Sino Scramble for Africa
A review of Chinas Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a
New Empire in Africa (2014) by Howard W. French
Peter Wuteh Vakunta
The book is a tale of opportunism, spoliation, misappropriation and
dispossession. The arrival of Chinese in Africa in drovees lately is
arguably the latest chapter in a very long narrative of empire building
through emigration.
Howard W. French, celebrated author of 'A Continent for the Taking: The
Tragedy and Hope of Africa' (2005), has come up with yet another masterpiece
intended to enlighten Africans and friends of Africa about the economic,
human and ecological implications of Chinese migration to Africa. Chinas
Second Continent is a replay of the 1884 Scramble for Africa [1], with the
exception that this time the pillagers are not Europeans; they are Asians.
French observes that Chinese exodus to Africa is often reduced to Chinas
quest for access to natural resources, of which Africa is the worlds
greatest storehouse. However, there is a more farsighted motive, one
oftentimes glossed over in almost all the speculation about Chinas
ambitions in Africa: cultivate future markets for Chinas export-oriented
industries. Basing his arguments on empirical evidence, having visited
fifteen African countries, large and small, with dense Chinese populations
such as Mozambique, Zambia, Senegal, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ghana,
Namibia, Tanzania and more, French contends that Chinese presence in Africa
is a poisoned gift in several respects as will become evident in the
narrative that follows.
In spite of all denials by Chinese economic role-players in Africa, French
describes Chinese ventures on the continent as a rapacious recolonization
in all but name.(5) He notes that China exports large numbers of its own
people who are settling as migrants and long-term residents in far-flung and
hitherto unfamiliar parts of the continent. As he puts it, By common
estimates, Africa has received a million or so of these Chinese new comers
in the space of a mere decade during which time they have rapidly penetrated
every conceivable walk of life: farmers, entrepreneurs, building small and
medium-sized factories, and practitioners of the full range of trades,
doctors, teachers, smugglers, prostitutes.(5) Chinese demographic explosion
in Africa has its latent causes, the most deleterious of which is the
exportation of labor. Chinese refrain from hiring local skilled labor; they
prefer to bring their own people from home. As one Ghanaian worker confided
to French,
the Chinese had employed six hundred of their own workers to
build the dam, housing them in isolated compounds, beyond the humpbacked
mountains in the distance. They have only hired a few of our people, and it
is only the unskilled labor (199). This scenario is not unique to Ghana; it
is rampant all over the continent as evident in the testimony from a
Mozambican worker who pointed out that the government is allowing Chinese
road builders to bring in as many workers as they liked
(217). Most locals
interviewed by French agree that Chinese hiring practices in Africa have
forestalled all forms of transfer of skills: Beyond questions of hiring,
there is the problem of transfer of skills that will never take place so
long as foreign workers fill even the most rudimentary jobs.(53) These
remarks point to the fact that Chinese hiring practices in Africa are
unwholesome due, in part, to stereotypes about Africans as the following
remarks by a Chinese entrepreneur suggest: Id never dealt with African
people before
At first just coming in contact with them made me feel
uncomfortable, their skins is so black.(17)
The reticence of Chinese toward hiring African labor is attributable to the
prejudice they harbor against Africans as the following remarks by a Chinese
entrepreneur suggest: Black people are not good at getting things
done.(104) Racism has soured business relations between Chinese immigrants
and their African hosts. Worse still, Chinese use half-truths to justify
their disinclination to employ Africans as the following statement from
French about a conversation he had with a Chinese contractor in Liberia
illustrates: He recalled our conversation the previous day about Liberian
employees, when he had told me that he didnt hire locals, because they were
dirty and lazy and prone to stealing.(107) Locals interviewed by French
were not naïve, as they expressed outright disgust at the Chinese and their
business practices in Africa: These people have all chosen to come to a
poor place to make their money. Even if you are not sick, they will try to
sell you medicine, and all kinds of treatments. (106) The sore point is
that Chinese are notorious for dumping shoddy goods on the African continent
as Frenchs remarks about an antagonistic exchange between two Africa-based
Chinese show: In the space of a few minutes, the two had denounced each
other on the basis of pure prejudice, and there was a remarkable symmetry to
their charges of seeking ones fortune amid poverty, and of peddling shoddy
goods and services.(106) French posits that these kinds of deals have
soiled the reputation of Chinese doing business in Africa: Chinese have
made a bad reputation for themselves by selling crappy goods.(106)
Chinas Second Continent is an X-ray of Chinese commercial malpractices and
shady deals in Africa. As one interviewee puts it, I think Chinese policy
is actually to dominate us, especially through trade relations
(243) It is
interesting to know that Chinese themselves make no bones about their hidden
agenda in Africa:
we had to find backward countries, poor countries that
we can lead, places where we can do business, where we can manage things
successfully.(17) Chinese are notorious for colluding with African
government officials to dispossess locals of their ancestral land as noted
in this complaint from a disgruntled Tanzanian landowner:
there is a lot
of resentment at the way they have been allowed to come in and buy up land
like that for their exclusive use.(244) Chinese land grab is the single
most important thing that has placed Chinese at daggers drawn with Africans.
The sticking point in this imbroglio is that African government officials
are prone to accepting bribes from Chinese business folks and encouraging
them in their land-grab drive as this statement seems to suggest:
Everywhere I went in Namibia, I heard concerns from locals who felt
disempowered by the Chinese as they watched these foreign workers and
traders flock to their country and flout their labor laws, or as they
watched their government, the inheritors of Namibias liberation struggle,
defend outsiders and do their bidding. These complaints, as weve seen, are
rife in Africa.(249)
Howard does not mince words in his depiction of Chinese maneuvers in Africa;
he stops short of portraying Chinese entrepreneurs as lawless criminals,
people who employ force and violence to take possession of resources they
believe are there for the taking:
in the Copper Belt where the newcomers
were particularly thick on the ground, Chinese bosses had developed a
reputation for rough and dangerous conditions, low pay and punishing
hours.(45) He further notes that Africans working for Chinese are abused
and paid a pittance: They didnt mind so much that Hao was a hard
taskmaster; it was the pay that rankled. I did the math quickly in my head
when they gave me a figure and found that if their numbers were true, Hao
was employing eight men on the site for nine hours at just under $10 a day
total.(38) Chinese labor malpractices in Africa seem to be a reflection of
Chinas notorious record of human rights abuses. French brings this to the
limelight in his conversation with Zambians who did menial jobs for the
Chinese: John complained that the Chinese wear protective gear when they
worked with volatile chemicals but that Zambian workers were forced to do
without.(57) He noted that the Chinese wore different clothing and special
gloves to protect their hands when they handle the chemicals. They wear
masks but Africans are not provided with gloves. He further noted that the
dust and fumes that came from the copper concentrate was too harsh for him.
He complained of the strong smells. As French puts it, He described the way
he and others used little bits of torn cloth to stuff their noses to ward
off chemicals.(59) Another man complained that working with the Chinese is
dehumanizing: Working with the Chinese is no good
All three workers grew
animated as they vented over their low pay and routine thirteen-hour
workdays. They complained about the harsh way they were addressed by their
overseers, who they claimed threatened them with firing or beatings.56)
Chinese employers tend to shoot to kill if they feel threatened by locals:
From the inside, two Chinese supervisors fired fifteen rounds at the men
with their shotguns. After their arrest, the two said they were frightened
and we attempting to disperse the crowd
(64)
These narratives lend credibility to the assertion that Chinese presence in
Africa is a bane rather than a boon. In fact, Chinese presence in Africa has
been equated to neo-colonialism: What we found is that they are frequently
paying as little as one-third of the legal wage, and for some people here
this feels like a new form of colonialism.(254)That is why there is
palpable anti-Chinese sentiment throughout Africa. In Zambia, for instance,
comments such as Zambians do not need foreign labor being dumped here
(64), speak volumes about the tension that exists between the two
communities. African business people feel threatened by Chinese presence in
Africa. And for good reasonChinese businessmen and women have driven locals
out of business. In Senegal, for instance, Chinese have taken over the
retail sector, occasioning streets protests: Large protests followed in
Dakar, with the striking Senegalese traders demanding government action to
protect them from the Chinese newcomers.(69) This scenario is not unique to
Senegal. In Namibia, Chinese retail traders pose the same threat to
indigenous petty traders as this testimony shows: Shannika spoke at length
about the arrival of small-time Chinese traders, who could be seen by the
roadside throughout the north nowadays grilling meats for sale on charcoal
fires, Namibian-style.(243)
The irksome point in this whole conundrum is that in the event of disputes
between Chinese and locals, the government generally stands by the Chinese
as seen in Namibia:
the countrys president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, had
said publicly that his country men were too busy complaining about the
Chinese, forgetting how they had helped Namibia obtain independence.(257)
Statements like these have intoxicated Chinese residents in Namibia who are
now running all over the place telling whining locals: You can say whatever
you want, but there is nothing you can do to us.(257) Chinese
superciliousness is palpable throughout the African continent as seen in the
following excerpt: Newcomers tended to be lower-class, with big ambitions
but little finesse or manners. They make no effort to speak the language.
They begin bossing the people around. And they behave very arrogantly.(248)
Worse still, most Africans perceive Chinese as tricksters that should not be
trusted as this comment from Paulus Mulunga, a Namibian trained in China,
suggests: They are tricky people. There are elements of trust that arise
with them all the time, but if you understand them, at least you stand a
better chance
They wont do any favors for you unless they get something
from you.(255) Statements like these debunk the myth about the relationship
between Chinese and Africans being a win-win deal. Chinese use this mantra
as window-dressing in unctuous business transactions throughout Africa as
the following statement from a Chinese businessman in Tanzania illustrates:
We are in a big hurry, you are right. But it is win-win. Double
happiness.(232) Yet, the numerous disheartening tales that populate this
book tell a different story. The truth of the matter is that Chinese are in
Africa to carve out a niche for themselves and the country they hail from.
That is what Chen means when he says China is a country that was shut off
from the world for a long time
Now it is in a hurry. It wants to expand its
reach and grow and enrich its people as fast as it possibly can.(232) Good
to know that there is still one living Chinese that tells the truth!
Land acquisition is another modus operandi that Chinese have used in a bid
to reposition themselves not just in Africa but around the globe. As one of
them resident in Zambezia puts it, Lots of Chinese are now looking for
places to grow rice. The Chinese are not big landowners yet, but their
presence on the land is growing rapidly
Five years ago you couldnt find
them at all here, but now they are farming in almost every district.(225)
Chinese are not appropriating only land; they are taking possession of
Africas mineral and forest resources: Li told me that he had only recently
gotten into the timber business, which he called the resource trade.(102)
Forest resources have been depleted in literally everyone African country
where Chinese have settled as the following statement suggests: The
countryside was denuded of trees in the process and toxic industrial wastes
were dumped into ditches or poured into the open earth.(51) Mineral
resources are the mainstay of Chinese business in Africa: The Chinese had
ridden the last and perhaps the wildest wave of this phenomenon, pouring by
the thousands into the Congolese Copper Belt, which began at the border just
a few miles from Ndola, and setting up shop all over the countryside
surrounding the city of Lubumbashi.(51) It is not just the people of Africa
that are abused; but also their natural environment. Howard French paints a
dismal picture of Africa in this book, just like he did in the first one.
Africa, once again, is depicted as a continent that is up for grabsone for
the taking. One of the things that make the picture painted in this book
particularly dismal is the lack of foresight on the part of African leaders.
One of Frenchs interviewees in Liberia puts it this way, The Liberians
have all this wealth, all of this good land and they cannot use all of this
forest, these big trees, redwood trees... Chinese people would die for this
wood. What the Liberians need to do is hitch their fate to people who know
how to exploit these things and that will pull this country out of
poverty.(101)
In a nutshell, Howard W. Frenchs Chinas Second Continent: How a Million
Migrants are Building a New Empire in Africa is a tale of opportunism,
spoliation, misappropriation and dispossession. The arrival of Chinese in
Africa in droves lately is arguably the latest chapter in a very long
narrative of empire building through emigration. Each of Chinas new
immigrants to Africa is an architect helping to shape this grand design of
empire construction. Chinas strides thus far have unquestionably been
peaceful, and for the most part welcomed by those at the helm in Africa,
even though here and there, there are growing signs that the honeymoon is
over. Chinas Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are Building a New
Empire in Africa is a great read for Africanists as well as friends of
Africa interested in learning something new about Africas political
economy. Howard writes in impeccable journalese that is within the reach of
an average reader. His book is a treasure-trove of insightful information
about Africa in the twenty-first century. It should be read by students and
professors of African studies the world over.
* Peter Vakunta is Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies,
and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of
Indianapolis. He is a prolific writer with several fictional and
non-fictional books to his credit.
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
_______________________________________________
Ugandanet mailing list
Ugandanet@kym.net
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet
UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/ugandanet@kym.net/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
---------------------------------------
