Link of the Day: Commentary in China Daily

On Friday, Ambassador David Shinn wrote this on his blog: 

The government-controlled China Daily asked me to comment on the sate of China-Africa relations. The editors accepted my contribution and published it on 11 January 2013 with one deletion and added their own title of "A Developing Tale of Success". The deletion concerned my assertion that Chinese traders in Africa are facing increasing criticism from their African counterparts.

Recently, the Chinese state has looked less than stellar in terms of censorship. I found it interesting that, in trying to appeal to foreign audiences, the Chinese media actively sought an oped from someone who does not believe China's relationship with Africa is completely "win-win". 

Well, at Least They Changed the Name to 'Darlie'

Today I read this piece, courtesy of Wendy, that tied China Daily's African edition with China's sometimes fraught relationship with dark-skinned peoples. This quote, by Isaac Stone Fish, sums things up nicely:

While there's plenty of anecdotal evidence out there, it's hard to generalize about what Chinese think about Africans without being hypocritical, so I'll just quote what a Chinese English teaching recruiter once told me in Beijing: "We try not to hire black people. They tend to scare the children."