Is the seeming Diplomatic row between Ghana and China becoming a reality?

The COVID-19 is revealing the cracks in diplomatic relations between China and Ghana in recent years. The West African Country has been a major trade partner of China over the years but outbreak of the coronavirus shows all is not well between the two countries.

According the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), the volume of Chinese trade and investment in Ghana increased from $.4.4 million in 2000 to $1.6 billion in 2014. China has also extended various credit facilities to the Government of Ghana to expand various sectors of its economy.

China is the second largest exporter to Ghana with trade volumes between the two countries exceeding $7 billion in 2018. China’s Ambassador to Ghana, Shi Ting Wang, announced this at launch of new Chinese vehicles Changan CS95 and CS55T by Stallion Motors, distributors of Hyundai, Audi and Skoda in Accra last year.

Despite these economic partnerships, the activity of Chinese illegal miners in Ghana in the last ten years appears to have eroded the gains from the bilateral relations between the two countries. Illegal miners have caused extensive damage to natural resources such as forest reserves and river bodies in their quest to extract gold ore from unapproved concessions.

This phenomenon has been a major source of worry for Ghanaian authorities who have been unable to deal with the menace for diplomatic reasons. This emboldened the Chinese, mostly illegal migrants, to act with impunity and ignore environmental concerns.

Pollution of water bodies which serve as source of drinking water for many Ghanaians and the indiscriminate degradation of the environment across the country became increasingly alarming as more Chinese invaded the country for the “lucrative” enterprise.

The former regime took steps to clamp down on the nefarious activities of the illegal miners because it was becoming a threat to national security.

The current administration took the bold decision to ban all small-scale mining activities when it assumed power in 2017. President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo put his Presidency on the line when he declared “war” on illegal mining during his first year in office. He categorically told the nation that even if the fight against illegal mining could cost him his re-election, he was ready to do it anyway.

The Government of Ghana deployed military and police personnel across the country in an exercise called “operation vanguard” to combat the illegal mining cancer. Most Ghanaians who were arrested in that operation were prosecuted and, in some cases, thrown into jail.

However, their Chinese counterparts, who were the main financiers of the illegality, were often let to go scot-free. A case in point is the repatriation of Aisha Huang, a notorious Chinese illegal miner, when all Ghanaians were calling for her prosecution.

A senior Minister in the current administration, Mr. Yaw Osafo Marfo is on record as saying Huang’s repatriation was justified on the grounds that her prosecution could affect the $2 billion Sinohydro loan deal between Ghana and China.

With the emergence of COVID-19, the cracks in the relationship between Ghana and China are becoming clearer. Ghana has expressed its displeasure with the ill-treatment being meted out to Africans in China, including Ghanaians.

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, urged the Chinese authorities to take urgent steps to protect its nationals from further abuse. It remains to be seen if China pays any more attention to the protection of Ghanaians than it has to the protection of Ghana’s environment.