Chinatown, Freetown

Kerry Howley | March 21, 2006

Writing in the latest issue of Granta, Lindsey Hilsum has a fascinating piece on Sierra Leone and the "new pioneers" of global capitalism in Freetown: the Chinese. While infusions of Western aid go unnoticed, Hilsum says, Chinese companies are building and investing. Her conclusion:

Like most Western journalists and aid workers who have spent time in Africa, I frequently despair at the continent's problems, veering between blaming the aid donors, the African governments, and even at times the people. Western aid hasn't worked, so why was everyone demonstrating near Gleneagles so convinced that sending more would make things better? It cannot be good that African governments persist with human rights abuse, or perpetuate their rule against the desires of their peoples, but poverty remains Africa's greatest problem, and liberal concerns have not helped Africa's poor.

The Chinese come to Africa as equals, with no colonial hangover, no complex relationship of resentment. China wants to buy; Africa has something to sell. If African governments could respond in a way which spread the new wealth -- a large if, of course -- then China might provide an opportunity for Africa which Europe and America have failed to deliver.

Comments

|3.21.06 @ 3:08PM|#

China, which follows a policy of 'non-interference' in African politics, and is scarcely in a position to tell any other country to be democratic, has nonetheless built the modernistic, brown bunker tucked into a hillside which serves as the country's new parliament.

And I bet the Chinese got paid for it, too, as opposed to paying for the privelege of "helping."

The Chinese government imposes no political conditions on African governments before signing contracts for exploration or production. No Chinese pressure groups lobby Chinese oil companies about 'transparency' or environmental damage. Not surprisingly, African governments welcome these undemanding new investors.

"First eat, then morality." - Bertolt Brecht

|3.21.06 @ 3:18PM|#

Maybe they'll get they same kind of send-off the Indian shopkeepers got.

|3.21.06 @ 3:57PM|#

The PRC is throwing money around various third-world shitholes like some some newly rich guy from Arkansas on his first trip to Vegas.

This reminds me so much of what Japan did in the '80s when they were newly rich. Remember the hue and cry when some Japanese investors bought Rockefeller Center--how the Rising Sun was going to take over the world? Total bullshit--local investors knew better than to buy it, and the Japanese ended up losing a ton of money on it.

The same thing will inevitably happen to the Chinese in Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Bolivia, Venezuela, etc. Private Western and Japanese interests have been perfectly capable of investing in these countries for decades and haven't done so. Why would they do that if there was money to be made? Fact is, these are extremely high-risk investments. First thing you know, some looter like Mugabe will suddenly discover that some piece of Chinese-financed and -built infrastructure is absolutely vital to the nation and must be confiscated.

China Law Blog|3.21.06 @ 5:26PM|#

China is in Africa for its natural resources. It isn't there to colonize, but let's not go overboard and think China has some magic bullets to fix everything there either.

|3.21.06 @ 6:47PM|#

Interesting story that sheds light on what is really wrong with governments in Africa, and why recent calls for debt elimination will only further those problems.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2036138,00.html

|3.21.06 @ 8:22PM|#

The West Can't Save Africa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/12/AR2006021201150.html

China Sees Trade, Investment Opportunities in Africa
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/asia/july-dec05/china_7-05.html

China Flexes Economic Muscle Throughout Burgeoning Africa
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB111205419351091336.html

China's Rising Role in Africa
http://www.cfr.org/publication/8436/chinas_rising_role_in_africa.html [pdf]

China, Africa, and Oil
http://cfr.org/publication/9557/

More Than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach Toward Africa [pdf]
http://cfr.org/publication/9302/

China's trade safari in Africa
http://www.mondediplo.com/2005/05/11chinafrica

China in Africa: All Trade, With No Political Baggage
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/08/international/asia/08china.html

Seeing Green in Africa
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3116

Africa a Frontier of Opportunity for China
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1578030/posts

China: a new force in Africa's development
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6aac9124-a412-11da-83cc-0000779e2340.html