June 14th, 2009
One of my former students, David Hoyme, has recently joined an NGO working in Africa. He has sent me a very revealing account of Chinese foreign policy in Africa, as seen through the recent experiences of Zambia. See below.
Thank you, David, for sharing your insights!
David Hoyme
The initial reaction my Zambian friend, Tom, had about the Chinese in his country was an exasperated laugh: “Oh those guys!” The sum of the conversation was that there is mutual racism between Zambians (read Africans as a whole) and the Chinese. The Chinese are very insular, they keep to themselves. According to my friend, about 75% of shops are Chinese-owned in Lusaka and many in our town of Livingstone. They treat Africans very poorly, and Africans view them with a mutual standoffish attitude. My brother, who has lived here for a number of years, says that he has only seen the Chinese working on the roads. They hold about 60% of the road construction contracts in Zambia and much of the mining concessions. This is true for most of Zambia’s neighbors as well. The Chinese come in and underbid everyone. It is widely rumored that they can underbid because they use low quality materials and rush the job, but the Zambian government benefits from this in two ways:
1. They get much needed labor and projects on the cheap
2. It lets them say to their country and the world: “hey we’re getting something done.”
So, the Chinese influence has little or no effect socially, but it has great effect economically and therefore politically. One of the candidates in the last election (Michael Sata is his name, I believe) ran almost entirely on an anti-Chinese platform and gathered a substantial following. At the last minute people voted against him because they knew if he won the major source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would be threatened.
I am sure you know this, but China is gaining a foothold in Africa because its economic aid and civil service projects do not come with the laundry list of requirements that accompany those from the US, the EU, the IMF or the World Bank. It is simple cost benefit analysis: African leaders can get desperately needed aid without having to address their own domestic shortcomings. In return, China gets needed raw materials to fuel its growth. The Chinese can also flood local markets with cheap consumer goods. You can draw your own moral judgments…
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Thanks for your comment. In China, as well as Iran, we are witnessing major changes in the international system. These changes will influence politics and economy for decades to come. These are moments of great opportunity and great danger for American foreign policy. We need sophisticated and effective leadership.