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This guest post, the first of three, is by Dr. Thierry Pairault, research director at France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).[1]

Once upon a time... Africa met the good fairy China who became a very significant investor. It's a beautiful story, but how accurate is this fairy tale?

The latest The Africa Investment Report published by the Financial Times is an excellent example of why the fairy tale needs reappraisal. Indeed, it states: "China was the number one source country in Africa by capital expenditure, investing $36.1bn into Africa and accounting for 39% of total investment" (The Africa Investment Report, p. 6.)

This reading aroused profound doubts in my mind as to the methodology used for a document read by many people and widely cited in the press. I shall provide here two flagrant examples of bald misstatements, conveyed by this report.

A "Chinese-owned" El Hamdania Port?

The first example is taken from page 5 (see Figure 1). We are told that the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) has invested $ 3.3 billion in Algeria in 2016. The information is false. This very large sum refers to the expected construction cost for the deep water El Hamdania port in Algeria.

A Chinese consortium of banks may finance a portion of this project, although no loans have been signed. But this loan if it happens will be taken out by the Algerian government. Neither the CSCEC nor the other Chinese engineering firm involved in the project -- China Harbour Engineering Company, CHEC -- are investors, but service providers on behalf of the Algerian government, which is the sole investor.

Therefore, this $ 3.3 billion project cannot be considered as a Chinese investment in Algeria in 2016, or even as a future Chinese investment project.

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This guest post, the first of three, is by Dr. Thierry Pairault, research director at France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS).[1] Once upon a time... Africa met the good fairy China who became a very significant investor. It's a beautiful story, but how accurate is this fairy tale?

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Case studies

Many of the projects listed in AidData's database defy expectations. The Guardian examined four:

The $40 million opera house on the outskirts of Algeria's capital

Olympic pool with sun loungers and 'Southern Fried Chicken' in Ghana

The China-Zambia Friendship Hospital in Lusaka

Thousands of African students and civil servants in China on training programmes

China has committed $75bn (£48bn) on aid and development projects in Africa in the past decade, according to research which reveals the scale of what some have called Beijing's escalating soft power "charm offensive" to secure political and economic clout on the continent.

The Chinese government releases very little information on its foreign aid activities, which remain state secrets. In one of the most ambitious attempts to date to chip away at this secrecy, US researchers have launched the largest public database of Chinese development finance in Africa, detailing almost 1,700 projects in 50 countries between 2000 and 2011.

China's financial commitments are significantly larger than previous estimates of the country's development finance, though still less than the estimated $90bn the US committed over that period. Researchers at AidData, at the College of William and Mary, have spent 18 months compiling and encoding thousands of media reports to construct the database, and hope users will contribute further detail on the projects.

The data, which challenges what has for years been the dominant story - Beijing's unrelenting quest for natural resources - is likely to fuel ongoing debate over China's motives in Africa.

There are few mining projects in the database and, while transport, storage and energy initiatives account for some of the largest sums, the data also reveals how China has put hundreds of millions of dollars towards health, education and cultural projects.

AidData's database can be used to test some of the hypotheses - and challenge some of the misconceptions - about China's motivations

In Liberia, China has put millions towards the installation of solar traffic lights in Monrovia and financed a malaria prevention centre. In Mozambique, China's projects include a National School for Visual Arts in Maputo. In Algeria, construction has begun on a multimillion dollar 1,400-seat opera house in the Ouled Fayet suburbs of western Algiers.

China has also sent thousands of doctors and teachers to work in Africa, welcomed many more students to learn in China or in Chinese language classes abroad and rolled out a continent-wide network of sports stadiums and concert halls.

"The dominant narrative has been one of China's insatiable desire for resources. But in fact this database suggests there may be many more things going on," said Vijaya Ramachandran, senior fellow at the Washington DC-based thinktank Centre for Global Development and co-author of a report on the AidData project.

Only a fraction of the database's projects (totalling $16bn) would count as official development assistance under the rules set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Ramachandran, however, insists China is still playing an important role in closing funding gaps in Africa. "China is a major emerging player in development finance and we need to get a handle on what it is doing," she said.

While the scale of Chinese involvement in Africa has grown substantially since 2000, its attempts to secure influence on the continent are nothing new

While aid from OECD countries stagnates or shrinks under the pressure of budgets and an increasingly sceptical public, a host of new emerging donors - including Brazil, Venezuela, and Iran - are expanding their work in other developing countries. These countries have largely resisted calls to disclose data or abide by international aid transparency standards. This lack of information has fuelled wild speculation over what the donors are doing - and why.

The appeal of Chinese aid to African leaders

In this excerpt from Madam President, Malawi's Joyce Banda explains why African countries often prefer to deal with China than with Western donors

Produced and directed by Nick and Marc Francis

While some insist the bottom line is China's thirst for natural resources, others argue Beijing's development projects on the continent - from infrastructure to debt relief to providing medical support - are also part of a public diplomacy strategy to build up goodwill and international support for the future.

New Chinese development projects are often announced during high-level visits from state officials, although many never make it past the ceremonial pledges. Researchers found evidence that almost 1,000 projects totalling $48.6bn, are under way or complete. The rest either remain in the pipeline or will never happen.

Many of the cultural and sporting projects across the continent are probably "upfront sweeteners" to win government favour, a "downpayment" for future commercial deals, suggests Stephen Chan, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

But Chan rejects the idea that China has a master strategy in Africa. "There are 54 countries in Africa. You're off your head if you think there's one single agenda."

Deborah Bräutigam, head of the international development programme at Johns Hopkins University, said suggestions that China's aid to Africa was all about natural resources were "widespread misconceptions". "There are a lot of reasons countries give aid and China is no different," she said.

The Eight Principles of Chinese aid

In 1964, the Chinese government declared the Eight Principles for Economic Aid and Technical Assistance to Other Countries, which still inform development policy today:

1. Equality and mutual benefit form the basis of Chinese aid

2. China respects sovereignty, never attaches conditions or asks for privileges

3. China helps lighten the burden with interest-free or low-interest loans and by extending repayment terms when necessary

4. The purpose of aid is to help countries become self-reliant

5. Projects that require less investment but yield quicker results are favoured

6. China provides quality equipment and materials manufactured in China at international market prices

7. China will help recipient countries master the techniques of any technical assistance

8. Chinese experts will have the same standard of living as those of the recipient country and are not allowed to make special demands

Chinese education and training programmes, for example, target students from across the continent. "These are all about diplomacy, about soft power ... like the Alliance Française and the British Council ... all about presenting China as an important global player. All the big countries do this," she added.

Other programmes can be linked to China's trade agenda. Chinese medical teams have worked in Africa since 1963, but recently their objective has expanded to include promotion of China's pharmaceuticals such as antimalarials, according to Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. He said a combination of economic interests and the need to expand its political influence and improve its international image was driving Chinese health aid in Africa.

Beijing has also sought to improve its image on the continent by financing the rapid expansion of Chinese media outlets across the continent to counter negative images of China and Africa with upbeat stories. This is an explicit part of China's official Africa policy, released in 2006, which encourages exchange and co-operation between African and Chinese media to "enhance mutual understanding and enable objective and balanced media coverage of each other".

The database includes Chinese projects to train journalists in Angola and Zimbabwe, as well as an exchange programme for journalists in China and Ghana.

It contains records of Chinese-backed projects in all but the four African states that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan: Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe and Swaziland.

But last year Joseph Nye, the Harvard professor who coined the term "soft power", said China would see little return on its investments until it relaxed its control over information.

"Great powers try to use culture and narrative to create soft power that promotes their national interests, but it's not an easy sell when the message is inconsistent with their domestic realities ... in an information age in which credibility is the scarcest resource, the best propaganda is not propaganda," he wrote in the Wall Street Journal. "China is clamping down on the internet and jailing human rights lawyers, once again torpedoing its soft-power campaign."

A wikipedia for secretive aid projects?

"A lot of researchers run away from uncertainty and imprecision. We did the opposite," says AidData's Brad Parks, who hopes china.aiddata.org users will help to hone and improve the data. The online platform allows users to challenge or contribute to records, with suggestions vetted by AidData researchers.

Not everyone is convinced by the approach, however, which uses thousands of media reports, compiled and encoded by researchers, as its backbone.

"It's a noble effort," Deborah Brautigam says. But media reports on China in Africa are so often inaccurate, she argues, and crowdsourcing will not work to improve the data. "People don't go back and look again ... [they] will just take the first iteration."

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China commits billions in aid to Africa as part of charm offensive - interactive

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Many of the projects listed in AidData's database defy expectations.

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http://www.afdb.org/en/blogs/afdb-championing-inclusive-growth-across-africa/post/mining-industry-prospects-in-africa-10177/

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-08/29/c_132673093_2.htm

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Carla Martin/Video concerning Venezualan Oil Production

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Carla Martin/Video concerning Venezualan Oil Production

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China vs USA - 'The Battle for Oil' Part 1of 2.

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Today, China is the second largest consumer of oil, just after the United States. The Documentary investigates the new world geopolitics that is emerging around the needs of both the world's leading superpower and the world's fastest growing economy to secure future supplies of oil. Oil Conspiracy?? Quite Interesting.

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What are the negative social impacts of China's involvement in Africa?

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What are the political impacts that China has on Africa

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What is Economic Growth?

How quickly has Chinas economic growth rate increased?

How much has Chinas economic growth?

Has Chinas impact on the Australian Mining Industry been good or bad?

Does China have workers in the Australian Mining industry?

What resources does China buy from Australia Mining Industry?

What would happen if China stoped buyingresources from Australian mining companies? (Positives/negatives)

In what ways has Chinas growth affect Australian Mining?

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What is economic growth?

How quickly has China’s economic growth risen in the 21st Century?

Has China’s economic growth been good or bad for the Australian population?

Has China provided the Australian Mining Industry with workers?

Who is involved in relating China to the AMI?

In what ways does China’s economic growth impact the AMI?

What would happen if China stopped getting its resources from the AMI?

What resources does China purchase from the AMI?

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- What is economic growth?

- how is china growing?

- Why did the Chinese come to Australia?

- How are the Chinese impacting Australia’s mining industries?

- How are they positively affecting Australia’s mining industry socially, environmentally and economically?

- How is china negatively affecting Australia’s mining industry economically?

- How is China negatively affecting Australia’s mining industry environmentally?

- How is china affecting the lifestyle of miners in Australia?

- What would the Australian economy be like if China didn’t impact their mining industry?

- What would China’s economy be like if they weren’t involved with Australia’s mining industry?

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What is economic growth?

How is China growing?

How is Zambia growing?

How has China affected Zambia's economy since coming to Zambia?

What were China's reasons for coming to Zambia in the first place?

How has China affected Zambian businesses?

Why does China not interfere with Zambian government?

What are some positive impacts of the Chinese coming to Africa?

What are some negative impacts of the Chinese coming to Africa?

What would happen to Zambia if the Chinese stopped trading altogether?

What is the future for China's interaction with Zambia?

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1: what is economic growth?  2: how many Chinese own businesses
in africa?

 

3: what kind of businesses do they own?

 

4: why
did the chinese come to africa?



5: how does this impact the chinese
business men in africa positively?

 

6:how does this impact the chinese business men in africa negatively?

 

7: how does china impact the
economy of africa?

 

8: how do the chinese impact the
african people positively?

 

9: how do the chinese impact the
african people negatively?

 

10: what would africa be like if the chinese did not set up
businesses there?

# data[].attributes.subject
1: what is economic growth?  2: how many Chinese own businesses
in africa?

 

3: what kind of businesses do they own?

 

4: why
did the chinese come to africa?



5: how does this impact the chinese
business men in africa positively?

 

6:how does this impact the chinese business men in africa negatively?

 

7: how does china impact the
economy of africa?

 

8: how do the chinese impact the
african people positively?

 

9: how do the chinese impact the
african people negatively?

 

10: what would africa be like if the chinese did not set up
businesses there?

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tahnee

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Chinese Impact on the world

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The.Chinese.Are.Coming.1of2.Africa.HD==Western views of Chinese presence in Africa==中方在非洲 西方觀點==字幕==Subtitles Pick subtitle with CC at bottom of screen choose your language