China Africa_Reading Memo 

"China and Africa have all along sympathised with and supported each other in the struggle for national liberation and forged a profound friendship". This quotation summarizes the Chinese policy on Africa.

In the advent of the Chinese growth miracle, China would say is a major contributor and driving force for the unprecedented development on the continent, as African states feel more comfortable doing business with the Chinese. Chinese investments in Africa stems from infrastructure to power to mining spanning the length and breadth of the continent, from the. A typical example in West Africa is the construction of their Ministry of Foreign Affair’s building. As expected, many African countries have taken advantage of these economic developments. This is mainly because, unlike their western counterparts, the Chinese do not give stringent conditions on developmental aid to the continent and usually steer clear of political affairs. 

As their influence continue to increase, an important question to ask is whether their policy will continue being strictly economical or whether it will evolve to the point where they start interfering in internal politics of African countries?

A similar trend was observed in the early 60s to late 90s where western powers were giving aids and developmental packages to African nations with no conditions attached. This was partly in order to establish dominance on African states, and once that economic dominance was established, terms and conditions were then put before loans were given. These loans partly contributed to the continent’s slow economic growth, as most African government’s didn't have incentives to develop their own internal economies due to the over reliance on aid to finance their expenditure. 

This also made African leaders less accountable to their citizens, as their loyalty was shifted to the foreign powers. Some of these governments were motivated by the fact that no matter how badly they governed they were assured of funds were coming to maintain their patrimonial political systems. 

Namibia, for example, has developed immensely due to Chinese investments, but looking at the fact that most of this developments were done by Chinese firms or Namibian firms who are partners with the Chinese. So where does this leave the indigenous business? It weakens them to the extent that some had to shut down as they don't have the ability to compete with those Chinese products in the market. In the long run, this has a very negative impact on the local economy.