China acknowledges risks in aggressive quest for African energy, minerals, consumers

[Flabbergasted]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/08/africa/AF-GEN-China-in-Africa.php

The Associated Press Published: February 8, 2007


PRETORIA, South Africa: Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Africa bearing the usual gifts of money for soccer stadiums and interest-free loans, but also acknowledging tensions over mounting trade imbalances, the practices of some Chinese investors and the risks of doing business with rogue states.

Unmentioned, as Beijing adds luster to Africa's renewed status as a strategic ally, is the possibility of a clash with the United States as the two vie for resources and influence on the continent. Another source of possible conflict is China's sale of arms to countries accused of human rights violations.

Hu's eight-nation, 12-day tour has taken him to Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia and South Africa. On Thursday, he arrived in Mozambique and wraps up his tour Friday and Saturday in the Seychelles.

Hu was met by flag-waving crowds and standing ovations. But he also had to deal with pressure to influence Sudan's government about the murderous conflict in Darfur. In Liberia, there were rumors a leading legislator received a handout from Taiwan, China's rival. Clothing manufacturers in Zambia charged cheap Chinese goods were destroying their business. As synthetic fabrics displace cotton prints in street markets across the continent, South Africa's textile union says some 100,000 jobs have been lost and last year threatened to boycott anyone selling Chinese products.

Hu's delegation canceled a visit to Zambia's Copperbelt, where Beijing is setting up an economic cooperation zone expected to draw US$800 million (euro615 million) in new mining investments, fearing protests. While many Zambians welcome the Chinese presence, there has been a backlash fueled by workplace accidents, poor working conditions and low pay at Chinese-run copper mines. Fifty-one Zambian workers died in a 2005 mine explosion, and dozens of protesters were fired on by Chinese security guards last year.


"They are not here to develop Zambia, they're here to develop China," said Zambian legislator Guy Scott.

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki last year warned against allowing Chinese forays into Africa to become a neocolonialist adventure, with African raw materials exchanged for shoddy manufactured imports, and little attention to developing an impoverished continent.

Hu was at pains to change that perception. In a speech to South African university students, he emphasized "economic win-win cooperation." In Namibia, he counseled managers of Chinese companies on bearing social responsibility and promoting harmony with local people, China's state television reported. It appeared to be the first time Hu has addressed issues facing Chinese companies operating in Africa.

[BayCityProgressive]

1. China is going to have quite the alliances

Africa, France, Vietnam, Laos, N Korea, Cuba, most of Latin America, and many in the Middle East support them as a counterweight to US power. China has many HORRIBLE problems, but so far it does not seek to enforce itself on others like the US does. The China/Taiwan/Tibet issue is complicated and will probably be around as long as the Israel/Palestine issue.

[Flabbergasted]

2. I haven't studied the relation between Taiwan and Tibet. Care to share? nt

[BayCityProgressive]

3. Well

I am not a big expert, but after the Chinese revolution, most of the capitalists and very right wing fascists fled to Taiwan and declared their own nation. The US I believe, is now one of the few nations that recognize them as their own country. Basically it would be like the left taking over the US so all the righties move to california and declare their own country. As for Tibet, it has gone in and out of Chinese control for HUNDREDS of years. Before the communist revolution the Dali Lama ruled the nation as a fuedal society. After the communist revolution the Chinese claimed that Tibet was still part of China, overthrew the religious fuedal system and installed a communsit government.

[Flabbergasted]

4. Thanks for the info nt

[Amused Musings]

5. No, the US does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation

as part of the opening of relations with Communist China in the 70's. However, the US is legally obligated to defend Taiwan militarily should China attack and the US maintains a relationship with Taiwan that is everything but officially not a "sovereign nation." An interesting place to watch is Guam- where the US fleet is moving so it can be out of reach of China's rising military prowess. And you're analogy is not entirely correct. Was Chiang Kai-shek an illiberal military dictator? Of course. But comparing the American Left to Mao is a grave insult to the American left. Mao engineered the worst famine in history in his pursuit of communism- killing tens and tens of millions of people. Mao is also responsible for the horrific Cultural Revolution. All in all, Mao's tally is higher than even Stalin's.

[BayCityProgressive]

6. I didn't mean

to say that our left and their left were the same. I was just trying to keep as short and simple a post as possible. Also, by militarily defedning Taiwan, that is more than we do for most sovereign nations. At the foundation of Taiwan as being seperate from the mainland..YES it was ruled by a right wing dictator. Thank you for correcting me on the sovereign nation thign though, and also expanding on Mao!:hi:

[Amused Musings]

7. I'm sorry

I kinda jumped at that. Didn't mean to sound mean or to say that you were calling the American left Maoists. It would be like a mass murdering Lyndon LaRouche taking over America and Pat Buchanan fleeing to Long Island and declaring himself leader of the US government in Exile. Or something like that.

[BayCityProgressive]

8. lol true

the Chinese unfortunately replaced fuedalism with a centralized technocrat cabal. I am a democratic socialist and resent governments such as this. Although sometimes these highly centralized socialist states can provide good welfare services, they control most aspects of life and treat people more like clients than citizens. They also become cold thinking only about "the masses" and never about individual suffering.