More than minerals | Chinese trade with Africa keeps growing; fears of neocolonialism are overdone [Economist] #RisingChina #Africa

Other powers have had their chance to shine to help the cradle of civilisation stand up. Unfortunately some find it hard to divorce the  imposition of ideology from economics. China seems to be able to do this better and true to form of the lingering narrative of middleman – its focus remains on trade and investment. Also see – China’s independent foreign policy of peace.

Africans are far from being steamrollered. Their governments have shown a surprising assertiveness. The first person to be expelled from Africa’s youngest country, South Sudan, was a Chinese: Liu Yingcai, the local head of Petrodar, a Chinese-Malaysian oil company and the government’s biggest customer, in connection with an alleged $815m oil “theft”. Congo kicked out two rogue commodities traders in the Kivu region. Algerian courts have banned two Chinese firms from participating in a public tender, alleging corruption. Gabonese officials ditched an unfavourable resource deal. Kenyan and South African conservationists are asking China to stop the trade in ivory and rhino horn.

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More than minerals | Chinese trade with Africa keeps growing; fears of neocolonialism are overdone
NAIROBI print edition
Source – The Economist, published Mar 23rd 2013

Source – Eyevine, in the Economist

A GROUP of five tourists from Beijing passes low over Mount Kenya and into the Rift Valley in their private plane before landing on a dusty airstrip surrounded by the yellow trunks and mist-like branches of fever trees. They walk across a grassy opening where zebras and giraffes roam, snapping pictures while keeping an eye out for charging buffaloes. When they sit down at a table, they seem hungry but at ease. “Last year I went to the South Pole with some friends,” says one of two housewives, showing off iPhone pictures of a gaggle of penguins on permafrost.

Source – Africa Research Institute, IMF

Chinese are coming to Africa in ever greater numbers and finding it a comfortable place to visit, work in and trade. An estimated 1m are now resident in Africa, up from a few thousand a decade ago, and more keep arriving. Chinese are the fourth-most-numerous visitors to South Africa. Among them will be China’s new president, Xi Jinping, who is also going to Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo on his first foreign outing as leader.

The origin of China’s fascination with Africa is easy to see. Between the Sahara and the Kalahari deserts lie many of the raw materials desired by its industries. China recently overtook America as the world’s largest net importer of oil. Almost 80% of Chinese imports from Africa are mineral products. China is Africa’s top business partner, with trade exceeding $166 billion. But it is not all minerals. Exports to Africa are a mixed bag (see chart). Machinery makes up 29%.

Please click here to read the entire article at the Economist.

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Will Manmohan Singh become another leader in the Deng Xiaoping mould? [Global Times] #ChinaIndia

Manmohan Singh to continue in public life after crossing 80?

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Will Manmohan Singh become another leader in the Deng Xiaoping mould?
By Rajeev Sharma
Source – Global Times, published March 31, 2013

Indian politics has just received a flash in the pan by an incredibly enigmatic statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a man known for his reticence.

While returning home after attending the fifth BRICS Summit in Durban, Singh was asked by accompanying media at his onboard press conference in Air India One on Thursday evening whether he had the drive, energy and motivation like Deng Xiaoping, one of the most popular and charismatic leaders of China in modern times, to continue in public life even after crossing 80.

Singh, who will turn 81 in six months, bamboozled everybody when he answered: “I have tried my very best to serve this country with all sincerity, with all dedication. Whether I have succeeded or not, it is for the public at large the people of India to judge.”

Please click here to read the rest of the article at its source.

Filed under: BRIC, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, global times, India, Influence, International Relations, New Leadership, Politics, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities