- 01 Dec 2013 13:18
#14336046
Do you think China is the new Europe in Africa?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e14269323/
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130516000187
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/pers ... frica.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/world ... .html?_r=0
http://www.voanews.com/content/analysts ... 79560.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/wor ... e14269323/
A major stake in a South African newspaper group might seem an unusual acquisition for Chinese state television, but it was no mystery to anyone who has watched the rapid expansion of China’s media empire across Africa.
Other CCTV Africa journalists say they were told to provide positive news on China, to omit negative words such as “regime,” and to ignore countries such as Swaziland that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Chinese demand for ivory could not be mentioned in stories about Africa’s poaching crisis, one journalist said. Another recalled how human-rights questions had to be avoided in an interview with an authoritarian African leader. “I knew it would be cut out of my story, so I self-censored,” he said.
http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130516000187
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China passed France last year to become the third-largest global arms supplier, behind only the USA and Russia. As for sub-Saharan Africa, where Chinese imperialism is arguably most active, the SIPRI arms transfer database reveals that China went from fourth place, supplying just 6 percent of sub-Saharan major conventional arms between 1996 and 2000, to becoming the top supplier during the period between 2006 and 2010, with a 25 percent market share ― knocking former top supplier Russia down from 31 percent to just 11 percent. This doesn’t even take into consideration the illicit arms trade that fuels civil insurgency in places such as Sudan, where China dominates the oil market.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/pers ... frica.html
Thanks to Beijing's interest in Sudan's oil, President Omar al-Bashir's regime in Khartoum has received a windfall. Ten years ago, Sudan's oil revenues were negligible; last year, Chinese investment ensured that they totalled at least £3 billion..
Without this ready cash, Mr Bashir could never have sustained the war in Darfur, where four years of fighting have claimed about 300,000 lives, either from violence, starvation or disease. The military machine that has laid waste to vast tracts of land, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, was, in effect, bankrolled by Beijing. Moreover, China has sold weapons directly to Sudan, notably Fantan ground attack aircraft.
Elsewhere, China provides a convenient alternative for African leaders spurned by the West for their human rights abuses. Devoid of aid and foreign investment, President Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe would be entirely isolated but for China's backing. Beijing has given Mugabe civilian and military aircraft, and its experts helped design a new mansion for the old dictator, in the style of a Chinese pagoda
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/world ... .html?_r=0
China wants Africa’s oil as much as ever. But instead of accepting the old terms, which many African officials call unconditional surrender, some cash-starved African states are pushing back, showing an assertiveness unthinkable until recently and suggesting that the days of unbridled influence by the African continent’s mega-investor may be waning.
For years, China has found eager partners across the continent, where governments of every ilk have welcomed the nation’s deep pockets and hands-off approach to local politics as an alternative to the West.
Now China’s major state oil companies are being challenged by African governments that have learned decades of hard lessons about heedless resource-grabs by outsiders and are looking anew at the deals they or their predecessors have signed. Where the Chinese companies are seen as gouging, polluting or hogging valuable tracts, African officials have started resisting, often at the risk of angering one of their most important trading partners.
http://www.voanews.com/content/analysts ... 79560.html
DAKAR, SENEGAL — Ghana has arrested more than 100 Chinese nationals accused of illegally mining gold in that country. Zambia seized a Chinese coal mine in February over safety concerns. And Gabon is planning to take back assets from three foreign oil companies - including one from China. These moves and others have some analysts pointing to a backlash against Chinese investment on the continent. While experts say the China-Africa honeymoon may be over, divorce is not likely.
China became Africa's top trade partner in 2009. Bilateral trade hit nearly $200 billion in 2012. Some Africans believe they are getting the short end of the stick, however, as they export valuable natural resources to China without receiving much in return by way of jobs or revenue.