Chinese Defense Minsiter visits Ghana, Uganda and Seychelles
The Chinese seem to be getting in on the game. This is exactly the reason why we didn't want noisy announcements and high profile visits by senior AFRICOM officials. We don't want another great power struggle for Africa.
We had one in the run-up to the Berlin conference and another during the Cold War. Africa came out pretty badly after both events: The Berlin conference left us with borders that made no sense and Soviet - American rivalry kept people like Mobutu and Siad Barre in power, murdered Lumumba and made Africa lose at least forty years of constructive engagement with the rest of the World.
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Liang Guanglie, state councilor and minister of national defense of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and his party left Beijing on November 21, 2011 for the Republic of Ghana, the Republic of Uganda and the Republic of Seychelles for an official goodwill visit at the invitation of the ministries of defense of the three countries.
Liang Guanglie’s principal entourage includes Zhu Fuxi, director of the Political Department of the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and Zheng Chuanfu, commander of the PLA Beijing Garrison.
Qian Lihua, director-general of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Ministry of National Defense of the PRC, saw Liang Guanglie and his party off at the airport.
The link: http://eng.mod.gov.cn/DefenseNews/20...nt_4318072.htm
Deborah Brautigam on China's role in Africa
Very interesting talk given by an expert. Dispel's several myths about the Chinese.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Za8euDy9n7w
China in Africa: a different viewpoint
A good talk, but at 45 minutes long others may prefer a review of the professor's book:http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...m-1854588.html
There's also her blogsite:http://www.chinaafricarealstory.com/
Chinese companies under scrutiny in Zimbabwe
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Ten years into the Look East policy, Zimbabwe is showing itself to be a not-so-satisfied customer of Chinese investment.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/andrew-...ny-in-zimbabwe
Article in WP about Chinese aid
The gist is that the Chinese have a better approach to aid than the West.
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KAMPALA, Uganda — China last month sent a senior official to symbolically hand over the keys to a nine-story twin tower to house Uganda’s president and prime minister, a gift from Beijing.
The white structures with a sloping roof cost China $27 million to build. But — in a strategy that China is increasingly employing around Africa — Beijing didn’t just deliver the money and let Ugandan officials see the project through. It was built by Chinese workers in what aid watchdogs applaud as a model to help defeat the inefficiencies and cash-pocketing corruption associated with other systems of foreign aid delivery.
China has a growing economic footprint in Uganda and much of the rest of Africa, and some Ugandans natives complain of the rising number of Chinese arriving to set up shop. China’s strategic interest in this East African country has deepened at a time when Uganda hopes to become an oil producer.
But the completion of projects like a modern hospital complex has softened China’s reputation, while Beijing’s efforts to produce turn-key projects are winning fans among Ugandans tired of seeing their officials ripping off foreign aid projects with impunity. Instead of giving cash, the Chinese government prefers to pay Chinese companies to build roads and structures, bypassing local politicians, powerbrokers and construction crews, and to deliver them completed.
The China model is “more effective. It’s less prone to corruption,” said Sven Grimm, the executive director of the Center for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He said the approach also bolsters China’s economy, because “Chinese enterprises ... go out and gain international experience.”
Experts say China’s model of donating buildings and roads might help it cut the risk of aid scandals like the one that rocked the $22.6 billion Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria over the past year. The Geneva-based financier gets donations from wealthy donor nations and private sources like Bill Gates. But donors recoiled after the fund’s internal watchdog documented more than $50 million in losses due to corruption and other misuse and unauthorized spending, affecting much of Africa, including Uganda.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...10Q_story.html
Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa
These pix give one a feel for the scale of the Chinese presence in Africa.
http://i.imgur.com/Zvmpr.jpg
Lagos light rail
http://www.home.co.ke/images/traffic...55174964202511
Nairobi-Thika Road
http://74.54.19.227/news/324/32452902.optim.jpg
Bui Dam - Ghana
http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/w...ajanalarge.jpg
Dangote Cement Plant, Obajana - built by Sinochem
This is just the tip of the iceberg and the scale is mind-boggling.
Nigeria: FG in China, Seeks U.S.$3 Billion for Agric, Rail, Airport Projects
This is very significant. Traditionally, Nigeria obtained financing from the West, the push towards the East may be the sign of things to come...
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Beijing — The Federal Government is currently discussing with the Chinese government and its agencies with a view to securing about $3 billion (N480 billion) to complete on-going 'priority projects' across the country.
The $3 billion credit from China, according to the government, was part of the $7.9 billion loan proposal President Goodluck Jonathan took to the National Assembly for approval.
Jonathan had, last week, asked the legislature to approve $7.9 billion credit, proposed to be sourced from the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Bank, China and India.
The proposal, he stated, was part of government's medium-term external borrowing plan for the next three years (2012-2014).
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said in Beijing, China, after the first day of the meeting of a high-powered Nigerian delegation with the Chinese government and investors, that it was necessary to seek the $3 billion credit line to "complete some people-oriented projects".
Okonjo-Iweala explained that the approach of sourcing this particular credit was a clear departure from the past, when most of the projects were not determined by the federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) but the Chinese, who negotiated the credits at varied interest rates - mostly unfavourable to Nigeria.
The government, she noted, had now adopted "systematisation" of negotiation for the credits - for priority projects and at beneficial interest rates - rather than leaving it to the whims and caprices of the Chinese companies and agencies.
"Right now, we have noticed a phenomenon where a lot of Chinese companies come to different ministries and agencies with particular projects they are interested in and then when the MDAs say yes, they sometimes go and help negotiate the credit. But we want to change this because this approach does not always take into account our priorities. When I say systematisation, it means that we outline what our priorities are and we try to negotiate the same beneficial rate for all our projects so that we have a systematic approach," she said.
The high-powered delegation led by Okonjo-Iweala included the Bauchi State Governor, Isa Yuguda; Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed; Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Godsday Orubebe; Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah; Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar; Minister of State for Works, Alhaji Bashir Yugudu; Special Adviser to the President on Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Prof. Sylvester Monye; and Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, Mr. Gerald Ilukwe.
Okonjo-Iweala disclosed that the $3 billion proposed credit line included $500 million financing for four new terminals in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano and $500 million to complete the Abuja light rail projects.
She added that another $500 million meant for agriculture and $171 million for the completion of Bauchi independent power plant project as well as $100 million to complete Galaxy backbone project, were also included in the Chinese facility.
The finance minister assured them that the credit, which was being sought at not more than 3 per cent concessionary interest rate, in line with the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRC), was still within the debt-to-GDP ratio of about 20 per cent.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201202220327.html
Africa talking to Beijing: Ethiopia
One of the great things about a discussion board like this is that it helps dispel stereotypes, gut feelings or assumptions.
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A piece by an experienced China watcher about the Chinese in Ethiopia. Note the role of the Chinese in providing technical training - a common accusation in the Western media is that they do nothing of that sort.
Tough governments are able to get the most out of the rise in emerging-market interest in Africa. Here is one example of countries trying to get beyond the 'win-win' rhetoric in engagements with their Chinese partners. In Ethiopia Addis Ababa holds the reigns.
During his August 2011 trip to China, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi visited the Pearl River Delta, where higher production costs are driving manufacturers offshore.
He invited his Chinese hosts to visit Ethiopia. Among other things, he wanted them to look at a leather-based industrial cluster Ethiopia is developing to better utilise its live stock population, Africa's largest.
Within weeks, a delegation of Chinese businessmen had arrived in Addis Ababa. Among them were representatives of the privately owned Huajian Group that produces 16m pairs of leather shoes per year. By October, Huajian had decided to invest.
Huajian's general manager arrived in November, hired 50 Ethiopian technical school graduates and sent them off to China for training.
Huajian is leasing a factory site in Ethiopia's Eastern (Oriental) Industrial Zone, Hagos Sequar, an Ethiopian industry ministry official told The Africa Report.
"The machinery is already on its way to Djibouti," he added. Ethiopia, at the end of 2011, reflects the surprising complexity of Chinese engagement in Africa, how it differs from that of the West and – possibly of more significance to the continent –how central the role of African agency is.
China is no newcomer here. In 1972, China financed the Wereta-Weldiya road across Ethiopia's Rift Valley. Between 1998 and 2004, the Chinese contributed 15 per cent of the cost of Addis Ababa's ring road, while Ethiopia paid the rest.
But [LINK=/index.php/2012020950181252/east-horn-africa/ethiopia-predicts-11-per-cent-economic-growth-for-2012-50181252.html]when Ethiopia's economy began to grow at Asian rates[/LINK], Chinese investors saw increased opportunities. Not all were in the direction stereotypes would have predicted.
Yes, China's state-owned petroleum companies explored for oil but often as contractors for Ethiopian companies. The Chinese government also unleashed a variety of state-sponsored tools for building economic ties.
Most of these do not involve China's relatively modest foreign aid. The China-Africa Development Fund has made equity investments in a leather factory, a cement plant and a glass factory.
The Eastern Industrial Zone is being built and run by a private Chinese company, with performance-based subsidies from China's economic cooperation fund.
Chinese telecoms firm ZTE teamed up with Chinese banks to provide a $1.5bn commercial suppliers' credit (at the London Interbank Offered Rate \[LIBOR]plus 1.5 per cent) to roll out cellular and 3G service across the country.
A preferential export buyer's credit is paying more than half of the $612m cost of a toll road between[LINK=/index.php/2011121950177848/east-horn-africa/ethiopia-china-in-railway-deal-50177848.html] Addis Ababa[/LINK] [LINK=/index.php/2011122750178190/east-horn-africa/ethiopian-capital-to-get-railway-line-50178190.html]and Djibouti[/LINK].
The tolls will help repay the loan over 20 years. In a twist on a financing mode popularised in Angola, where infrastructure loans were repaid with Angola's main export, oil, China's Export-Import Bank has provided commercial loans for electricity distribution lines, cement factories and other projects, secured (and repaid) by Ethiopia's exports to China, mainly sesame seeds.
These credits are known as hu hui dai kuan or mutual benefit loans. A Chinese company gets the business, Ethiopia gets finance for development at LIBOR plus 2-3 per cent.
Of course, there are downsides. Chinese banks continue to show interest in financing large hydro-power projects with daunting environmental and social challenges.
Reportedly, working conditions were so onerous at the enormous African Union complex built by a Chinese firm that some Chinese workers went on strike.
Ethiopians also complain about the quality of ZTE's technology. At the same time, observers sometimes accuse China of sins it has yet to commit.
In July, Günter Nooke, German chancellor AngelaMerkel's Africa adviser, said that in Ethiopia China's "large-scale land purchases" were partly to blame for a devastating famine.
The California-based Oakland Institute had reported just a month earlier, after an exhaustive four-month [LINK=/index.php/east-horn-africa/ethiopia-sells-swathes-of-land-to-foreigners-50180750.html]'land grab'[/LINK] study, that Chinese investors were "surprisingly absent from land investment deals" in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is clearly in charge in this engagement. Chinese traders and shop keepers, who are fixtures across many African cities, are absent on Ethiopia's streets.
These positions are reserved for locals and the Ethiopian government enforces the rules. And China listens. A decade ago, Chinese companies building the ring road complained they could not find enough local skilled workers.
The Ethiopian government asked China to establish a college that would focus on construction and industrial skills. The fully equipped Ethio-China Polytechnic College opened in late 2009, funded by Chinese aid.
Chinese professors offer a two-year degree with Chinese language classes alongside engineering modules. Chinese companies are waiting to hire its first crop of graduates.
One reason why the Chinese are so popular in Africa
Watch this Al Jazeera documentary about Congo and their bad roads. Square it with the West's reluctance to invest in or even support infrastructure projects in Africa for the past twenty-five years (humanitarian aid leads to better photo-ops than road construction).
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...240594854.html
It helps you understand why the recent Chinese offer to provide infrastructure to the DRC is popular there regardless of the politics, the history or even the terms (which the Western media tends to focus on). The average Congolese doesn't want to hack his way through jungle to transport his load of palm oil. All he wants is a f**king road - and if the Chinese are the only ones ready to construct the road - well and good.
The Congolese truck driver doesn't want to be assailed with PowerPoint graphics, Excel charts or useless reports he wants a f**king road. He doesn't want to be told stories about how roads constructed by the Belgians and under Mobutu have disintegrated, he wants a f**king road and he wants it now!
Building a road is a better course of action than all the "capacity building" driven western aid.
(Roads are bad in Nigeria, but not this bad! :eek:. A month to travel 650 miles?)
PAN Nigeria plans diversification into Chinese brand
PAN stands for Peugeot Automobile Nigeria. They used to assemble 504s (If you haven't driven in a 504, 505 or a 404 you haven't lived in Africa!). Well they are no longer doing the Peugeot thing they are going Chinese - I guess they are following in the footsteps of Innoson.
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PAN Nigeria Limited, owner of Peugeot nameplate in Nigeria, is set to return and reassert its position as one-time most sought-after brand and the country’s leading automobile manufacturer having concluded plans to diversify its brand portfolio which will see to the mass production of the ALSVIN model, a brand of the Chongqing Changan Automobile China.
This fresh move is coming on the hills of a Technical Agreement signed between PAN Nigeria Limited and Changan Automotive Manufacturing Company, brand owners of the ALSVIN, a B and M1 segments car. The brand comes with three distinguishing attributes: European design, strong Chinese elements of production and time honoured amenability to the Nigerian terrain.
Recall that the Chairman, Board of Directors of PAN Nigeria Limited, Sani Dauda led top management of the company to China for the historical event in October last year. During an inspection tour of the first set of the Nigerian produced ALSVIN to ascertain the overall readiness of the company, the chairman said PAN will initially produce about 3000 units of the ALSVIN from its Kaduna plant in 2012 with production target expected to increase annually.
To this end, PAN has completed a full scale installation of the factory lines for the production of the ALSVIN – which comes with an engine capacity of 1.5 litres. According to the Managing Director of PAN Nigeria Limited, Shehu Dauda the decision to diversify into a multi-brand is market-driven as it is hinged on the need to produce affordable vehicles within the reach of the middle class in the country.
“We have achieved test production of the ALSVIN. We have also exhaustively conducted road test of our production to assess quality and durability which signify our reputation. The results were very favorable as the ALSVIN proved to be very suitable for Nigerian roads,” said the company’s chief.
http://www.businessdayonline.com/NG/...chinese-brand-
We also invaded Europe -- Europe! -- once...
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Originally Posted by
Fuchs
All it takes to become a threat to the U.S. is to not be allied with them and to have an AK and a loud mouth or some correspondence with someone who qualifies as such!
Fair assessment, not far off at all. We do preemptions. ;)
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They're certainly no Turks, who feel comfortable in one of the 'hottest' regions on earth.
Not nearly so good an assessment on that one. Don't pay much attention to the US media, we don't, they're really sort of breathlessly wide eyed -- and clueless.... :rolleyes: