What is China's role in Africa and especially the Congo? No one knows China's true intent.
Is China out to prove to the world that it can eradicate extreme poverty? The West has failed in this area. Per Jeffrey Sachs' book, The End of Poverty, you can conclude that China knows development.
Since 1978, China has been the world's most successful economy, growing at an average per capita rate of almost 8 percent per year.
In 1981, 64 percent of the population lived on an income below a dollar a day. By 2001, the number was reduced to 17 percent.
Is China out to rape Congo like other developed countries have in the past? Et tu, Brute? Africa and especially Congo has every natural resource and mineral needed to continue fueling its economy. China has been known to have human rights abuse problems.
Is China out to establish new business relationships in this new global economy? They may be willing to pay a fair and negotiated price to its African partners. Then, it would be up to the African to take care of business.
The only thing we know for sure and for now is, China has arrived in Africa.
Link: Africa's new colonialists? : Mail & Guardian Online.
"India and China have become Africa’s new colonialists,” declared respected international financier, George Soros, during a Reuters interview earlier this year. More recently, the Economist ran with a cover story titled “The new colonialists”, which detailed China’s huge appetite for acquiring global resources.
The real question is whether there is any fire behind this talk of “colonialist” smoke.
One only needs to take a look at recent trade and investment numbers between China and Africa to tell that something significant has happened within a really short space of time. China’s bilateral trade with Africa has gone from a negligible $12-million in 1956 to $73,6-billion in 2007, making China Africa’s third-largest trading partner in the process. Forecasts predict that this figure will surpass $100-billion by 2010.
Further signs have been profound. Last year was a watershed year for Chinese investment into Africa. Firstly, a $9-billion financial and infrastructural package was signed with the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo. This would be China’s single biggest country-to-country investment to date.
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