Yet another China in Africa book

Oh no… Amsterdam University Press has published yet another China in Africa book, The New Presence of China in Africa. The book is being launched at the International Institute of Social Studies in the Hague at 4 pm on 16 September.

According to the blurb, the book concludes

that China is in Africa for its own interests: selling Chinese products, assuring its supply of oil and other raw materials and enhancing its status as superpower. Interesting enough, most Africans appreciate China’s presence which they consider to be additional and an alternative for their dependency on Europa and the US.

Yeah.

I hope this really is the last book with this kind of title.

Conference panel on “The Rising Powers and the ‘new’ geographies of international development”

Giles Mohan and Marcus Power are organising a panel with this title at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting in Washington, DC, on 14-18 April 2010. The call for papers lists the following possible themes:

• To what extent is there a new aid architecture and what does the emergence of the Rising Powers mean for established donors and questions of aid effectiveness?
• Given that much of the interest of the Rising Powers in the developing world is resource access of various kinds how far are developing countries being ‘fixed’ into specific roles with the potential for a resource curse to deepen?
• As the Rising Powers gain in economic power what impacts are they having, or likely to have, on institutions of global governance and the balance of world power?
• Given the need to industrialise and urbanise what impacts are the Rising Powers having on the environment & climate change, as well as on the governance mechanisms to mitigate such change?
• To what extent are we seeing genuine forms of ‘South-South’ cooperation and what policy space does the existence of the Rising Powers afford the poorest developing countries?
• What does the existence of these the Rising Powers mean for normative debates about the very nature of ‘development’? 

Those interested in submitting a paper should contact Dr Giles Mohan (g.mohan [at] open.ac.uk, tel. +44 (0)1908 653654)  or Dr Marcus Power (marcus.power [at] durham.ac.uk, tel. +44 (0)191 334 1828).

Conference on the global politics of China

The British Inter-University China Centre is organising a conference on the global politics of China in London and Manchester on 27-29 November. The call for papers is here.

The latest on the Baoding Villages

Today at the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Daejeon there was a panel on “Exporting China’s Development.” Yan Hairong and Barry Sautman presented a paper on their fieldwork at the Chambishi copper mine in Zambia, which I had much anticipated. In response to a question, they told me that they thought the Baoding Villages were a total hoax. Yan Hairong has visited Baoding and interviewed Liu Jianjun (the self-styled founder), and he repeated his story, but refused to share any contacts in Africa. In the ten African countries Yan and Sautman visited, no one has heard about Baoding villages.

Li Guangyi, a PhD student at UCLA, came to the same conclusion in his presentation. But he affirmed that the East Africa Trade Development Zone does exist, and Ugandan officials gave a press conference in Peking about it. The 518 square kilometers and the 99-year lease seem to be right, although it is less clear whether the legislative rights, the Chinese policing and judiciary structures will exist, or indeed if the zone has any investors. Liu Jianjun and the other main investors were, apparently, adamant that residents and workers of the zone will have to obey its rules, giving the specific example that three (sic) prayers a day for Muslims will not be allowed as they disrupt production. A flag of the zone has been circulating on the Internet, very similar to Hong Kong, with five red stars at the centre.

Li also discussed the reactions to this on Tianya. According to him, some expressed suspicions that this too was a hoax. Others wrote that China should be more equitable and fair in its dealings with Africa and not repeat Western colonialism and brutality. But most expressed satisfaction about the Chinese “concession,” saying it demonstrated that Chinese civilization has stood up again.

Exporting China’s Development: panel at ICAS

Several of this blog’s contributors are involved in the panel “Exporting China’s Development to Africa and Southeast Asia: Aid, Investment, Migration” at the upcoming International Convention of Asia Scholars in Daejeon, Korea, on 6 August. The aim of the panel is to bring together people who have done grounded research on the subject in these two regions.

The preliminary programme of the conference is now available here. Scroll down to find the panel.

Call for papers: Chinese in Africa/Africans in China, Johannesburg, 26-29 August 2009

Shortly after the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Taejon in early August, at which some of us will host a panel on ethnographic approaches to China’s development export, the Chinese in Africa/Africans in China International Research Working Group will organise its second mini-conference. Here is an excerpt from the call for papers:

Chinese people have become targets of increasing anti-Chinese sentiment, especially led by opposition political parties and civil society groups for different ends. In South Africa, perceptions that those who look Chinese carry on them large sums of cash appear to have resulted in a sort of racial profiling by South Africa’s criminal element as well as state patrols, exposing these individuals to robbery, blackmail, and personal violence. In spite of events and statistics being disclosed by researchers in the field, newspapers in Namibia, Zambia, and South Africa continue to under-report such political and social tensions while they remain critical of China’s seemingly unequal engagement with African nations and over-report the numbers of Chinese in these countries.

Simultaneously, African traders and other entrepreneurial business people have been making their way to China in increasing numbers over the last few years.  They are bypassing Chinese traders acting as middlemen in Africa and going directly to wholesalers as well as producers/manufacturers in China.  Over the years, some of these Africans have settled in Guangdong and other coastal provinces, and their numbers continue to grow. However, very little is also known about these transient and settler communities that are bridging the continents through exchange of goods and money, but also through dispersal of cultural knowledge.  

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 1 June 2009. Full papers must be received by 31 July 2009. Abstracts and queries should be directed to Yoon Jung Park at yoon@tiscali.co.za or +27 83 348 9241.

New China in Africa book launch

Less than three months after the  last China-in-Africa book launch, Washington, D.C., is hosting another, this one at the Jamestown Foundation. This China in Africa, released  last December, is edited by the respected China historian Arthur Waldron,  and the launch event features other well-known participants who are new to this debate, including the veteran Hong Kong journalist Willy Lam, the political scientists Edward Friedman and Yitzhak Shichor, two U.S. military analysts, and the keynote speaker, Victor Gao, Director of the China National Association of International Studies and former vice president at the China National Oil Corporation (interesting combination!)

Upcoming China-Africa events

Tomorrow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, there will be a discussion marking the launch of the new, imaginatively titled book China into Africa (Brookings Institution Press). Note the radical departure from China in Africa, which is what all previous volumes have been called! The website says that the event is booked out.

Meanwhile the Africa Asia Centre at SOAS in London is putting up a whole seminar series on the subject. In case anyone is reading us in England, here is the programme (courtesy of Alicia Altorfer-Ong): 

‘Waltz with Bashir: China, Darfur and the International Criminal Court’
Sharath Srinivasan (University of Oxford)
2 February, Room B111, 6pm, SOAS

‘China’s exceptionalism in Africa: the challenges of delivering difference’
Chris Alden (LSE) and Daniel Large (Africa Asia Centre)
16 February, Room B111, 6pm, SOAS

 ‘’The Tenuous Hold of China in Africa: China’s Principal-Agent Dilemma in Africa’
Dr. James Reilly (University of Oxford)
24 February, Room 102, 21-22 Russell Square, 5-7pm.

‘A Just Peace or just peace? Peace-building and rule of law promotion in Africa’
Speakers: Oliver Richmond (University of St. Andrews), Stephen Brown (University of Ottawa), Olga Martin-Ortega and Johanna Herman (University of East London), and Sarah Maguire (independent rule of law expert). Chair: Professor Chandra Lekha Sriram (Chair in Human Rights and Director of the Centre on Human Rights in Conflict, University of East London)
2 March, Room 116, 6-8 pm.

‘Chinese medical teams and a short lived-Chinese medical practice on Pemba, Tanzania: anthropological investigations’
Dr Elisabeth Hsu (University of Oxford)
10 March, Room 116, 5-7 SOAS

‘Learning and change in China’s Africa Policy: the case of Angola’
Ana Cristina Alves (LSE)
19 March, Room 116, SOAS, 6 pm.

“From Post-Washington to Beijing consensus in Africa? Aid, economic policies and policy space.”
Carlos Oya (SOAS)
28 April, Room 116, 5-7pm

China plans to waive 168 debts in 33 African countries

China is acting generous again.

After a recent visit to three African countries, Kenya, Zambia and Angola, Mr. Chen Deming, the minister of commerce of PRC announced that China is planning to waive 168 debts in 33 African countries as part of the China-Africa joint endeavor to aid Africa’s future development. Mr. Chen told the Xinhua News Agency that China would provide as generously as she can, as usual, to African countries, without requesting any additional political conditions. China would especially grant support to Africa’s social development projects and public welfare undertakings (i.e. schools, hospitals, sports facilities).

Responses on the internet (that is, Tianya) are mixed with anger, confusion, praise and indifference. Some Chinese netizens blame the Chinese government for giving billions of dollars away to powerless third-world friends just for a face-lift in the international community. Some wonder why the government could just waive debts incurred outside of China while ordinary citizens have to struggle with heavy mortgages and taxes. Some claim that the government is playing an enormous “chess game” and Africa is one of the important steps towards ultimate diplomatic victory. Some show sympathetic understanding to this action and reason that China might as well waive the debts as Africa is in no way paying (or planning to pay) the money back anyhow.

Here is the news:

商务部：中国计划免除33个非洲国家的168笔债务