shbous
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| | The China Affair! (30th Jun 09 at 5:02am UTC) | | Any talk about Africa in the academic circles, often entails the mention of China as a presence to reckon with in the continent. Proponents consider it as a new stream in -an all too- dry economic situation. The current upsurge of Chinese FDI targeting energy, resources, infrastructure and trade, could be an opportunity to jumpstart growth rates, create new jobs and increase living standards of improvished Africans. Opponents on the other hand, are seriously sceptical about the intentions of Chinese businessmen and the role that china is playing and will continue to play in Africa. Some liken the current state of affairs to a new colonial like era; however Chinese businessmen and leaders dismiss the suspicious claims. On the contrary, they continue to reiterate that their interest in Africa is strictly business and development oriented.
Unlike Western aid that impose a set of conditions. The Chinese are offering aid with no strings attached claiming that meddling with local economic and political governance to dispense money is not appropriate. To complicate matters further still, this stance is in direct conflict with the current orthodox development strategy that is adopted by IFIs like the IMF and the World Bank. Neither side are expected to change their views anytime soon. Africa in the upcoming period could very well be an interesting battleground where the two views compete in order to validate their respective stances.
For me it is not very hard to call in a verdict on the matter, I personally think that after decades of trial and error experiences by the reigning international development regime. It is worth it to give development the Chinese way a chance. It is also likely that the Asian giant has an agenda related to energy security. Nevertheless, Chinese investments can be beneficial to the ailing African economies. So should we be sceptic of Chinese presence or shall we postpone the verdict for a little while?
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