The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses educational institutions in Africa, notably the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School, to help local leaders advance authoritarian policies across the continent, according to leading foreign policy observers.
Despite the CCP’s repeated assurances that China would not export its political system and ideology abroad, the school — located in Tanzania — did precisely that, according to an in-depth investigation. published by Axios news site.
The Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School opened in 2022 and represents a partnership between the CCP and allied African nations, including Namibia, Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania. The institution is located 30 miles east of Dar es Salaam and was established following an investment of US$40 million (R$194 million at current exchange rates) by the PCC.
One of the participants, Collin Ngujapeua, a member of Namibia’s ruling party, SWAPO, attended the institute in June and reflected that the CCP is “working hand in hand [com o governo]… This is one of the very important aspects that we also need to work on in Namibia and other African fraternal parties.”
“We must work together, the political party and the government,” the official added, elaborating that an instructor, “told us that we must solve our own problems. Instead of going to a court, instead of using judicial means… he said that we must solve our own problems internally.”
A later report prepared by Ngujapeua for SWAPO included references to “eliminating tigers”, “beating [moscas]” and “hunting foxes”, echoing terms often used by the CCP.
“There has been reluctance on the part of many scholars to assert that China is clearly trying to export authoritarianism,” Daniel Mattingly, a professor of political science at Yale University who specializes in Chinese authoritarian politics, told the outlet. The academic even noted that participants leave the leadership academy with the impression that “we need to evolve to a much stronger one-party state model.”
However, the CCP denied any malicious intent towards the school and reaffirmed its commitment that it has no intention of influencing African nations politically. “The CPC and political parties in Africa learn from each other’s governance experience and support each other’s development path that suits their respective national conditions. We do not seek to export our system,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, at the axles.
“The CPC is the leading core force of all endeavors and causes in China. It is the fundamental reason why the Chinese people and the Chinese nation have been able to transform their destiny in modern times and achieve the great success we see today.”
Richard McGregor, a senior research fellow at Australia’s Lowy Institute focused on East Asia, disagreed, telling the axles that the “most important part of … [seu] model is to imbue revolutionary parties with the idea that they are the permanent ruling party and to educate them on how to achieve that goal.”
©2023 National Review. Published with permission. Original in English: Chinese Communist Party Using African Schools to ‘Export Authoritarianism’
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