Is China just another imperialist power exploiting Africa’s resources?

China has had a long history of trade links and diplomatic relations with Africa and the Global South. However, modern political and economic ties only began during the Mao era. During the 1960’s there was a national liberalisation movement in Africa where the Chinese government sent experts abroad to promote the revolution. After the cold war ended, Africa became ever more important for China to increase trade since the Chinese needed to look towards countries other than USSR and US for natural resources that they required for industrialisation. On the other hand, Western countries during this period did not consider African countries of being important strategically. By the time of 2007, there were more than 750,000 Chinese nationals working in various African countries. Trade between the two countries has increased by approximately 700% since the 1990s and now, China is Africa’s third largest trading partner. It can be seen that the opening up of China and the recent development of Chinese-African trade relationship has caused China to be an increasing influence on Africa’s current political and economic atmosphere. As a result, this has caused many people to question whether or not China is just still acting in its old ways, generating imperialist power and exploiting others. 

Imperialism is defined as “the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies”. Furthermore exploitation is defined as “the fact of making use of a situation to gain unfair advantage for oneself”. We can discuss whether or not China is just another imperialist power exploiting Africa’s resources based on these definitions.

It could be argued at China is indeed acting in an exploitative and extractive manner towards African countries where Chinese businesses are not working in partnership with African businesses, but in fact, in competition with them. From various research on international competitiveness of African goods and businesses, it is shown that African businesses are less efficient due to the lack of foreign capital, limited resources and inadequately educated workers. As a result, the increasing presence of more competitive Chinese firms is driving incumbent African business out of business. This can be seen in Africa’s textile industry which has dramatically deteriorated since the rise of power of Chinese firms within African countries. 

So is this a fair result? The answer appears unlikely, since there is a clear unequal balance of power between the Chinese and African countries, which suggests an imperialist act is occurring. We can turn towards some evidence of this behaviour to help us understand why this might be the case. Firstly, export taxes placed on African goods from China is very low for raw materials but extraordinarily high for manufactured goods, which discourages African businesses to take on the next stage of production of their goods since it is unlikely that they would be able to make a lot of profit from it. As a result, this de-values the goods that they produce and Chinese businesses who do manufacture the goods will be able to make a larger amount of profit. This case can be seen clearly for coffee beans and petroleum. Consequently, it can be seen that Chinese businesses have an unfair advantage due to the high tariff rates that are placed on certain African products. 

Furthermore, the “no strings attached” and “non-interference” concepts of Chinese trade policies and political agenda is questionable. It appears that although the government intend for these types of agreements, they are unlikely to be put into action, as a result the Chinese is acting in an imperialist manner, where they are indeed trying to extend their power and rule over Africa and its resources. For example, in the past, one of the conditions for trading with the Chinese was for the country to recognise that Taiwan is not a country in its own right. Furthermore, aid was given to Africa on the condition that certain business contracts were given to Chinese businesses. Not only that, the concept of Chinese non-inference has been violated, since interfering with African countries’ economics will undoubtedly result in the interference of politics. For example, in 2008, Chinese policy was softened to encourage Sudan to allow peacekeepers into their country. This was to show that China’s push to become a responsible economic player during the 2008 Olympics. As a result, trade is always interlinked with politics, and even though China may not necessarily state explicitly that they have political power over African countries, it appears that they do to a certain extent. And this is why people may consider China as being just another imperialist power, exploiting Africa’s resources for its own economic benefit. 

 

However, it could also be argued that there is a mutually benefiting relationship between the China and African countries, one which is not lopsided and only exploitative. It may be that Chinese and African businesses are working in partnership together to bring about a better economic outcome for all. One argument is that the increasing competition from Chinese firms in certain industries in Africa is not only able to attract more FDI but also is more effective in penetrating foreign markets through exports. As a result, the domestic competition and international integration with China is mutually reinforcing. It has been found that African firms that face higher competition at home have greater involvement in Chinese capital. There is a mutually reinforcing relationship which affects trade and investment on one hand and transfer of skills and technology on the other.  China has taken a large role in investing in projects to enhance infrastructure in Africa, for example, the Tazara Railway. This not only aids the transportation of goods and human capital for Chinese businesses but also will allow African businesses to take advantage of the improved infrastructure, which could offer huge opportunities to increase trade with other countries. 

 

It can be seen that China’s large involvement in African countries is not necessarily an exploitative and unfair relationship, and therefore one cannot firmly conclude that China intends to be another imperialist country even though, on the outskirts it appears to be the case. 

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa%E2%80%93China_relations

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Imperialism?s=t

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/exploitation?q=exploitation

“Africa’s Silk Road” by Harry G. Broadman

Book: Life Lessons From the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Robin Sharma

Personal Review:

This book was not the one that I had initially wanted to read, and I actually wanted to read the story not the lessons. However, this was not a bad pick. A lot of it is common sense and things that you already know so it can feel a little repetitive and tedious at times so I skipped some lessons out. But I liked that the book just gave me a quick reminder to continue to do this things which would make my life more fulfilling. It has a range of useful tips and suggestions. I also liked how the book is set out, whereby each key lesson is only a couple of pages long. A couple of lessons per day is very do-able. I would read this again as a reminder to myself of what is truly important in life.


Key Points:

•   A journal is not a place to record events but a place to analyse and evaluate – can encourage consideration of what you do, why and what you have learnt. It gives a forum to study your past for a greater future.

• Keep promises – don’t be a person of all talk and no action. Actions speak many words and creates trust and honest relationships. 

• Mantras are very helpful – “Words that enlighten the soul are more precious that jewels.”

• Schedule worry breaks – only allow yourself fixed times to worry and write down worries out of your worry breaks. Train yourself to leave troubles behind and do something more productive. Mark Twain; “Ive had a lot of trouble in my life, some of which actually happened.

•  Few investments will yield a better return that time spent on physical fitness.

•    “The person who tries to do everything ultimately achieves nothing”

• Always carry a book – how high you will rise in life will be determined not by how hard you work but how well you think.  When you expose your mind to thoughts of the greatest people of the planet, your game improves, and you rise to a whole new level of wisdom.

• Keep your cool. Words are like arrows; once released, they are impossible to retrieve. So choose yours with care.

•  Train your focus and mind – a technique is every time your mind wanders from the page, make a checkmark. This will increase your awareness and awareness is the first step to change.

• Setting goals and plans – “A clear plan relieves you of the torment of choice.”

• Life is a self fulfilling prophecy – it gives you just about what you expect from it. Your thoughts form your world. “No pessimist ever discovered the stars or sailed to an enchanted land.” Most people do not really fail, they just give up trying. Most of limitations that hold you back from your dreams are self imposed.

•  Be unconventional –“read every day something no one else s reading. Think something that no one else is thinking” being different for all the right reasons is a wise way to live. Look at Einstien, Picasso, Galileo.

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Inspiring Books

Lately, I have been reading a range of life guide/self help books. I like to read them because of three main reasons:

1) They remind me to appreciate the small things in life. 

2) They remind me to follow my heart and my passions. 

3) They remind me that I am enough.

In a nutshell, they help me feel better and to be more positive about life despite times of trouble and doubt. Being positive is such an important part of living a wholesome and healthy life, thus I am striving towards it.  To be honest, I am sure my Christian friends would just say, why don't you read the Bible? I've tried to read the Bible several times, but certain elements really do not touch me in the way that I feel it should. I have told myself to give it another serious try though. The thing is, the Bible doesn't touch everyone if you don't allow it in. Whereas, I have found that these life lesson books are very straight-forward, easy to absorb and makes a lot of sense; making you really want to follow the way of life that is outlined.

The books that I have been reading are considered as some of the books which you must read in your life. For example, The Alchemist, Tuesdays with Morrie, etc. Reviews and reflections of them shall come henceforth. I often read something inspiring and then I will forget it in due course, so in an attempt to learn and apply the lessons from my reading to my life, I shall blog the important points from the books.

Maybe you could also apply some of these points to your own life too!

China: My Ningbo Summer School Experience

My Summer School experience at UNNC lasted for just two weeks. During these two weeks, I had one of most fun and mentally stimulating experiences I've ever had. I was fully immersed into the Chinese culture, surrounded by Mandarin speakers and learning about China's history, politics, society and economy every day, every hour, every minute. 

From the moment I stepped onto Chinese grounds, I knew that my prior thoughts about China were about to be changed. The Shanghai Pudong Airport welcomed me with a surprisingly spacious, clean and vibrant airport lounge, whilst I waited for the pick-up bus to UNNC. After 3 hours of waiting eagerly on the mini bus to arrive at Ningbo, we knew we were finally there as we passed the Chinese version of our Trent Building clock. We immediately had to attend a welcome meal at a restaurant inside the university with our fellow summer school colleagues and a couple of the lecturers from the business course. What a welcome meal it was! Around 40 students from the University of Nottingham as well as various other universities from across the globe gathered together to have a Chinese style dinner, where there were numerous different dishes to try.

We all knew that even 40 of us would not be able to finish the huge display of dishes, but this was just one of the aspects of the extravagant Chinese culture that we were about to experience. 

One of my first thoughts of my first day in China was that the people here are so welcoming and friendly. The Chinese students are very helpful and approachable so if we need any assistance with anything we can easily go and find them, also, the course conveners are very interested about all of us and wanted to hear about where we come from and what we study as well as what we want to learn about China. Not only that, all of the summer school students here are also very friendly since we are all here to meet new people. This all made me feel very comfortable although I was many miles away from home, I also felt very positive that my trip to China would be an unforgettable and wonderful one. 

The next day, I went to have breakfast with the students who were able to wake up early and some Chinese buddies. My breakfast only cost me 11 RMB! 

After breakfast, I had a campus tour and then an introduction lecture to the Summer School at a very posh building. One of the ex-premiers of China had given a speech in that room before! The focus of this lecture was on safety issues regarding China. I was quite surprised by some of the elements of this presentation since in the UK, even though we know that we should be careful on various issues such as crossing roads and fire alarms, it is quite different in China since they are still a relatively under developed country compared to the West. One of the aspects that I was particularly surprised about was that fire alarms are not fitted in every building at UNNC. Perhaps I was being naïve at that moment in time, but I did not expect that to be the case in UNNC, although I did expect it to be like that in other areas of China. 

We then had a buffet lunch at the Robin Hood restaurant on campus with all the students. It was at this time when we met the other people on our course. I was on the course called “China’s Encounter with the World”, and we had a small but cosy group. After lunch, we went to visit Tian Yi Library in the Ningbo city, this is one of the few private libraries in China and its history goes back 400 years. It was very pretty and elegant, however, I was a little disappointed when I learnt from the Chinese buddies that many “historical” buildings in China are in fact rebuilt and recreated. This is because many of their historical buildings were demolished during the Cultural Revolution in 1960s and also, many were not maintained well. 

 

The next day was Monday, and it was time for us to begin our lectures and seminars. I thought the day was so good! Firstly, we had some lectures on Chinese history including imperial China and Qing Dynasty. I thought that although these lectures were quite basic due to the time constraint, they were thoroughly interesting because I have always wanted to learn about the history of China since I have a Chinese background, with parents from Hong Kong

In the evening, we went to KTV (Karaoke TV). Karaoke in China is a very popular activity, where you can just pop in to have a sing when you have nothing to do. People of all ages are very good at singing and enjoy singing during their spare time. The Chinese buddies said that they like to come here at least once every two weeks, and you could see that they were so emotional when they sang their Chinese songs, whereas we summer school students were quite shy compared to them. Karaoke in China is very different to karaoke in UK since in UK you would go to a pub and sing old songs in front of a lot of people who you do not know. On the other hand, karaoke in China is with people you want to sing in front of, so people feel more comfortable whilst they sing and have a good time.

 

The next day was full of lectures, one of which was a video conference lecture on China’s use of soft power. Soft power is defined as the attractiveness of countries, as opposed to hard power which is military and force. It mainly consists of the use of persuasion in international relations as well as the promotion of a country’s ideas, cultures and values. Soft power is one of the main priorities of People’s Republic of China (PRC), whereby it has spent $9bn on it just this year. China’s main motivations for soft power are to create a stronger international presence and change the international perceptions of China, so that it can represent a more accurate picture of itself to the world. Perhaps this summer school in itself is an example of China's soft power. China’s display of soft power was clearly evident in the Shanghai Expo 2010 as well as the Beijing Olympics 2008, and is likely to be displayed even more in the future as China grows in power both economically and politically.

 

We went on a trip to Hangzhou the following day. This is the famous ancient city of China, it used to be the capital city of China during the Song dynasty. However, after that, emperors and its royal family still returned to Hangzhou for entertainment and relaxation. We watched a famous theatrical performance called “A Legend of Romance”, which I was told by the tour guide as one of the world’s top 3 drama performances.

 

 

Surprisingly, it lived up to my expectations and the reputation that it upholds. It was one of the most mesmerizing performances I have ever seen, with most beautiful traditional Chinese outfits, elegant dancing and high-tech stage props; making it so real that it was difficult to believe I had not actually time travelled a thousand years back to the Song dynasty. I really enjoyed this performance because it allowed me to experience what life was like in the royal family during the Song dynasty. I have watched many historical Chinese films and dramas which are set in the past, but none of these allowed me to really sense that I was actually inside that period as “A Legend of Romance” did.

The next few days followed with lectures and discussions on China’s politics and other controversial and hotly debated topics. One of the issues that we discussed was whether or not China is just another imperialist power exploiting Africa’s resources. China has had a long history of trade links and diplomatic relations with Africa and the Global South. However, after the cold war ended, Africa became ever more important for China to increase trade since the Chinese needed to look towards countries other than USSR and US for natural resources that they required for industrialisation. The recent development of Chinese-African trade relationship has caused China to be an increasing influence on Africa’s current political and economic atmosphere. It could be argued that China is acting in an exploitative manner towards African countries, however, it could also be argued that there is in fact a mutually benefiting relationship between the China and African. 

During that weekend, I decided to stay in Ningbo to venture the local areas with a few other students. We visited the Tianyi Square in Ningbo city centre, which is one of the main shopping districts in Ningbo. 

I was surprised by the large number of international chain stores that were present; however, we also had the chance to go shopping in a traditional market area. I preferred this much more to the large chain stores since they can also be found in London, whereas these small cheap boutique style shops were unique to China. They were located near a temple area with traditional Chinese style buildings. 

 People were everywhere, haggling to each other, trying on shoes and bags; the atmosphere felt really vibrant and displayed that this area was the “hustle and bustle” of Ningbo. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of haggling because I was able to practice my mandarin skills as well as gaining a discount from the prices that the sellers set. In UK, there are not any opportunities for people to bargain and haggle whilst shopping so I thought this was a fun yet unusual experience.

A few days later, everyone had to attend an International Student Festival at a high class hotel restaurant which was organised by the Municipal Government of Ningbo. Some of the Nottingham students performed songs and dances and students from all over the world such as America, Australia, Bangladesh, etc., also displayed their artistic skills. Of course, there was a large range of delicious food. The next day of the International Student Festival, I had to do a speech based on the topic of how university students face up to the challenges of globalisation, to other international students and their teachers.

I firstly explained the definition of globalisation, and then went on to discuss the effects of globalisation on specifically, university education systems across the world. It was a great opportunity for me to develop my presentation skills and speaking to a large crowd, despite being such as shorty and almost not being tall enough to see my notes!

On the last day of summer school, we went on a trip around the outskirts of Ningbo, which was also organised by the Municipal Government of Ningbo. It was a great opportunity to experience what life is like in China’s countryside. We visited various temples as well as a boat trip. 

The atmosphere was really something that I will not forget in many years to come. It was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful, not the mention the sun was shining on full blast the whole day. After, we went to a traditional Ningbonese restaurant to have our farewell dinner and the day ended with some drinks with the Chinese buddies by the lake back at campus. 

Summer school at Ningbo has provided me with an experience that I am certain I will not forget. I have learned and gained a lot from being in China and being able to see first-hand what life is like as a Chinese student. Not only have I been able to see a lot, I have also been able to make international friends of whom I am sure I will make effort to see again in the future. In fact, many of them are coming to Nottingham to do a year abroad! I can't wait to meet up with them. I thank University of Nottingham for giving me this opportunity and the scholarship to fund my travels, for I am sure that had I not received this scholarship, I would not have been able to explore China as I did during summer school this year.