Issa G. Shivji (2009) Where is Uhuru?.
China-Africa Watch
RSS FeedSouth Africa's trading environment and FTA prospects with China
Ron Sandrey and Hannah Edinger
2009-07-02, Issue 440
cc _dorothy_With South Africa exploring the possibility of entering into a free trade agreement (FTA) with China, Ron Sandrey and Hannah Edinger consider the pros and cons. The authors also explore some of the non-tariff barriers impeding trade, and the substantial discrepancies between China's reported imports from South Africa and South Africa's reported imports to China.
Africa-China relations: Strengthening symmetry with soft power
Adams Bodomo
2009-07-02, Issue 440
Africa-China relations have gained worldwide attention, writes Adams Bodomo, and constitute the topic of much academic and diplomatic discourse. In this paper, Bodomo explores two important issues within this topic – whether the relationship between the two parts of the world is symmetrical or asymmetrical, and the exact role of soft power in this constellation. Bodomo argues that prominent economies on the African continent such as South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria have an important role to play in ensuring a symmetrical relationship with China, in which Africa can also take part in a symmetrical cultural diplomacy with China, for example through setting up African cultural institutes around the country.
Increasing Africa's benefit from China: Developing a strategic approach
Anthony Yaw Baah and Herbert Jauch
2009-06-25, Issue 439
cc colodioIn a wide-ranging summary of China's activity on the African continent, Anthony Yaw Baah and Herbert Jauch of the African Labour Research Network (ALRN) argue that African governments must develop a more strategic approach if their countries are to truly benefit from the Asian giant. Now Africa's third largest trade partner after the US and France, China's no-strings-attached approach to aid and investment has made the country popular with many African leaders. While China's demand for raw materials has pushed up the global prices of several commodities extracted in Africa, limited processing takes place on the continent. If African countries are to avoid the role of mere material suppliers, they must look to shape relations with China more to their own advantage, Yaw Baah and Jauch contend. With serious doubts over working conditions within much of Chinese-run industry, the need for workers' collective bargaining and direct action is becoming ever greater. If governments are not to subordinate social and labour issues to economic growth for fear of losing foreign investment, Yaw Baah and Jauch conclude, they will need to develop their own agenda and positions of negotiation.
China-Africa news roundup
2009-06-26, Issue 439
Sanusha Naidu does a roundup of the week's Sino-African news
Chinese investment: Good for Africa?
Sanusha Naidu
2009-06-18, Issue 438
In light of the rapid growth of China’s investment in Africa and bi-lateral trade worth US$100 billion in just two years, Sanusha Naidu, debates whether the country is promoting development across the continent, or is driven largely by mercantilist imperatives. The questions to ask, says Naidu, are which Africans are benefiting from Chinese money, and whether China will continue its large-scale investments in Africa as the financial crisis bites. Naidu cautions that Beijing may ‘become more strategic and perhaps more prudent around which of its investment projects it wants to initiate based on overall benefits and viability’, making it unwise to bank on China’s massive foreign reserves. If Chinese investment is to promote development, Naidu argues, it must take ‘a bottom-up approach that recognises the daily social justice struggles of ordinary Africans for socio-economic survival rather than intensifying them’.
Chinese experiences in development: Implications for Africa
Li Anshan
2009-06-18, Issue 438
With reference to four key areas of 'political leadership', 'social stability', 'agricultural production' and 'initiative and aid', Li Anshan discusses China's developmental record and its potential lessons for Africa. Stressing the importance of a country's developing its own path, Li writes that foreign aid should not be permitted to become a permanent source of income or to compromise individual countries' sovereignty. If Africa is to realise its bright future and harness the considerable potential of its human and natural resources, the author argues, its governments must use their funds in ways which sincerely benefit areas most in need.
What to make of China's growing economic power
Saliem Fakir
2009-06-18, Issue 438
While China is yet to establish itself as a great power, it is certainly one in the making, writes Saliem Fakir. On the strength of global demand for its cheap goods, the Asian giant's rise has enabled it to accumulate considerable surpluses from Western capital flows. Just as this rise has somewhat dispelled the idea of no-development-without-democracy, China's willingness to regard its trading partners' policies as internal matters marks a clear contrast with the conditionalities stipulated by Western countries and institutions. Though unlikely to entirely displace the influence of the West in the immediate future, China's own prioritising of economic reform over political liberalisation is proving increasingly influential in a changing world order, Fakir observes.
China -Africa Roundup
2009-06-19, Issue 438
Sanusha Naidu does a roundup of the week's Sino-African news...
Chinese Investments in Africa – A Summary
Africa Labour Research Network
2009-06-19, Issue 438
During the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese relations with African countries were driven by ideological considerations, with China presenting itself as an alternative to both the West and the Soviet Union. During that time, China’s support consisted mainly o...
China Quarterly Update - June, 2009
2009-06-19, Issue 438
China’s economy has continued to feel the brunt of the global crisis. Global economic activity continued to decline in the first part of 2009, even as tentative signs of stabilization have emerged recently in several countries. However, very expansio...
China- Africa watch news roundup
2009-06-12, Issue 437
Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations....
Global: China Dialogue announces new US director
2009-06-05, Issue 436
Chinadialogue.net, the bilingual Chinese-English website on environment and climate, is delighted to welcome Linden Ellis as United States project director. Linden Ellis will be based in San Francisco and will guide China Dialogue’s future US operat...
China- Africa watch news roundup
2009-06-05, Issue 436
Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations....
China- Africa watch news roundup
2009-05-29, Issue 435
Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations....
Consolidating a 'look east' policy under President Zuma?
Sanusha Naidu
2009-05-21, Issue 433
Underlining the importance of South–South cooperation and a new 'look east' policy for the new South African premier, Sanusha Naidu considers the prospects for the country's foreign policy under Jacob Zuma's presidency. With China likely looking to diversify its risk portfolio through providing loans to companies like the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Naidu highlights South African banks' probable desire to serve as intermediaries between the African continent and India's burgeoning private sector.
China- Africa watch news roundup
2009-05-22, Issue 433
Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations....
China- Africa watch news roundup
Sanusha Naidu
2009-05-15, Issue 432
Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations....
China and the Macau Forum
Lucy Corkin
2009-05-07, Issue 431
In the second quarterly report on the Macau Forum, Lucy Corkin explores developments between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. From China’s burgeoning trade and investment relationship with Brazil and its continued engagement with Angola, Corkin explores Mozambique’s new strategic relationship with Beijing.
NGOs tell dam builder to go green
Peter Bosshard
2009-05-07, Issue 431
A coalition of NGOs campaigning for China’s leading dam builder to adopt international environmental standards has received a promising response from the company, writes Peter Bosshard. Sinohydro, whose investments include several dams in Africa, confirmed its commitment to global and host country regulation, including ISO 14001. The company also expressed willingness to continue dialogue with the coalition.
Sinohydro responds to civil society concerns
Peter Broussard
2009-05-08, Issue 431
Sinohydro is China's leading dam builder, and is developing scores of hydropower projects outside China. Its investments in Africa include dam projects such as Bui (Ghana), Dikgatlhong (Botswana), Grand Poubara (Gabon), Imboulou (Congo-Brazzaville), ...
China- Africa watch news roundup
2009-05-08, Issue 431
Sanusha Naidu compiles a list of the top stories on Sino-African relations....
Another way to build a foothold
Stephen Marks
2009-04-23, Issue 429
The nature of China's investment in Africa is changing, as the global economic crisis opens up new opportunities, writes Stephen Marks. Broad packages bundle infrastructure investment with aid and commodity purchase help Chinese firms enter African markets and gain a foothold. A US$5 billion China-Africa Development Fund will focus on infrastructure and mining, and target industrial parks and commercial agriculture. The Chinese government has said however that it has ruled out outsourcing of food production by investing in overseas farmland.
China juggles its future in Africa
2009-04-17, Issue 428
China isn't in Africa merely to snap up raw materials, exploit African labor, or build geopolitical influence. Rather, its goals blend a combination of all the above with a need to beta-test future global brands, open new markets, enhance its soft po...
War Is Boring: U.S. struggles to adapt to China's economic strategy
2009-04-17, Issue 428
The tiny desert town of Abeche, in eastern Chad, offers a curious sight: Sandwiched between the mud huts that most people call home and the compounds belonging to international aid workers is a humble Chinese restaurant catering to Chad's growing pop...
Quotas on imports pointless – reports
2009-04-17, Issue 428
As job losses mount in the clothing and textile sector, two reports have criticised quotas imposed on 31 lines of Chinese imports as pointless and probably counterproductive. The quotas ran for two years from January 2007. A request to China to allow...
South Africa: Lame DTI can’t deal with textile realities
2009-04-17, Issue 428
Seardel’s decision to close Frame Textiles, with the loss of up to 1400 jobs, illustrates both the deep flaws in SA’s industrial strategy and the futility of trying to insulate the country from the global economic crisis by means of protectionist pol...
South Africa Vs Dalai Lama - Matters Arising
2009-04-17, Issue 428
South Africa, the self-acclaimed rainbow nation, is in the news again and for all the wrong reasons. The authorities of that country recently barred the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibet from participating in a peace conference slated for South...
India and Mauritius a winning combination!
2009-04-17, Issue 428
When corporates venture into other countries, the success of their businesses ventures, to a great extent, depends on the quality of services offered by banks and financial intermediaries in those countries. Hence, having a banking partner whose serv...
An army marching to escape medieval China
2009-04-17, Issue 428
This was supposed to be a spring of soup kitchens and breadlines in China’s manufacturing heartlands, the potential precursor to a long, hot summer of industrial unrest threatening the government’s vision of a “harmonious society”. Times are hard in ...
Establishing NGOs in China
2009-04-17, Issue 428
The establishment of not-for-profit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in China is becoming increasingly popular as the necessity of providing private alternatives to social, economic, political, and cultural issues becomes apparent. Indeed, if Ch...
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