The Chinese way of building in Africa - Howard French

+Howard French 

Chinese building projects are popping up all over Africa. But mostly those construction projects are no partnerships with locals, but Chinese ventures tend to be all Chinese, author Howard French of China's Second Continent tells Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera:

But while China is building new infrastructure across Africa, journalist Howard French points out that, rather than partnering with local companies, many of the infrastructure projects are funded, designed and implemented by the Chinese, using Chinese materials. “I’ve been on projects where even the people pushing wheelbarrows are Chinese.”

“Win-win is a propaganda slogan,” he says. “It’s not an accurate description of this sort of arrangement. Imperialism evolves. It’s different from age to age. The circumstances change. What doesn’t change is the balance of power between the two parties that are engaged in the Imperialism.”

In discussing new Chinese-built ports, he adds, “This is what imperial powers do. They build ports so that they can send their goods to that country and so that they can export from that country to their markets the things that they need from that country.”

More in Al Jazeera.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you interested in ore stories by Howard French? Do check our regularly updated list here.

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Can the US catch China in Africa? - Howard French

+Howard French 

China is winning in Africa, author Howard French argues in his latest book China's Second Continent. Can the US still catch up with China in Africa, he wonders in BusinessWeek. Some serious rethinking is needed.

Howard French:

China’s dreams of Africa are not unlike the Western dreams of China over the past century, which consisted of an immense volume play: a vision of selling a yard of cloth or a gadget or a bauble to every Chinese person. The only difference is that the Chinese are increasingly in a position to make their dream come true.

Anyone who travels in Africa today can see that vision being patiently implemented. It consists of gradually familiarizing consumers with Chinese products, from mattresses to mobile phones. Building brand equity in the markets of the West is daunting and prohibitively costly. The biggest and best Chinese brands are fighting for a toehold there, but for the most part China is placing its chips on this demographic end run in Africa, seeing past the aging, debt-saturated markets of the West.

Where does this leave the U.S. and others who have been sleeping on Africa? The mature, rich economies have little interest in competing with China in low-end manufacturing and cheap consumer goods. That said, there is a worrisome complacency in the U.S. corporate world about the continent, which leaves an open path for China to move up the value chain in African markets.

The Obama administration, which has generally made little impression on the continent, has been smart to push electricity generation as a priority aim in Africa. Over the past decade or so, China has been the main actor in terms of African infrastructure development, with its companies racking up huge profits constructing highways, ports, airports, and railway systems. The continent is as underserved in electrical power as it is in roads, and this is a sector in which the U.S., if it is disciplined and ambitious, can make a huge difference in the years ahead, doing good while doing well. The Obama initiative, known as Power Africa, was announced in June 2012. It relies on a mixture of government and private financing and aims to double the African electricity supply, by adding 10,000 megawatts to production. A recent Senate bill proposes doubling that goal.Being disciplined means not only maintaining consistent priorities toward Africa, but also rethinking how one talks about the continent. The U.S. corporate world is in need of massive reeducation about Africa, and Washington must learn to speak about opportunity there without muddling the message with talk of terrorism and security, which have increasingly dominated U.S. policy toward the region since the end of the Cold War. Obama’s pan-Africa summit, starting on Aug. 4 in Washington, is a chance to start making a difference.

More in BusinessWeek.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you interested in more experts on China´s outbound investments at the China Speakers Bureau? Do have a look at our recent list.

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Estimation: in 50 years, 20 million Chinese in Africa - Howard French

+Howard French 

How many Chinese will there be in Africa in 50 year´s time? How will the state-to-state relations develop? After dozens of interviews with author Howard French on his book China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, The Shanghaiist found some uncovered areas.

The Shanghaiist:

If I could ask you to look into the future, where do you see the Chinese population in Africa in 50 years' time? Will most of the million there now stay? Will African countries have to acknowledge their second, third, or fourth-generation ethnic Chinese citizens? Will the Chinese there hold themselves apart as much as they have done so far?

If I am forced to go out on a limb, I would guess there might be 20 million Chinese people in Africa by mid-century, maybe more. They will be concentrated in African cities, which exhibit some of the highest growth rates in the world. Second and third generation Chinese will very often have African citizenship, and a great many of them will live in an integrated fashion, deeply socialized and networked within their societies of adoption.

You mention in your recent New York Times op-ed that China's foreign policy has historically been focused on state-to-state relations. Do you see any signs of improvement in this regard? Does the Chinese government now recognize the need to deal with more than just state institutions?

The Chinese state's preference for state-to-state relations stems from the way China itself functions, with the state arrogating tremendous power for itself even, as has been alluded to here, to decide such matters as "correct" history. The Chinese state is wary of independent authority at home, unwilling to see the emergence of much real pluralism. This makes the Chinese state far less willing and able to interact nimbly and constructively with independent civil society forces in other countries. I think that Beijing sees the need for it to be able to relate better to such forces abroad, but doing so is inherently difficult, and I don't see that changing much in the near to medium term.

More in the Shanghaiist.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you interested in earlier interviews with Howard French? Do have a look at this regularly updated list.

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Two major myths on China-Africa relations - Howard French

+Howard French 

Dealing with all-to-easy cliches when it comes to the Chinese in Africa, is one of the red lines in China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa, Howard French´s latest book. That story has been oversimplified he tells China Digital Times.

China Digital Times:

China Digital Times: What are the most common or serious pitfalls in thinking about Africa and China’s presence there, for those of us without a strong focus on or familiarity with the former?

Howard French: I would emphasize two things. The first [misconception] is that everything, or even most of what is happening in Africa with regard to China is directly driven in some centrally planned way by the Chinese state. Beijing has clearly made a priority of extending its influence on the continent, but a major theme of my book is that the large-scale migration of private Chinese citizens has become an important wild card in relations between China and Africa, one that defies real control or planning. For that reason, the tentative working title of the book was originally “Haphazard Empire.”

The other thing I would say is that the common notions of Chinese competition with the United States or with the West “for Africa” involve gross oversimplification. It is widely thought that China’s big successes in commerce and construction have come at the expense of Western interests, but because of the way the global economy is segmented and increasingly specialized, that is largely untrue. The goods that China is selling are generally not mainstays of Western commerce anymore. I would also say that China has large, inherent competitive advantages in infrastructure and public works, because of the scale of infrastructure building in China, and because of the low cost of capital there, and that much of the business it is winning in Africa in this sector isn’t so much being taken away from anyone as it is being allocated rationally.

More in China Digital Times.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you interested in more experts on China´s outbound investments at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out our recently updated list.
 

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Chinese racism in Africa - Howard French

+Howard French 

One of the major stories told in Howard French´s latest book China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa is that of the Chinese attitude towards Africans. Howard French gives his take at NPR. 

NPR:

MARTIN: It was interesting to me how much racism you personally encountered over the course of your travels. I mean, just the kind of day-to-day, casual reminders of distance that is certainly not polite in this country anymore. I'm thinking about when you went to this hotel in Liberia. And then you went to this room to drop off your things and wash up, and there was no towel there. And then when you told your host this, he summoned a young Chinese man who worked for him and told him to fetch me one. He says, we don't usually give them out because most Chinese bring their own. They wouldn't want to use one that a black person might have used. I mean, put this in some context for me. I mean, do you think that this is, kind of, growing pains, and that at some point will people have moved beyond that? What's your sense?

FRENCH: Everywhere I went, the local Chinese person referred to the people, in whose midst they had come to settle, as black people. You know, they would say, the blacks, the blacks, the blacks, the blacks. They wouldn't say the Ghanaians, or the Tanzanians, or the Zambians, or the this or the that. It was just, the blacks. And this refusal, or reluctance, to allow any kind of finer identity - to render them totally anonymous as just simply black, as if that was the only pertinent detail about them, was very telling for me. That whether or not this is a passing phase, I can't really say. But for the time being, the Africans are just, essentially, serving as a backdrop for Chinese processes - somebody that will be useful for them - or a place that will be useful for them for the time being along the way, as they proceed up the ladder of hierarchies, if you will, of civilizations of nations.

More at NPR. 

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Howard French has been interviewed on a wide range of subjects, covered by his book. Click here for an updated overview of his latest interviews.  

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China´s complicated Africa relationship - Howard French

+Howard French 

When it comes to Chinese abroad, avoiding cliches is tough. Author Howard French of China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. According to this review in the Huffington Post, he does a good job.

The Huffington Post:

Meanwhile, French also captures well the frustrations many Africans hold against this surge of Chinese attention, one aspect of which is the tendency for Chinese to import their own workers and subsequently underinvest Racism is also a source of contention, particularly with respect to Chinese opinions of Africans' work ethic. "Black people are not good at getting things done. Their customs were formed back when there was no telephone and no highway," is one of the less offensive quotes French captures. 

Yet, as French writes in retort, "I felt like reminding [his host] that perhaps forty million Chinese people had died of starvation a half century earlier ... It was the largest famine in history. A snapshot taken then would have given a very different picture of the supposedly essential character of Chinese people, and it would have entirely missed the point. Governments matter. Markets matter. History matters. International circumstances matter." 

Perhaps even more important than this superficial racism is the combination of ignorance toward African history and arrogance that the West has long been guilty of alone. Both make China's future standing on the continent vulnerable. Yet, instead of attempting to engage the broader population or insist that government relations be conducted at an institutional level, China prefers to deal directly with individual African leaders. The result is, quite ironically, a subversion of African governance.

The full review in the Huffington Post.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you looking for more experts on China´s outbound investments at the China Speakers Bureau? Do have a look at this recent list.

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The stay-behind effect of Chinese in Africa - Howard French

+Howard French 

The stay-behind effect is one of the phenomenons author and journalist Howard French describes in his latest book China's Second Continent Chinese workers arrive on an mission for their company in Africa, and stay to hang on, as they discover it is not such a bad place for them.  From NPR.

Howard French:

As far back as mid-'90s, China's political leaders had the foresight to understand that Africa had a great deal of unrecognized economic potential — and had a particular kind of demographic profile, meaning that Africa's population was set to increase very rapidly. There was a great prospect that Africa would also have, along with this demographic rise, growing middle classes. So China was — at the same [time] it was seeking to secure natural resources — it was beginning to think about Africa as a place where it could develop markets, important markets for the future. 

On the sector of Chinese society that is migrating to Africa 

Most of the people we've been talking about so far in terms of migration are what in our country would be called working-class, or at best, socio-economically speaking, lower-middle-class people. As such they tend to come from secondary cities in China, especially in cities that are not on the east coast in China, where most of wealth is concentrated. And people in those cities have not benefited from the full blush of economic growth that China has enjoyed for the last 30 or so years. 

On how state policies and individual choices influence Chinese emigration 

In '90s, Beijing begins to formulate this idea of "Going Out" — that was the official name of the policy — where a national priority was established to seek business in faraway lands, places like Africa, where China didn't have much of a history of economic engagement. ... This is very much a state-driven process.

But then something very interesting begins to happen. Once Chinese companies begin to secure projects in these sorts of places — for example the construction of a port, or an airport, or a highway system — they move a thousand or 2,000 workers to the target country for a fixed period of time, a year or two ... At the end of that period, a certain percentage of workers decide to stay, decide Africa is not such a bad place after all.

... That stay-behind phenomenon is an individual decision. I don't see evidence that the Chinese state has been a major factor in encouraging what has become a form of migration, where these people complete contracts and remain on the ground in the destination country for the medium or longer term.

More at NPR.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you interested in more experts focusing on China´s outbound investments at the China Speakers Bureau? Here is a recent list.

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One million Chinese building an empire in Africa - Howard French

+Howard French 

One million Chinese are building an empire in Africa, former foreign correspondent Howard French writes in Quartz, a summery from his latest book, China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.

Howard French:

Although there are no official figures, evidence suggests that at least a million private Chinese citizens have arrived on African soil since 2001, many entirely of their own initiative, not by way of any state plan. This “human factor” has done as much as any government action to shape China’s image in Africa and condition its tics to the continent. By the time I met Hao, in early 2011, merchants in Malawi, Namibia, Senegal, and Tanzania were protesting the influx of Chinese traders. In the gold-producing regions of southern Ghana, government officials were expelling Chinese wildcat miners. And in Zambia, where recent Chinese arrivals had established themselves in almost every lucrative sector of the economy, their presence had become a contentious issue in national elections.

As we left the capital, we passed the new national stadium, nearing completion by Chinese work crews at the edge of town. Built to support the country’s bid to host the 2013 continent-wide Africa Cup of Nations, it was a showcase gift from the Chinese government,intended as a statement of generosity and solidarity. China has become an avid practitioner of this kind of prestige-project diplomacy. I asked Hao whether a $65 million stadium was the best sort of gift for Mozambique, one of the ten poorest countries in the world.

“Chinese government projects in Mozambique have all failed,” he said. “That’s because the Chinese ganbu [bureaucrats] don’t know how to communicate on the same level with the blacks.” He shook his head and wagged a stubby index finger excitedly.

More in Quartz.

Howard French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

Are you interested in other speakers at the China Speakers Bureau on outbound Chinese investments? Here is a recent list. 

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