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A common Western criticism of China’s investment in Africa is that the continent could be burdened by unpayable debts arising from billions in loans from China.

The Asian economic powerhouse is the biggest source of investment into African infrastructure, and is among the top two sources of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent. Although the US had $57 billion of FDI stock in Africa in 2016, versus China’s $40 billion, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), investment from Beijing increased by 24 percent between 2010 and 2014, while US FDI grew by only 10 percent.

At the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation summit held in Beijing early this month, the Asian country pledged $60 billion in financing for Africa, bringing the total amount pledged to the continent by China to $120 billion since 2015.

The financing includes $15 billion of grants, interest-free loans and concessionary loans, $20 billion of credit lines, the setting up of a $10 billion special fund for development financing and a $5 billion special fund for financing imports from Africa.

Another huge Chinese initiative set to enhance its position in Africa is its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), President Xi Jinping’s signature policy framework that seeks to connect China with other regions via ports, railways, and fibre-optic cables.

Chinese support also comes with no strings attached, contrary to Western investment that often is availed only on the basis of benchmarks that African leaders say represent interference in their domestic affairs.

It indeed goes without saying that the strengthening Sino-Africa political and economic relations are unsettling the US and Europe, who traditionally had much influence on the continent. This has given rise to an army of critics who speak about Chinese “colonisation” of Africa while “warning” that the continent is slowly enslaving itself to Chinese debt.

In our view, all this criticism is Western propaganda to discredit China in the eyes of African countries. They clearly know that they are losing the game and think they can spoil it all for everyone.

President Mnangagwa and Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube, as have many other African leaders in recent years, had to make it clear on Sunday that funding from China will not bury Africa under debt.

“What is necessary when you get loans or investment, it must be structured,” said the President. “(There is need for) investment in projects which can re-finance themselves to pay the loan.”

Citing two massive Chinese-funded capital projects — the expansion of Kariba South and Hwange power stations — he added:

“I do not see any danger where you have a project which becomes productive in terms of revenue streams to pay for itself. When you finish paying the loan, the asset remains with us and we will continue to have electricity so I do not see the danger there.”

In our view what the President said is what is already happening across the country and that there is no deliberate agenda by China to entrap Africa in debt.

From the President’s remarks, Africa needs to be smarter too in setting its priorities, only taking loans to build critical infrastructure that has an in-built capacity to repay the relevant debts, in other words projects that have the capacity to build themselves. If China constructs a road, the relevant government must ensure that the infrastructure can generate revenue, through, for example, tolling. A fraction of the toll fees will then be used to repay the loan. By the same token, if China builds a dam, the government in question must ensure that the dam is able to attract more investment in the form of tourism, sporting or aquaculture activities that can be used to raise money to be channelled towards repaying the loan.

It will, therefore, be unwise for a country to take a loan to build a state-of-the-art stadium in a remote location that no one will want to use and therefore would be a white elephant with no income-generating capacity.

On its part, China has mechanisms to make sure that it only provides loans that the borrowing country will be able to repay. This limits the chances of bad debts and over-borrowing.

Early this month, the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based organisation that promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs published a paper, “Dispelling the Dominant Myths of China in Africa”.

The paper dismisses three myths about Chinese investment in Africa — that China only invests in infrastructure, that all BRI activity in Africa is carefully orchestrated and coordinated by top party officials in Beijing is false and that Africa is being swindled by Beijing.

“A final myth is that African governments are passive in negotiating contracts with the Chinese and regularly coerced into accepting bad deals. Over the 15 years of increased Chinese activity in the region, African governments are well aware of Chinese interests and have refined their negotiating tactics to better advance development objectives. Despite criticism that Chinese firms heavily depend on Chinese labour, for example, most infrastructure projects are completed primarily by African workers, with Chinese nationals in management or technical positions. The US policy-making community must be clear-eyed about the Chinese commercial relationship with Africa in order to focus American commercial diplomacy. Fixating on the infrastructure aspect of Chinese economic engagement causes US policymakers to miss other, more powerful opportunities for American competitive advantage in sectors such as financial services, venture capital, and the entertainment industry.”

Critics of Chinese presence in Africa need to read and understand this paper.