China is benefiting from its closer ties to Africa in this way that China is helping Africa to build infrastructures like railroad, ports, airports to Africa and taking good advantages from importing unprocessed natural resources and agricultural products and exporting expensive industrial products like textile, rubber, minerals from those resources and making way to trade to whole Europe and Africa. Those raw materials are great sources to fuel the rapidly growing industries in China. Another way, Africa is being the emerging market economy for China in a good business sense.
Chinese businessmen are investing mainly in mining and oils, infrastructures and business. Most of the companies are privately owned by Chinese, they used their own equipment and own labor and make a good profit. They thought African labors are not competent and energetic to work mainly the male and female workers don’t work any shift and after marry because of religious and cultural reason.
More than one-third of China’s oil need is fulfilled by Africa.
China is the lead market representation in the world, it has already been investing largely in western and Asian countries, now Africa has been an emerging market opportunity for China. Recent studies show Africa has been the number one place to do foreign investment which will give the highest return to the investor. China is trying to take advantages of these good return, so Chinese are investing more than USA AND European countries. Africa and China are growing at a very fast pace for the matter of trade.
China is being the largest trade partner for Africa. Because of this trade, it allows the customer to choose a variety of things in a competitive market. It also discourages to domestic monopolies and encourages more efficient foreign industries, which will provide cheap products in the market and people’s purchasing power will be increased according to their income. China has been giving more than half of the foreign aids just to Africa.
Africa was struggling to utilize their resources and build the necessary infrastructures like airports, ports, railway and so on and people were always in poverty. Africa exports Raw petroleum and agricultural products to China and gets final products like refined oil, textiles, rubber goods, metallurgical products and so on. Since China is investing on those necessary infrastructures in sub-Sahara in Africa, African countries are benefitting from those structures even though China make more money, they are able to share trade to China and world, they are able to get necessary commodities on reasonable price. China doesn’t want to interfere with domestic affairs and just let its people decide about their issue, it just concerns on its own business policy. China just believes in the policy like ‘whether the shoes fit or not, only the wearer knows’. So, engagement of China to Africa, people are taking an alternative option for western political interferences. Also, even though it is a loan, African people are taking more loan from China than from the world bank. In this way, Chinese investment projects have been a great asset to the development of African countries.
China is intelligently spreading its wealth and influence in the world, in which Africa is one of the sensible continents to invest. It might be both, a modern version of imperialism and win to win situation. But whenever I have to choose, I would say a modern version of Imperialism, During European colonialism, resources based imperialism was prevalence as the imperialist country harvest most of the natural resources as raw materials and once they were produced to goods sold back to the country where they were from. But it was almost eradicated after the independence of the African countries. Some Africans blame that China has been the biggest proprietor for African natural resources. They use the African resources with their own labor and equipment in their way, they don’t transfer the skills and the technology they used to the African people. African people couldn’t get employment even though the investment projects are running in their own region.
At a glance, it seems like China doesn’t like to involve directly to the politic of the African countries but it allows corruptive leaders like Mubarak and Sisi to profit from the Chinese investment by making a large number of contracts which don’t help to their poor people. For example, China has been largely investing in oil resources in Angola and sending thousands of dollar as Financial aid and contract payout to the governmental officials which will just strengthen the leader’s position but doesn’t help even maintain a basic human right of poor people. Another thing, China is investing in ports and transports which is helping the Chinese to trade to Africa as well as Europe which help to make a large amount of export to those countries. With all these activities to Africa, people are blaming to China that it is stepping to a new version of imperialism to Africa.
The China vs Africa. (2022, Apr 25). Retrieved from http://envrexperts.com/free-essays/essay-about-the-china-vs-africa