I saw this on yahoo and felt the need to paste it on this forum. Is China helping or destroying Africa:

By Daniel Flynn

DAKAR (Reuters) - China has brought cheap consumer goods, roads and schools to many parts of Africa over the last decade but the continent's leaders are increasingly pushing for it to provide more of what many Africans want most: jobs.

From Pretoria to Abuja, governments have begun voicing frustration that China's use of Africa as a source of natural resources and a market for its goods may be hindering the continent haul its billion people out of poverty.

A recent report by the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) highlighted the risk that the continent's relationship with the world's second largest economy could strangle its attempts to industrialize.

China's trade with Africa ballooned from $10 billion in 2000 to an estimated $200 billion this year - four years after it overtook the United States as the continent's largest partner.

But some 85 percent of China's exports from Africa are raw materials, such as oil and minerals. According to the African Development Bank, most minerals mined in Africa are exported raw, meaning the jobs and wealth from processing them is created elsewhere.

A flood of Chinese produce, meanwhile, has accelerated the decline in industrialisation since the 1980s. Africa's textile industry alone lost 750,000 jobs over the last decade, according to the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation.

Even in the continent's manufacturing powerhouse South Africa, some 40 percent of footwear and fabrics come from China.

Expressing the concerns of many African governments, South African President Jacob Zuma bluntly warned last year that such an unbalanced pattern of trade was "unsustainable".

"The romanticized relationship surrounding China's investment in Africa has passed," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at the Chatham House research institute.

"With the world's youngest and fastest-growing population, the main pressure on governments in Africa is to provide jobs. Having the Chinese take those jobs doesn't help."

VYING FOR JOBS

It is true China's boom has brought many benefits to Africa. Beijing has won fulsome praise from many governments for its willingness to finance massive infrastructure projects without conditions relating to democracy, governance and human rights - the "strings" Africa has often criticised in aid from the West.

Chinese economic growth rates averaging 10 percent a year for almost a decade fuelled a commodities "super-cycle" which has lifted Africa's own growth to unprecedented rates.

And the cheap Chinese goods being imported help make everyday living more affordable and develop the consumer sector across the continent.

But in many countries, China's demand for ore, timber and oil is forcing African states to specialise at the bottom of the value chain in areas with low productivity gains, UNECA said.

With Africa supplying one-third of China's oil, much of it from Angola, UNECA highlighted the risk of 'Dutch Disease' whereby demand for raw materials inflates a currency, making other sectors uncompetitive against foreign competition.

Even in Senegal, an arid West African country not usually associated with the 'resource curse', domestic peanut processing factories face the threat of being driven out of business as Chinese exporters buy up the crop to ship home.

Attempts to legislate for industrialisation, such as bans on the export of unprocessed logs from Gabon and Mozambique, have often proved fruitless. In Gabon, where Beijing has broken French dominance over logging, an estimated 60 percent of timber is exported illegally to China.

Respected Nigerian Central Bank Governor Lamidu Sanusi said in March that China's extraction of resources from Africa had all the attributes of "colonialism".

In an apparent response to such criticism, Chinese President Xi Jinping took pains during a six-day African tour in March to stress his country was seeking a win-win partnership.

"The development of China will be an unprecedented opportunity for Africa, and Africa's development will be the same for my country," he told lawmakers in Congo Republic.

Beijing has provided much-needed capital to a continent starved of investment. The China Import-Export Bank is the continent's largest creditor and Beijing has promised $20 billion more in loans over the next three years.

But Beijing's money comes with its own strings: it must be spent on Chinese goods or Chinese-built infrastructure. And Chinese firms often source their supplies and workers back home.

The number of Chinese in Africa has increased 10-fold over the last 20 years to an estimated 1 million. From shopkeepers in Malawi to prostitutes in Cameroon, Africans complain that Chinese competition is making life tougher.

Unlike Western immigrants, the Chinese diaspora comes from the poorest section of society and competes directly for work with Africans, some 80 percent of whom are in "vulnerable employment" according the International Labour Organisation.

In Ghana, tensions flared into violence last month when police and residents attacked artisanal Chinese goldminers, claiming they were driving locals out of the industry. Many Chinese were brutally beaten and some 200 were deported.

Frustration has also emerged with the operating practices of some Chinese firms. In Gabon, Chinese refiner Sinopec's Addax Petroleum is embroiled in a $1 billion legal dispute over an oil licence after the government alleged it failed to pay customs duties and respect other laws.

Zambia, where Chinese mines have a record of violent labour disputes, revoked three licences for the Chinese-owned Collum coal mine, alleging non-payment of royalties taxes, and poor environmental and safety records.

"Now more countries are engaging with Africa, there are more options. Several countries are looking at Chinese investment with a more critical eye," said Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank. "There will be more and more scrutiny of these contracts."

Responding to the criticism from Nigeria and South Africa, China's Commerce Ministry has encouraged firms to increase investment in Africa. China is launching Special Economic Zones for manufacturing companies on the continent.

Though it is Africa's largest trading partner, China has only 6 percent of the stock of foreign investment - well behind France on 18 percent - according to U.N. trade body UNCTAD.

Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has urged African countries to woo Chinese manufacturing firms into offshoring their production as their domestic labour costs rise.

"We need to prepare ourselves to provide a welcoming home for some of the industries where the Chinese will no longer be competitive," she told a conference in London last month.


Source: http://news.yahoo.com/africa-investment-china-brings-goods-roads-now-africa-150410375.html

Any kind of neocolonization is a curse.People free themselve from the scorge of ignorance by learning how to do it themselves.Africans are not learning,they are depending on foreigners to sort their basics for them.In other words,there are no school of thoughts in africa to think of solutions to basic problems.

And that is why african can't make planes,they can't build ships,they can't even make bicycles,because nobody is thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXS0OZikzs

Is China a better partner for Africa than Europe and the West?

Of course it's bad, whether its A-rabs, Anglos, Indians, or the Chum Chums. But look at us as a people? We are among world leaders in the amount of Doctors, Lawyers, Soccer professionals and the likes, but when it comes to nation building, we are among the last. We like to tie gele and go to church, church that is only to sing and dance and to continue the Owambe lifestyle.

We love to talk about the EPL. If una click Sports section on NAIRALAND, you go see 90% thread for EPL related matters.

Isnt that crazy?

The Northern muslims abi moslems nkwo? Their A-rab heroes are building the finest roads, hospitals, malls, stadiums, airports all over Arabia land, but not in Sen. Yerima's district in Zamfara. No way. Its to tear the nyash of a 12 year old that he's concerned with, and you wonder why we cant have a national energy policy?

So if China or even the US comes to recolonize, then we deserve to be ruled by folks that decided to cut with the bullshyt and develop into global powers.

It is not a curse but a blessing. The problem with africa is corruption, we complain that china is taking over contracts etc. When u give a local company a contract, the first thing the owner does is to go and buy the latest cars and buildings, from the contract money. Then use cheap substandard materials and at some point abandon the contract and bribe those that need to be bribed to close the case.

Now when the contract is given to china we complain. This same china supplies uk, usa and other countries.

It is all about standard board. The quality that is produced for uk or us is different from what is produced for nigeria. We don't have an active standard board so anything goes.

Nigerian contractors will negotiate for the lowest quality from a chinese manufacturer, in other to make so much profit. After all who cares in nigeria, as long as u have settled the right pple. If the material spoils, the next administration will award the same contract again and money will be shared.

You see the problem is not china it is us.

Now another reason china is a blessing is for the future. The antichrist system is gradually taking over the world. As long as we have the same greedy and clueless leaders, we will still need money from the west. Now if africa rejects the homosexual right that they are forcing on us, then they will stop financing africa. If china is not there to assist financially, our leaders will have no option but to accept the gay marriage, and maybe the animal to human marriage right later.

Jonathan has to continue feeding on 1billion naira, the senators will have to receive the life pension, governors will need to buy jets and fuel them. So the govt will have no option but to accept any condition given by the antichrist system.

Thank GOD china is still assisting. In the near future the west will come down hard of african countries that refuse the gay marriage to bully them into acceptance. China will be there to assistm

We all know where the antichrist system is going, from one world currency to one world government. Then we will have a global cashless society, no need for atm card anymore, your details will be the barcode of the beast on ur head or finger, which contains all ur details linked to ur bank account.

Any person group or country that refuses that will not be able to buy or sell. The system will torture and kill anyone that disobey. Again china and the chinese army will rise to help. You can read revelation to see the role asia will play at the end time.

So china is not our enemy but the west. They will still get tougher one africans in few years to come.

*passingby*

mekaboy:

Now another reason china is a blessing is for the future. The antichrist system is gradually taking over the world. As long as we have the same greedy and clueless leaders, we will still need money from the west. Now if africa rejects the homosexual right that they are forcing on us, then they will stop financing africa. If china is not there to assist financially, our leaders will have no option but to accept the gay marriage, and maybe the animal to human marriage right later.

Jonathan has to continue feeding on 1billion naira, the senators will have to receive the life pension, governors will need to buy jets and fuel them. So the govt will have no option but to accept any condition given by the antichrist system.

Thank GOD china is still assisting. In the near future the west will come down hard of african countries that refuse the gay marriage to bully them into acceptance. China will be there to assistm

We all know where the antichrist system is going, from one world currency to one world government. Then we will have a global cashless society, no need for atm card anymore, your details will be the barcode of the beast on ur head or finger, which contains all ur details linked to ur bank account.

Any person group or country that refuses that will not be able to buy or sell. The system will torture and kill anyone that disobey. Again china and the chinese army will rise to help. You can read revelation to see the role asia will play at the end time.

So china is not our enemy but the west. They will still get tougher one africans in few years to come.

I swear religious people are morons....no wonder Nigeria is so shittty.... If it was up to you the

world would still be flat not round... China loves Nigeria so much its willing to defend it .....Dude are you

drunk? What the hell makes you think that China would chose Nigeria over the United States?....The U.S is single handily

growing chines economy....U.S GDP is 16 trillion....china is barely 7 trillion....30 years from now china still wont

catch up to the U.S if you understand how economics works..... dude get this through your religious head...China will never

ever chose any African nation over the U.S,U.K, U.N they will just let you guys dies.....you even said thank God that

China is still assisting....am sorry to tell you...but the China Nigeria relationship is a relationship of master and

slave...when china is done with Nigeria...Russia will be next so just relax and enjoy the ride my friend....

[size=20]Our Leaders Are Leasing Us! OP, What's Ur Selling Point??[/size]