The Chinese Leader’s Visit to Africa

The Chinese are out in full force buying what they need for their growing economy and where else they should go except to areas that are underdeveloped, and are strapped for any kind of economical stimulation. It does not mean there are not other similar regions, because without even going far there are a good number of them in Asia. The reason why Africa is attractive is everything is cheap. Labor is cheap and of course the minerals are cheap because no one else buy them in bulk. It seems like the West could be vindictive or it gets what it needs from other regions. Those regions might be in the process of being depleted and they will squeak if another heavyweight like China jumped on their bandwagon.

There is nothing bad about it except that both parties will have to play their cards wisely, which they are, in fact. President Hu has his hand in his purse all along and is giving out presents wherever he goes because he is availing favorable loans to almost everyone, while at the same time forgiving debt in some nations. The innuendo here is as long as we work together we are fully aware that almost none of what is being given out will be paid back in cash, but all of it could be paid back in kinds. This time juncture is crucial for Africans because the relation with the West had gotten tired a while back and there are strains too. However, since anything is better than going to bed without a meal like one African said it, the Africans still will have to work with the West, which would mean they have to be dealing and wheeling globally without being too sucked up into one kind of business relationship or region like the case of Ethiopia that had cost it an arm and a leg.

The Chinese avail all sorts of opportunities that the West have gotten tired of as they had been watching their effort to help the Africans stand by their two feet going down to the drain because of many reasons, one of them being those in charge had been enriching themselves. When this is coupled with the half-heartedness they might be doing what they are doing, Africa is getting a second chance where there is mutual respect and interest like some of the leaders have said it. Jobs are key here because the Chinese can create lasting job opportunities wherever they go, even if there is already complaints that is coming out of Zambia where the copper miners are complaining that they are being paid cheap and they want to do something about it. That is where arm wrestling will come in because the Chinese workers themselves are not that highly paid worker, at least when seen in parallel to the Western workers.

The other issue is trade because the Chinese are a source of cheap products that are already drawning many African countries simply because they are needed and the Africans are not manufacturing most of these goods which is going to be a handicap when they start bargaining for fair trade practice. For now what they have are agricultural products and natural resources that the Chinese are more than willing to buy because that is why they are there, although they might need the natural resources more than the agricultural products. Yet it is much easier to go into a deal that would involve the manufacturing sector in Africa with the Chinese than with the tired West that would have thrown their hands up and give the continent their back if it were not for the human suffering that is catching their attention and that is the only thing that they are tackling currently.

The reason why it is so is both players have failed miserably where the Africans had failed to catch up and change their situation because they have to be much more responsible than they are now and try to catch up as quickly as possible, because many regions especially in Asia had passed them simply because they had been sitting on their hands for a long time. The West was engaged in a hit and run drama where they go in, get what they want and they do not want any part of the rest of it, because it is tedious and disappointing. It is a job that has to be done only once, a way of doing things the Africans might not understand yet. But the Chinese’s pace might be a little bit kinder for the Africans in such a way that they can learn from them a lot. This means the Chinese are a big friend for Africa even if in the long run there is a threat such as what is taking place in Gambia where Chinese nationals would start competing at the lower level where they would want to go into the business of buying and selling. Since they are a populous nation such a trend could easily become explosive, however if it is done in a reciprocal manner there might not be harm in it, because most Africans are known for their being superb merchants and if the Chinese market is open for them similar to what is taking place in the West where the diaspora plays a huge role in stimulating the home economy might materialize.

Other than that, at least eight nations had been the recipients of various gifts from the bulging sac of the Chinese leader. Ethiopia had also gotten some advantage in a form of loans and credit lines according to news releases. The Chinese also had been trying to discover oil in Ethiopia which means the Chinese might be the friend Africans had been searching lately. However, the fact that they are staying neutral from the political affairs of nations might throw a damper since some regimes in Africa are run by despot leaders the West is avoiding to have anything to do with, because any economical activity will strengthen their strong hold. Yet, the West is not immune from such a fallacy either since many developed nations are embracing the existing regimes even if all of them are trying to put them in line by using the carrot and stick tactic.

But what the Americans are doing should be looked at with a grain of salt because they specially have to examine their military relationship with the regime that had already assumed power using arms in Ethiopia. Enabling them to have a military might that had dazzled onlookers in Somalia even if the maneuvering was against ill equipped militia will clash head on with their drive to see democracy flourishing in third world countries, because there are areas where they have to put caps even if their priority is fighting terrorism. If they do not look out for side effects, they would defeat their own purpose. What this means is even if the nation is not ready yet to come up with a genuine democratic government, this regime that is dominated by a significantly minority ethnic group that is a little bit more than 5 percent of the population should not be given the chance to stifle the effort of other political parties that are in the process of forming. And this is far from saying the existing regime is not doing a good work, but for the benefit of everyone, including the nation, everyone will have to focus their attention on the nation being run by a popularly elected government so that the nation’s priority and energy will be directed to tackle the dire problems the nation is grappling with.