Japanese Commercial Interests in Contemporary Africa
| Author | Eliphas G. Mukonoweshuro |
| Date | 01 May 1991 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711789101000304 |
| Published date | 01 May 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
251
JAPANESE
COMMERCIAL
INTERESTS
IN
CONTEMPORARY
AFRICA*
Eliphas
G.
Mukonoweshuro
INTRODUCTION
Since
the
1980s,
some
60
per
cent
of
all
Japan’s
imports
come
from
the
Third
World,
which
in
turn
buys
nearly
half
of
all
Japanese
exports.
For
Tokyo,
therefore,
the
North-South
link
is
an
indispensable
economic
lifeline.
It
relies
on
overseas
suppliers
for
the
overwhelming
bulk
of
its
basic
industrial
inputs
-
for
virtually
all
of
its
oil,
iron
ore,
tin,
copper,
bauxite,
cotton
and
wool;
and
for
most
of
its
coal,
zinc,
lead,
nickel
and
lumber
and
virtually
all
of
its
precious
and
rare
metals
such
as
gold,
diamonds,
chrome,
uranium
and
platinum.
This
amounts
to
about
70
per
cent
of
an
estimated
annual
import
bill
of
over
US$130
billion,
with
crude
oil
alone
making
up
more
than
half
of
that.
For
Africa,
Japan’s
huge
economy,
supporting
over
110
million
people,
may
well
prove
to
be
a
crucial
factor
in
the
continent’s
economic
development
into
the
next
century.
There
are,
however,
real
and
potential
problems.
First,
there
are
huge
economic
disparities
between
Japan
and
Africa,
which
may
militate
against
the
successful
execution
of
a
mutually
beneficial
commercial
relationship.
For
example,
during
the
1980s,
the
Gross
National
Product
(GNP)
of
Japan
was
equivalent
to
approximately
four
times
the
combined
GNP
of
all
African
countries
including
oil-rich
Nigeria
and
Algeria
and
mineral-rich
South
Africa.
Such
a
disparity
could
have
either
negative
or
positive
consequences.
Secondly,
Africa
came
relatively
late
to
the
Japanese
commercial
agenda.
The
main
focus
of
Japan’s
economic
attention
from
the
time
of
its
emergence
from
self-imposed
seclusion
in
the
1860s
has
been
South-East
Asia
where
it
has
traditionally
faced
particular
political
problems
and
to
which
it
has
therefore
devoted
a
great
deal
of
its
diplomatic
and
development
efforts.
Japan’s
South-
East
Asian
neighbours
account
for
an
effective
quarter
of
all
Japan’s
imports
and
exports,
and
the
bulk
of
Japanese
aid
and
investment
capital.
In
addition,
Japan
had
no
colonial
involvement
of
any
sort
in
Africa
and,
with
minor
exceptions,
no
trade
or
investment
history
in
the
continent
before
the
beginning
of
the
1960s
and
the
independence
era.’
Before
independence,
the
external
trade
of
the
majority
of
African
countries
was
largely
subsumed
in
the
commercial
exchanges
of
the
colonial
powers,
which
habitually
controlled
the
bulk
of
a
given
colony’s
trade.
This
commercial
strangle-
hold
was
not
immediately
lessened
after
the
granting
of
political
independence,
because
several
preferential
arrangements
helped
to
perpetuate
colonial-type
*
Japanese-South
African
commercial
relations
have
been
dealt
with
elsewhere.
See
E.G.
Mukonoweshuro,
’Japanese
Commercial
Interests
in
South
Africa’
Journal
of
Contemporary
Asia
(forthcoming).
1
See
P.
Jalee,
Japanese
Imperialism
Today
(New
York,
1978).
However,
commercial
relations
with
South
Africa
date
back
to
the
first
two
decades
of
the
twentieth
century.
©
International
Relations,
1991
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