That's still money and infrastructure in Africa's pocket in the short term, and perhaps another freight company will visit Africa if the price is right.
Of course, this all makes sense until China makes a navy for the Indian Ocean.
Africa doesn't care, it's roads and railways they wouldn't have otherwise. As an added bonus, they get linked into the global supply chain. Which really gets their economies going. It's probably a fair trade?
I'm just pointing out that the Chinese are not doing what they are doing because they want to make 1.8% on some infrastructure loan to Africans. They have a plan. An insidious and evil plan, breathtaking in its scope, to link themselves to Africa in a way that is not easily de-linked.
It's not some monetary link that they are going after here.
They don't even try for a monetary link, likely because Africans are already trapped in a monetary link to us. So they flank us, and secure the logistics link. It's all very Chinese.
"To be certain you take what you attack,
attack only that which is undefended."
If you are in agreement with the parent poster that the Africans receive tangible benefits from Chinese infrastructure development, can you help me understand why you characterize the Chinese plans as "insidious and evil"?
It's evil in its intent to freeze the West out of Africa. Or rather, not to freeze us out, but to push us out of the the driver's seat so to speak. At the end of the Chinese strategic vision, is an Africa independent of the West. With either Africans in the driver's seat, or Chinese in the driver's seat. Or both. But no one else.
Now reasonable people can debate if we deserve to lose that seat. There certainly are good arguments that we do. But the irony, and the insidiousness here, is that the Chinese are being every bit as colonial as we were, they're just being a bit less greedy. Colonialism is not only evil when the West practices it, it's evil when China practices it as well.
Of course that sounds self serving coming from a Westerner at this point, and maybe it is a bit? But it's just how I see it.
I have to disagree with the first part of this following sentence:
> the Chinese are being every bit as colonial as we were, they're just being a bit less greedy. Colonialism is not only evil when the West practices it, it's evil when China practices it as well.
In my opinion, the problem with this view (and it's a very common view in the West) is that it downplays the ability of Africans to make a good deal for themselves. I think they are perfectly capable of understanding their own needs and forming strategic partnerships that are in their own best interests.
What China is offering is a simple business proposition: You need infrastructure, we need resources -let's make a deal if you find the terms palatable. They are free to take the deal or not. They are free to choose amongst any other creditor willing to loan to them. In fact, studies have found that China's leverage in trade negotiations is actually very limited due to the fact that most of these countries have access to alternative sources of financing and can (and do) demand the renegotiation of deals all the time with outcomes more favourable for themselves (for example when there is a change in government) [1].
I very much doubt that it is China's evil intent to freeze the West out of Africa, though that would probably be a nice bonus for them if it were to happen. China can't freeze the West out anymore than it can impose its own will upon Africa. It's Africa's choice. For the first time probably in history, Africa is in the driver's seat.
China's intentions are very simple and straightforward: to facilitate energy and resource security for themselves, and perhaps to build a manufacturing base for the future once it transitions into a consumption-driven economy. All of these intentions are rooted in mutually beneficial arrangements, not exploitative ones. Here's another tangible benefit besides infrastructure: in a survey by Mckinsey, they found that 89% of employees of Chinese firms in Africa were local, amounting to nearly 300,000 African jobs with 66% of them receiving skills training [2]. If this holds true of the 10,000 Chinese firms operating in Africa, that’s several million jobs created and workers provided with skills and apprenticeships.
I'm not trying to paint too rosy a picture here because obviously no relationship is ever perfect. There will always be some bad actors on both sides trying to get the upper hand. But from my point of view, this could not be more different from the colonialism practiced by western powers / corporations in Africa over the past few decades.
If you saw the growth of Chinese and African independence as a threat to your own perceived dominance you would. The poster seems to think of that as bad for the west.
Of course, this all makes sense until China makes a navy for the Indian Ocean.