracy.

The West is not entitled to teach lessons to developing countries. The huge wealth accrued by Western nations after the industrial revolution was based on the exploitation of colonies. The true intent of their efforts to spread their political systems and development models is not to let people in developing countries live comfortable and fulfilling lives, their real intent is to make developing countries vassals of the West for ever.

Can other nations learn lessons from China's development experience? We can confidently answer "yes". China has become one of the world's fastest growing, most dynamic countries, with a phenomenal improvement in people's quality of life as a result of 30 years of development. And China's development story is just beginning. There is a splendid story waiting to unfold in the years to come.

This is of course, to a large extent, due to the development road chosen by China and the socialist system with Chinese characteristics. Even Cameron himself had to admit that China's rise "points out another road to prosperity". No matter what attitude the West takes toward China, the country's development has and will continue to have a positive effect on the world.

Attacking the relations between China and Africa reveals the West's lack of confidence. They deliberately belittle China in front of Africans as a means to safeguard their control and monopoly of Africa in intellectual, political, economic, cultural fields and kill off the Africans' self-consciousness and self-development.

In this sense, Cameron, who called on Africans to "walk out of the shadow of colonialism" has continued to promote the West's own "authoritarian capitalism".

China hopes Africans find their own development paths according to their own practical conditions and is happy to share its experience with African countries.

China will definitely not impose its own model in Africa. Africa's future rests in the hands of Africans themselves, which is exactly what the Western countries do not want to happen.

The author is an expert on African studies.

(China Daily 07/29/2011 page8)