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China sets the board for future dominance in Africa.
May 5, 2013 · 0 Comments
Yesterday, 15:42
Chinese – the new colonizers of Africa?
Photo: EPA; my continent
African politicians, like their Western counterparts, concerned a situation where China, providing money Dark Continent, not only has access to its resources, but also extends its political influence there (AUDIO)
China has been strengthening its position on the continent. Trade between China and Africa has increased from approximately $ 20 billion in 2000, up to 200 billion in 2012. China’s direct investment in Africa last year totaled $ 20 billion, and the number of Chinese companies operating on the continent, has reached two thousand.
At the same time Beijing willingly providing African countries with loans on favorable terms. For this, he gets access to resources of the continent, and Chinese companies – contracts for large infrastructure projects. Comments on the situation of the Russian-director of the Center for Chinese Studies MSU Evgeny Zaytsev:
“China is a key, the key, and rapidly gaining strength and impact player on the African continent, compared with the traditional players in this process – I mean the European Union, the former Soviet Union (Russia today), and the United States. So China – is a young dynamic partner of African countries and the African continent as a whole, which, I think, is more dynamic than the rest of the participants in this process. ”
Only the interaction of economies of China and Africa is not limited. In 22 African countries have Confucius Institutes, which are considered as one of the main conductors of Chinese “soft power.” At the same time, thousands of students have received Chinese government scholarship and study in China. So after a few years, African elites are free to communicate with Chinese partners in the language of Mao Zedong. All this suggests that Beijing’s interest in Africa is strategic, says Evgeny Zaytsev:
“I believe that China and the Chinese leaders that normally calculate the moves for many years, have set themselves the task of strategic – long-term attachment to the African continent. So they came back here to stay.”
This kind of activity on the continent of China worries the West, especially the United States. Last summer, a large-scale tour of Africa, made the then head of the Department of State Hillary Clinton. In a speech, she said that the times when strangers come to Africa benefit, but give nothing in return, must end. At the same time Clinton criticized countries that “give Africa money, not caring about the fact that these funds into the hands of authoritarian rulers.” Directly China was named. But no one had any doubt as to whom Clinton had in mind. Especially that Beijing did not really pay attention to the degree of democracy in its foreign partners, said a senior researcher at the Institute of Africa Vladimir Shubin:
“China often provides loans at very favorable terms. China does not link such loans and investments with some political issues. Therefore, those countries that are considered almost a pariah in the West, it is acceptable to China.”
It would be possible to calculate that the fears associated with the Chinese expansion, unique to Westerners. Allegedly, the United States and Europe do not feel comfortable because of the increasing power of the Middle Kingdom, and Africa itself is not to blame. However, the activity of the PRC was beginning to frighten and part of the African elites. Not so long ago, the general manager of the Central Bank of Nigeria Lamido Sanusi has published an article in the Financial Times. In it, he accused Beijing of colonialism. According to him, Africans habitually consider China a developing country and therefore trust him more than the West, although the reasons for this are long gone. At the same time benefit from the partnership with China is often questionable. For example, infrastructure projects in Africa, China is implementing the forces of its own citizens, and not the local population. Thus, new jobs are created for Africans.
Artem Kobzev
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2013_05_04/Kitajci-novie-kolonizatori-Afriki/
By myfuamerica
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