[A-List] Sino-Africa Relations

[Patrick Bond]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu at mindspring.com>
>    Chinese, African cultural exchanges fruitful
> Cultural exchanges between China and African countries have made a great 
> breakthrough in recent years and promoted the mutual understanding between 
> the two peoples.

That would be great, if true, and it's sorely needed. The mutual 
understanding between Chinese and African workers is lamentable. Yellow 
peril is raging across the countries I know best in Southern Africa, and 
even at the Southern African Social Forum in Harare last October, the 
largest applause in the opening ceremony went to xenophobes who insisted 
that "Fong Kong" products should be boycotted. South African workers are 
desperately trying to get relief but their corporatist leadership has 
decided to ask for Social Clauses from the WTO and bilateral deals between 
Pretoria and Beijing, instead of the hard work of allying with the Chinese 
working class.

On the other hand, there's a material reality to this awful new psychology, 
which reflects the rise of Chinese fascist-capitalism, in league with the 
most venal African regimes, in Sudan, Angola, Zimbabwe and the like. Here 
are excerpts from my forthcoming book (*Looting Africa*, Zed Books):


>From the early 2000s, China became a bigger factor, in the process 
attracting growing controversy over geopolitics (because from Sudan to 
Zimbabwe to Angola, Chinese loans and investments propped up corrupt 
regimes) and deindustrialization. Well grounded concerns over employment 
practices and product quality turned into xenophobia against Chinese 
merchants (leading to 'yellow peril' sloganeering from otherwise 
internationalist activists within the Southern African Social Forum in late 
2005). The Chinese threat to African industry is profound, with Nigeria 
losing 350,000 jobs directly (and 1.5 million indirectly) due to Chinese 
competition from 2000-05. Lesotho's garment industry collapsed when the 
Africa Growth and Opportunity Act benefits evaporated in 2005 once China 
joined the WTO.[1]
[1]. Chiahemen, J. (2005), 'Africa fears "Tsunami" of Cheap Chinese Imports', 
Reuters, 18 December.


The critique of foreign investors in Africa must now extend beyond the EU, 
US and Japan, to China. For example, the Chinese National Petroleum 
Corporation (CNPC) and two other large Chinese oil firms are active in 
seventeen African countries. One is Sudan where $2 billion of oil 
investments are underway notwithstanding the Darfur genocide, responsible 
already for of 5% of China's import requirements, along with 
Chinese-financed development of a homegrown Sudanese military capacity. 
(Arms sales to Robert Mugabe are also dubious.) As Ben Schiller reports,

Concerns have been raised over the environmental impact of various 
Chinese-run mining operations in Africa, including copper mines in Zambia 
and Congo, and titanium sands projects in ecologically sensitive parts of 
Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar.
     Moreover, China is a major importer of illegal timber from forests in 
Indonesia, Cameroon, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. Though accurate figures 
are hard to access, www.globaltimber.org.uk says that up to 50% of all 
timber imported to China in 2004 was illegal. Chinese businesses have also 
been implicated in ivory smuggling, notably in Sudan and Zimbabwe. According 
to Care for the Wild International, Chinese companies buy up to 75% of Sudan's 
ivory.
     In its rush to expand, development experts say China is reinvigorating 
an older, crude style of development, re-establishing an era of 'white 
elephants' and 'prestige projects' with little benefit to local people. In 
Ethiopia, the Chinese state-owned Jiangxi International built $4 million 
worth of new housing, after a flood left hundreds destitute. But instead of 
accommodating the homeless, the blocks ended up being used by military 
officials. A Jiangxi manager later told the Wall Street Journal: 'It was a 
political task for us and so long as Ethiopia officials are happy, our goal 
is fulfilled.'
     Another feature of Chinese investment overseas is the use of Chinese 
rather than local workers. Thousands of Chinese labourers and engineers have 
been imported to build Ethiopia's $300 million Takazee Dam. In Sudan, 
Chinese workers have constructed an oil pipeline; 74,000 Chinese remain in 
country, 10,000 employed by CNPC. Chinese workers are also being used in 
Namibia, Zimbabwe, and a host of other African states. [1]
 [1]. Schiller, B. (2005), 'The China Model of Development', 
http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-china/china_development_3136.jsp, 20 
December.