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RW Johnson, Cape Town

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...271971,00.html

...The rhetoric of the China-Africa relationship is different, with China claiming to be the champion of all Third World countries, offering them a new relationship that will free them from their dependence on the northern powers of the G8.

They are adept at high-profile gestures such as a donation of four endangered white Siberian tigers to Zimbabwe for a captive breeding programme.

They have also succeeded in getting African states to accept large numbers of Chinese experts and workers as part of their investment packages: 28 “Baoding villages” have been established, each housing up to 2,000 Chinese workers, in various parts of Africa.

In Nigeria, a Chinese-language newspaper now serves 50,000 immigrants. At no stage in Britain’s colonisation of Nigeria did the British numbers reach such a figure. As one opposition figure in Zimbabwe observed: “If the British were our masters yesterday, the Chinese have come and taken their place.”

At grassroots this is highly unpopular. Chinese goods sent to Africa are notorious for their poor quality. None of a shipment of 50 buses to Zimbabwe is still working and an order for 250 more has been suspended.

Of three MA60 passenger jets the Chinese sent to Mugabe, one has never managed to fly, one had to make an emergency landing at Victoria Falls, injuring many passengers, and the third caught fire on take-off in Harare last week. All are now grounded.

Moreover, as Eldred Masunungure, professor of political science at Harare University, puts it: “The resentment of the Chinese is not only widespread, it’s deeply rooted.”

The Chinese are generally viewed as loud, uncouth, prone to spitting and openly derogatory towards Africans. Worse, the copper mines they have opened up in Zambia and Zimbabwe are renowned for low wages, ferocious labour discipline and a sky-high accident rate. “That’s how they run things at home, after all — and on top of that, they despise blacks,” said one Zimbabwean engineer.

As with the ivory traders, many Chinese technical experts develop other ways of making money. In Harare, some are already a force in the drugs trade. In Botswana, Chinese workers brought in by construction companies now own hundreds of shops in the capital, Gaborone. Most worrying of all, however, is the way Chinese imports have largely wiped out budding African industries.

Professor Laurence Schlemmer of Witwatersrand University’s business school in Johannesburg, said: “In effect, China is forcing Africa back into the role of raw material suppliers — undermining its textile industry and importing raw cotton instead.”

Such concerns were raised with President Hu Jintao, who recently toured Africa. But for the moment the tidal wave of Chinese money is carrying all before it. “The Chinese are getting away with claiming that they aren’t like the other colonialists, but Africans aren’t fools,” a South African economist commented. “The Chinese are far more ruthless than the Brits ever were.”

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I heard a Jamaican Opposition Leader complain on a Florida Radio station Friday night, about the large number of Chinese Workers in Jamaica.............and the $40,000 Jamaican Dollar work permits that foreigners are rushing into Jamaica to get........

.........I also recall a report I read in a Trinidad newspaper about enclaves of Chinese Workers living in a certain compound in Trinidad and Tobago.

Chinese immigrants is one thing. There competition is up to the individuals. But when you are dealing with a power block like the Chinese government, I can see the frustration. But it's not colonialism. Why? Because they didn't conquer and forcibly infuse acceptance of their products. Africans accepted them for their money. The trade may be turning out to be a bad deal, but there was a choice.

Neo-Colonialism,

The Chinese are playing to the same trust Africans (Blacks) embrace with people, first betrayed through slavery by the Europeans and Arabs.. now we are being betrayed by the Asians.

Why I say betrayal because we (people of colour) meet during Bandung Conference. The Chinese are employing the same tactics used by the Europeans given people of colour poor quality goods.

Oto maybe you won't understand cause you benefit from white priveledge, your skin colour serves as a passport, while mine serves as a predetermined sentence

Yes, I have heard of neo-Colonialism. More like pseudo-colonialism or Quasi Colonialism. When a government through various tactics makes another indepted and reliant on it. Still not colonialism. There was no force applied. Call them swindlers, call them exploiters of their laborers, like many supranational corporations, China is adopting the corporation mentality, making China one big company.

As for your skin color comment...

How many times have you been in jail? PLease tell me your personal tribulations because of your skin color.

And before you go in to your skin color tirade, my father is as dark if not darker than some Afrodescent people here. Yet his work ethic made him survive in a single parent family in a poor town in the mountains, as my grandfather was murdered when he was young, and he went on to go and become the minister of health of Peru. When he came to the USA he received discriminatory comments, like being asked if lived in a tree house in Peru. But he moved on. He is not even half as tolerant of victimology as I am. It must be his skin color that makes him have those beliefs.

i've been stopped for drugs too many times to mention..

you just gave an illustration to white priveledge i am not saying you have promoting it.. but you do benefit.. just like my height.. is a priveledge as well as a curse

back to china.. i would not say healthy.. it failed in the past (the great leap forward), rapid urbanisation never failed.. people getting exploited..

As is light skin. Some times you will have less burdens, sometimes you will have more. Depends on the social context.

very true but back to the chinese.. I think the Chinese as well as the Russian elite have hijacked socialism and communism to benefit the few at the loss of the many..

Funny thing is that the US is heading in that direction.. (numerous people think so) they compare the present US to the former USSR.. many media outlets two sources.. the Soviet government or the Socialist Party.. kinda like to day... just look at Murdock..

Yeah, China has truly become a true mega maquiladora

A manufacturing plant whose output is exported and whose imports are imported duty-free. Originally termed for those plants on the Mexico-US border, they have been notorious for environmental degradation, low wages and poor working conditions.

So Oto knowing all this how can you really defend the Chinese government.. they make Idi Amin look soft.. e.g. Tibet

Who says I defended them. I just did not agree with the definition. A rapist isn't a pedophile. They still mess up things.

hmm ok using your analogy.. europeans raped the african continent.. so because the chinese are flooding the market (like candy to a child) to seduce them.. it is really that much better.. either way you still get fucked

Correct. But remember, don't equate Chinese government politics with what CHinese immigrants do, nor do I consider Africans children. The governments have to assume some of the responsability.

china explains itself role in africa, etc

analysis-with the bbc's carrie gracie

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