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UPDATED: January 21, 2008 NO.4 JAN.24, 2008
Rediscovering Africa
Since the turn of the century, the African continent has been rediscovered by China as a strategic partner in many areas
 
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The 1960s and 1970s were decades in which China and Africa began a friendship that was built around Beijing's political backing and developmental aid to a crop of emerging independent African nations. In the 1980s and 1990s, China shifted its focus by devoting more efforts to establishing a rapport with big powers and neighboring countries to create a sound environment for self-development. Since the turn of the century, however, the African continent has been rediscovered by China as a strategic partner in many areas. As the Chinese market has flourished, so too has the African economy, which maintained a growth momentum in recent years and has achieved a modest prosperity rarely seen in its history. He Fan, Deputy Director of the Research Center on International Finance affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shared his comments about this partnership on blog on the eve of the New Year.

China comes to Africa for common development and to build a harmonious world. And only when the African people essentially receive benefits, will they earnestly accept China.

Despite an abundance of fertile land, the African continent has long been subjected to starvation, and thus maintaining social stability has been a big challenge there. China is a populous nation, which owns enormous expertise in crop production. China's average crop output has reached 11.25 tons per hectare, while that figure for most African countries is only in the region of 0.75-1.5 tons as a result of deficient infrastructure. The World Bank and member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have funded a number of projects to improve agricultural efficiency by assistance, but most of them are costly because of maintenance. And it would be much cheaper to use China's technologies in irrigation and communications. China's subsequent investments in local agricultural businesses will, on one hand, help resolve food shortages in Africa, while on the other, they will increase the variety of exports of African countries. As a result of their rising agricultural productivity, African countries' surplus crops can be inversely exported to China in exchange for foreign currencies. To date, China has been the largest cassava importer of Nigeria. It is noted that, China is open to African products, which is totally different from Western countries where over protectionism and market access restrictions prevail. Due to scarcity of land and water resources, China has to import more agricultural products to meet its growing needs.

It's true that mineral resources are desperately needed by China, where rapid industrialization and modernization demand huge resources and steady energy supplies. However, this does not necessarily lead to conflicts of interests between China and other countries. China has never intended to monopolize Africa's underground treasures. Its overseas investments are carried out in hopes of hedging risks caused by floating prices in the international market. The paradox of plenty, one of the puzzling regularities of economic growth, is that many countries rich in natural resources have had a poor growth performance. At the same time, however, it may be an opportunity for African countries to lure more foreign investments in resource exploration and processing of primary products. With factories setting up for downstream processing, advanced technologies are transferred to them and their fledging industries would have been modernized to help lift the natural resource curse.

The openness of the African market to Chinese businesses also is a historical opportunity for China, which is planning for long-term cooperation. China is going through industrial restructuring that enables local producers to improve the competitive edge of their products. Like what foreign investors did in their home country 20 years ago, Chinese enterprises are endeavoring to help Africa become a part of the global production chain, through business localization and integration. It will, in turn, expand China's overseas market when their economy prospers and African people are paid more.

China is able to help lift Africa from starvation, poverty and underdevelopment. Its agricultural know-how, experience in preventing infectious diseases, in addition to employment expansion for local labor forces, will dramatically change living and health conditions for the African people. If China can eventually help Africa resolve a string of problems in food, health, employment and industrialization, the political scene on the continent will take on a better look with improved governance and thus faster economic development.



 
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