Africabeat

I’ve just learned about the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa which bills itself as "the first institution devoted to the study of China on
the African continent."  They offer a weekly briefing on China-related African news and a research report on Chinese investment in African infrastructure and construction sectors. They also appear to be doing some work on Indian investment on the continent.

This is an absolutely fantastic and important undertaking.  In fact I know of no other academic center dedicated to China-Africa studies in the world, even in China.  I will follow their work with interest!

From an opinion piece from the Ugandan newspaper New Vision:

Due to Africa’s lack of understanding of the character and real
intentions of China, its relationship with the emerging Asian giant
remains largely unbalanced and unfavourable to the interests of the
African people

*  *  *

Uganda: African Governments Should Study Communist China

Dr. Kiggundu Amin Tamale
Kampala

MUCH
has been- written about China’s burgeoning global influence and
pervasiveness as well as its seemingly insatiable desire to establish
and maintain strong economic ties with several African countries. Some
top-notch analysts have also described Beijing as a new Mecca for
global trotting- cap in hand African leaders.

However,
before declaring China as a close and dependable friend, African
policymakers need to ask themselves one important and valid question,
that is, does Africa understand communist China well? If the answer is
no, then, Africans need to find a way of understanding this hitherto
insular emerging Asian economic giant.

Continue reading this piece on allAfrica.com

(I am kicking myself for missing this since I happen to be in Kampala now):

KAMPALA, June 29 (Reuters) – Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called on rich and middle-income nations on Friday to stop wasting Africa’s time with aid pledges and instead open their markets to African products.

Fair trade campaigners say rich nations such as the United States and European Union countries give aid with one hand whilst refusing to cut subsidies and tariffs with the other, making it impossible for poor countries to compete. "The Europeans waste a lot of our time coming here talking about aid," he said. "We told them: if you talk about aid, I go to sleep. What we need is market access — open your markets to our products." Billions of dollars of aid pumped into Africa in the past 30 years has sparked debate over whether money was wasted.

Museveni was speaking at a meeting on India-Africa trade in Kampala, hosting delegates from African countries and 30 Indian multinationals investing on the continent.

Read more at Reuters AlertNet

(Listen to me on the BBC!)

I was interviewed in Kampala last week on Chinese investment in Africa for the BBC program Business Daily. 

Sadako Ogata, the head of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and former head of the UNHCR, was the lead interviewee.  It was my very first radio appearance and I have a somewhat, let’s say, "thinner" CV than Ms. Ogata, and so understandably I was more than a bit nervous.

Fortunately, the BBC is awesome.  They cut out the stupid things you say, eliminate the uh…umm….,tone down the Americanisms, and make you sound smarter and more articulate than you actually are.  They even promoted me: I’m a political scientist, and I haven’t even started applying to grad schools!

You can listen to my portion of the Monday, June 25th edition of Business Daily by clicking here.

Howard French, The New York Times correspondant in Shanghai, explains France’s waning power in Chad and the increasing influence of the Chinese:

How did things reach this pass? During the long tenure of Jacques Chirac, France underestimated Africans and China alike, while mistaking America as its rival in a part of the world where Washington has never had grand ambitions or even much vision. (Read more)

The "China in Africa" and the "China in the Developing World" RSS feeds, I have just discovered, have not been working for perhaps the last six months.  My apologies if this has prevented you from receiving content from this site or if you are now suddenly flooded with a few dozen backlogged entries.  Please let me know if you encounter any further technical problems.

Jeffrey Sachs criticizes the "extreme free-market ideology of structural adjustment" promoted by the IMF and the World Bank while praising Chinese investment in Africa.  Here’s why he is both right and incredibly wrong.

Jeffrey Sachs’s editorial at the Guardian’s Comment is Free, "China’s lessons for the World Bank," touches on recurrent themes of the China-Africa story: the hypocrisy of Western criticism and China as a viable alternative model.

Sachs attended the African Development Bank meeting in Shanghai a few weeks ago, and from his participation in high level meetings observe,s "The advice that the African leaders received from their Chinese
counterparts was sound, and much more practical than what they
typically get from the World Bank."

Continue reading

Here, I’ve attempted to translate the reactions of a Chinese blogger to the film Blood Diamond. She runs the gamut of feeling: shock, sadness, horror, pain, grief, guilt and finally relief (of a sort) that whatever her problems, they pale in comparison to the misery and suffering of Africans.  Sounds like White Guilt to me.

But what of the Chinese living in the countryside?

I’ve been thinking a lot (and writing a bit) about the role of Africa in the popular imagination of Western Europeans (similar, I would argue, to the role of the Black man in the popular imagination of Americans).  Europe could never have considered itself "civilized" if there were not also people to call "savage."  Whites could never have considered themselves "superior" if there were not also races that were intrinsically "inferior."  Enter the African.

As more and more, China and Chinese people come into contact with Africa and Africans, I predict a similar dynamic will develop.  You already see it in the contributions of the Chinese media, businessmen and some officials to the emerging discourse.  Africa is "backwards"  (落后）. Africa is "poor" (贫穷).  Africans ascribe to quaint tribal traditions that we, the forward-looking Chinese, have long abandoned.

These characterizations come with an implicit pat on the back. China – still light years away from being "developed" if we apply Western standards – can consider itself "modern" because others are "backwards."  Enter the African.

Continue reading

I’ve been meaning to write something about Hu’s Africa trip, but life has gotten busy of late.  To tide you over, here is a fascinating post from Jacky Peng, a Global Voices contributor and Singapore-based blogger on Chinese perception of their leader’s visit to the continent:

Who is visiting Africa?

Chinese President Hu Jintao is on a 10-day-visit to Africa now. Many state-owned news media such as Xinhua News Agency and People’s Daily,
headline his visit on their websites’ front page almost everyday. His
tour has also attracted attention from Chinese netizens.

The Chinese government regards Hu’s visit as a great diplomatic victory. Many Chinese echo with exultance.

A popular post applaudeded Hu’s effort in Sudan’s Darfur crisis, China vs. the US in Africa: Bush failed, Hu Jintao succeeded!!!

在俺们胡哥的亲切的微笑中，达尔富尔问题就这样解冻了！在俺们胡哥的亲切的微笑中，联合国的维和部队就快要进住了！

布什做不到的，胡哥在微笑中做到了！！！

中非友谊是真正的友谊！！！！！！！！！

支持胡哥！

Our brother Hu thawed the Darfur crisis with
his cordial smile! The United Nations peacekeeping force is going to
station (in Darfur) with his cordial smile!

Bush failed, brother Hu succeeded with smile!!!

Sino-Africa friendship is a true friendship!!!!!!

Support brother Hu!!!!

(Read Jacky’s post in full at Global Voices)

Will China Teach Africa How to Fish?

A few weeks ago, Blaise Aplogan wrote (En, Fr) about Li Zhaoxing’s visit to Benin.  He saves what I consider his most fascinating observation for last:

""Smiles, frank handshakes, and community of Third-World experience, are quite
good. But what worries me is what a friend of mine working in the Foreign
Ministry told me. According to this well informed civil servant, agreements with
the Chinese are interesting, but they are often accompanied by a long period of
transfer of technology, not to mention ownership right. Some delays may be as
long as a hundred years! A hundred years, may not be so long for China, an old
nation having behind her a past of several millenniums. But for us Africans who
have been languishing in the shadow of poverty an alienation, finding it hard to
take hold of our destiny and get rid of the fate, we look forward to making our own the Chinese proverb which
says: " it is better to learn to fish rather than be given a fish " and
I shall add gladly: " and not to be reduced to salivate while it is cooking in
our own kitchen, in the Chinese sauce …"

I agree that technology and skills transfer are key, but that
doesn’t happen by accident or simply through passive osmosis.  My guess
is that real skills transfer isn’t going to come unless a) African
governments *really* hammer this point home as a condition for future
business deals (I’m a bit skeptical on this point for the simple fact
that human beings have a difficult time acting rationally in the face
of mountains of cash) or b) when Africans actually start owning a
significant share of Chinese-funded projects. 

Continue reading