China has long maintained a neutral stance in Africa’s regional conflicts while expanding its economic influence. However, Beijing has now openly criticized Rwanda for supporting M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking a rare diplomatic shift. To find out how China is balancing its diplomacy in the mineral-rich region, TaiwanPlus spoke to Christian-Géraud Neema, Africa editor for the China Global South Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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00:00Could you please briefly explain what is the conflict that's ongoing between Rwanda and DRC Congo and what does that mean for that region?
00:10We have a situation where Rwanda is biking a rebellion called the M23 in the eastern part of the DRC.
00:16It's been starting since 2022 and it's been ongoing until now.
00:21What you have to understand in terms of context, the first time we had a rebellion, the M23, it was in 2012.
00:28It was defeated and they were sent back to either Uganda and Rwanda.
00:34Part of them were sent back to Uganda and Rwanda.
00:37And now we have a resurgence since 2022 and since then they've been constantly backed by Rwanda into the eastern part of the DRC.
00:45And now China has criticized Rwanda for backing M23 and attacking DRC, parts of DRC Congo.
00:55How do you read that comment? It's very unusual for China to say what they did.
01:00It's very much aligned with China's foreign policy when it comes to countries where China really prefers to stand on the international law side.
01:08Mentioning the fact, for example, countries' sovereignty must be respected no matter what.
01:13And we've seen that in the case of Russia-Ukraine war where despite China being an ally to Russia,
01:20China called out the fact that Ukraine's sovereignty must be respected and security concern over Russia must be addressed as well.
01:27So in the same context that we see here, Rwanda doesn't have security concern per se.
01:31That's why you see China mentioning clearly that sovereignty of the DRC must be respected and calling out Rwanda's support of the M23.
01:40So this is much more aligned with China's foreign policy.
01:43And they're really trying to maintain that role into defending the international law, international order in that sense.
01:49What does this mean for China's investment in that part of Africa?
01:54Is China going to take other actions to achieve their goal of resolving this conflict right now?
02:02And what does it mean for the investment in the region?
02:04We saw that despite that Rwanda and China calling out, Rwanda still have good testimony about China.
02:11And we've seen that in the interview that Paul Kagame, Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame has given to a Twitter influencer a few weeks back
02:19where he was really praising China's influence in Rwanda and also in the region.
02:23Overall, when you look into China's investment in the regions, particularly in the DRC,
02:29China doesn't have strong investment in the mining sector or in any kind of sector in the eastern part of the DRC.
02:35The core interest of China in the DRC happens in the southern part of the DRC.
02:40And of course, if we see the M23 rebellion expanding its footprint beyond the eastern part going to the southern part of the DRC,
02:50yes, China will be worried about how it's going to impact investment in the DRC and in the region overall.
02:57So, so far China remains cautious and also expressing the need that both countries and both parties and all the stakeholders need to sit on the table to resolve the situation.
03:08This is the approach that China is putting on the table, hoping that it won't expand to get where its investment is present in the southern part of the DRC.