As China becomes
more involved in Africa economically, there is growing fear that China
is using methods that will eventually lead to intense anti-Chinese
attitudes. For example, the Chinese bring their own workers and employ
few locals for construction projects China is paying for. This gives the
Chinese greater control over projects, usually related to construction
(buildings, roads, and the like) or mining. The Chinese tend to ignore
local advice, which leads to construction practices that work back in
China but not in various parts of Africa. The Chinese workers are kept
in separate camps and rarely mix with locals, giving rise to suspicions
that they are Chinese convict labor. There’s no evidence of that, and
Chinese managers everywhere tend to be very intent on tightly
controlling work they are responsible for.
These Chinese construction projects please the local African
officials because the Chinese get the job done quickly with minimal
problems from locals. Neither the dictators nor the Chinese are
concerned with long-term problems. While China has been generous with
business deals in Africa, and sent over half a million Chinese to work,
invest, or settle in China, African tyrants are favored as partners.
That's because these thugs are shunned by Western nations and
businesses. Because of this, China is increasingly seen as a supporter
of evil governments and that has generated a widespread African
hostility towards all things Chinese. This has led to anti-Chinese riots
in some countries and a general animosity towards the Chinese at the
grass roots level. Thus, when these countries go through their next
rebellion the Chinese are likely to be a popular target and a major
loser if the rebels win.
China has been at this for nearly a decade. This really kicked
into high gear when China declared 2006 was officially "The Year of
Africa." China went all out to make a favorable impression on African
governments and increase Chinese economic and diplomatic activity in
Africa that year. To that end, about a billion dollars-worth of debts,
of African nations to the Chinese government, were forgiven. The year
before, Chinese commercial and government organizations invested over
$13 billion in Africa. This was less than one percent of China's GDP but
by African standards, it was huge.
However, there was some blowback. The Chinese were mainly
after raw materials, especially oil. A lot of that $13 billion was
bribes for local officials. As usual, the average African was getting
screwed by these deals. For example, a lot of the investment was for
infrastructure (roads, bridges, structures), and a lot of those deals
stipulated the use of Chinese labor for most of the work. There was
never any intention of employing many Africans. The Chinese pay such low
wages that they could afford to fly in Chinese for many jobs. China is
also flooding African markets with inexpensive goods. Both of these
tactics are hurting local businesses and causing unrest among African
business owners and workers. As a result, it's become common for
opposition parties in Africa to accuse China of "neo-colonial
exploitation." The accusation fits, and the Chinese will pay for it down
the road, as will peacekeepers brought in to help clean up the mess.
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