The Chinese in Africa

rice_t · January 6, 2006, 11:32am

Interesting article.

Lindsey Hilsum draws our attention to an African revolution: “The Chinese are the most voracious capitalists on the continent and trade between China and Africa is doubling every year.” What they are most interested in is African oil! The Africans are profiting from the trade but they are also interested in something else: “Africa looks to China and sees success: according to the World Bank, the Chinese have lifted 400 million of their own people out of poverty in the past two decades. All the while, no one forced the Chinese government to have elections or allow its opponents to start newspapers. Many African leaders would love to do to their oppositions what the Chinese did to theirs in Tienanmen Square, but if they want Western aid money, they must abide by Western conditions… The Chinese come to Africa as equals, with no colonial hangover, no complex relationship of resentment. China wants to buy; Africa has something to sell.” This could form the basis for a way forward for Africa which the Europeans and the Americans have failed to provide.

full article granta.com/extracts/2616

jdsmith · January 6, 2006, 11:44am

Yes, the Chinese are going where no one wants to go, and they’re bringing truckloads of cash.

I imagine they will create a Chinese upper class, just as they did in SE Asia. The book World On Fire provides excellent examples of this kind of situation, where foreigners basically run a country because they have the financial backing.

Good for them. Africa is truly mucked up and I’d like to see someone WORK with them and not try to keep them from starving or killing each other. The aid will still go in and be blown on warlords and dictators. But business…hmmm, people who make money will spend it.

Wealth making is the ONLY plan right now. With wealth comes power, with power comes peace…THEN things will get interesting.

H5N1 · January 6, 2006, 2:39pm

To many countries, an added attraction is what the Chinese are not bringing: judgements about the countries that they invest in.

pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_ … guage_id=1

t.ukyo · January 7, 2006, 10:29pm

[quote=“jdsmith”]
Wealth making is the ONLY plan right now. With wealth comes power, with power comes peace…THEN things will get interesting.[/quote]

What makes you think that the money China puts into those countries doesn’t end up in a swiss account of the ruling elites families, as usual? and nothing else changes.

I think Western money with strings attached (i.e. spend a certain amount on health care and schools) does those countries better than Chinese “we don’t care as long as we get our oil/ore” money.
China as it is today cannot have a positive influence on Africa. If China doesn’t care about the rights of its own people, they surely won’t give any thought to the state of the African societies they do business with.

jdsmith · January 9, 2006, 10:39am

The big boys are coming in.

[quote]SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - CNOOC Ltd. is buying a stake in a Nigerian oil and gas field for about $2 billion in what would be the Chinese offshore producer’s largest ever overseas acquisition, people familiar with the situation said on Monday. The transaction will be announced soon, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
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If completed, the purchase of a major stake in the yet-to-be-developed Akpo deepwater field, operated by global major Total

Earlier on Monday, another source familiar with the transaction told Reuters that CNOOC was buying the stake.

That source declined to reveal more details of CNOOC’s planned purchase from little-known Nigerian company South Atlantic Petroleum, which sources say is controlled by former Nigerian Defense Minister Theophilus Danjuma.[/quote]

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060109/bs_ … nigeria_dc

TainanCowboy · January 9, 2006, 10:59am

The PLA has had a presence in Africa since the late '70’s. Who do you think was one of the main funding and weapons sources of the ANC?
Very helpful with Mugagbe also.