[Here on AfricanCrisis we have been discussing this possibility for years. We have said that that China and perhaps even India might yet colonise parts of Africa. It could be that since post-“Colonial” Africa is largely a failure, that a new “Colonial power” will be needed to act as the “protector” of dozens of failed black Socialist states. In a sense the “Cold War” – let’s call it “Cold War II” is returning to Africa.

These failed black states need someone to “underwrite” and protect them from collapse (for a PRICE!)… and China is keen to play that role. The Western world, especially the USA don’t like it one bit. I think this is the beginning of the new fight over Africa.

The Chinese don’t mean much though. In Zambia and Tanzania they played a big role in the 1970s – but many of their projects failed. This time they seem more agressive. My suspicion is that people like Mugabe will sign his soul to the devil for this “Chinese protection racket”. In effect… the Chinese may yet “own” entire countries one day and Zimbabwe may be the first.

In what way will this be different from Western Colonialism? Black “Liberation” will be an empty word with no meaning. And rest assured, the Chinese will not be able to develop Africa as successfully as the West did. I have no doubt that deep down the Chinese don’t give a half-a-hoot about black Africans. On AfricanCrisis we have said many times that the Chinese will care much less for the average black African than Apartheid or Colonialism ever did. I’ve never seen a Communist actually “helping the poor” as they claim their mission is. Communism has never helped anyone whether he was Chinese or black. I’ve yet to see it happen. I expect the Chinese to entrench the worst governments and to spread the filth of Robert Mugabe’s ideas and to help kill and oppress anyone who stands against this. If you think blacks had a hard time in the past – wait – and watch what is coming. Jan]

As Beijing prepares to host an Africa summit its economic involvement is coming under scrutiny

By: Conal Walsh

Once the targets of rioting and insurrection in Africa were European colonial overlords. Today, though, jet-setting Chinese businessmen, arriving in ever greater numbers, are causing a backlash in the world’s poorest continent. Zambia was the scene of the latest trouble earlier this month, when Chinese shopkeepers in the capital Lusaka were forced to use barricades to protect themselves from looters at the culmination of a bitter election contest fought largely on the issue of China’s alleged ‘exploitation’ of the southern African country. Opposition leader Michael Sata won nearly a third of the vote after accusing the Chinese of making Zambia a ‘dumping ground for their human beings’, and across Africa there is growing alarm, as well as excitement, at China’s burgeoning financial and political involvement. The perils and rewards of Beijing’s engagement with Africa are well illustrated in Zambia, where Lusaka’s community of Chinese entrepreneurs, diplomats and technicians has grown tenfold to about 30,000 in the past decade. Investment from China has resurrected the country’s moribund Chambishi copper mine, raising the promise of vital revenue. But miners have protested over poor pay and dangerous conditions, which led to dozens of deaths in an industrial accident earlier this year. As China aggressively seeks new markets for its exports and new raw materials to feed its explosive economic growth, its involvement in Africa is increasingly the subject of heated international debate. Only last week Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, criticised China for ignoring human rights and environmental standards when lending to other developing countries.

Beijing, however, shows no signs of being deterred. This week it will host leaders from 48 African countries at a two-day summit designed to cement its influence. China’s trade with Africa has grown at an astonishing rate, from about $10bn in 2000 to an estimated $50bn this year. Wei Jianguo, a government minister, rejected Wolfowitz’s criticism, arguing that China’s investments were ‘like sending firewood in the snow’ and would provide some of the world’s poorest countries with the infrastructure development that they really needed. He has a point. Chinese investors and state agencies have spent billions on roadbuilding in Kenya, a hydroelectric dam in Ghana and a mobile phone network in Ethiopia. Nigeria, where China has been snapping up oil assets, has a Mandarin-language newspaper serving 50,000 readers – a community greater in number than the British ever where, even at the height of Empire. Chinese investment in Africa has overtaken Britain’s, and stands only behind that of France and the US. The opening of new trade and investment corridors between developing countries – confirmed as a growing phenomenon in United Nations figures released last week – is a disconcerting sight for the old powers. China claims with some credibility to be the champion of developing countries, and Africans are rightly suspicious of finger-wagging lectures from their former colonial masters. Even so, it is fair to say Beijing is not up with the latest thinking on development. Like Wolfowitz, Bob Geldof, the Live 8 campaigner, has warned that attempts to stamp out corruption in Africa risk being undermined by soft loans and naked mercantilism from China. The country’s banks do not adhere to western banks’ environmentally-conscious ‘Equator Principles’ of lending, and its companies are not required to be transparent about their deals with African dictators.

Beijing cynically sold arms to both sides in the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. It has swooped on investment opportunities in countries shunned by the West, such as Zimbabwe and Sudan. Its close relationship with Khartoum appears to have played a role in the UN’s failure to take serious action against Sudan in relation to massacres in Darfur. Human Rights Watch has condemned Beijing’s attitude. ‘China can’t continue to protect human rights abusers at the expense of civilians just because it is profitable to do so,’ says Peter Takirambudde, the group’s Africa director. It is also claimed that some local industries are being snuffed out by cheap Chinese imports. Overall, however, Africa’s annual GDP growth is a healthy 6 per cent, and some experts suggest the economic benefits that China brings outweigh even the political risks. ‘Chinese companies are building roads and hospitals, and generally going where western companies do not dare to go,’ says Feng Zhang, an analyst at the Foreign Policy Centre think tank in London. ‘I understand the concern over human rights but so far China’s interest has been very good for Africa.’

From The Observer, 29 October
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com