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Copyright © *2013* *Sino-Africa DC* All rights reserved.
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Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Thursday, May 30, 2013
SADC: Questions & Big Upcoming Africa Events!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
SADC: Happy Africa Day/Memorial Day!
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Copyright © *2013* *Sino-Africa DC* All rights reserved.
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
Link of the Day: From the Yellow River to the Nile
The Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) at Stellenbosch University recently put up this Guest Column by Su Junxia of Humboldt University and Daniel Krahl at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. It is part of a series highlighting the diversity of Chinese people in Africa. This particular piece is looking at the following:
China’s relationship with Africa is often reported on as a story of big investors ranging from state owned enterprises to entrepreneurs. However, the Chinese coming to Africa are increasingly diverse. In the first of a five part series, the authors look at the phenomenon of Chinese Muslims coming to Africa. Muslims in China are normally seen as disadvantaged. African countries with strong Muslim communities seem to offer a rare advantage to them over their non-Muslim compatriots. Cairo often serves as the gate of entry for Chinese Muslims into Africa, and the key is the Arabic language. (Emphasis mine)The article begins by describing Fatima, a
... a young Muslim, or Hui, woman from Gansu Province and is distinguished from other female Chinese immigrants in Cairo by wearing the Muslim Hijab. She has been studying Arabic for the last two years at the language school of Al-Azhar University, in Cairo’s Abbasiya district. Abbasiya is one of the two areas in Cairo that could come closest to being a so called ‘Chinatown’. Most of the Chinese here are Muslim, predominantly from China’s north-west, studying Arabic at the world’s most famous Islamic university. Here you find the best examples of food from China’s north-western provinces, especially the typical noodles from the city of Lanzhou. (Emphasis mine)It goes on to detail some of the general experiences of a Chinese population that, by dint of religion, is consciously looks outward to foreign lands if not always accepting foreign ways:
Many Chinese Muslims express their appreciation for living surrounded by their own religion for the first time. They do however often complain that Egyptian Muslims appear more conservative on the surface, but that they do not take their religion as seriously as Muslims in China. Even if there is a religious bond, most Hui are as convinced that they will return to China at a certain point, as basically all their non-Muslim compatriots in Africa. Even those who study religion in Al Azhar often do this to work as Imams in China after their return. However, having mastered the language also offers them opportunities in the wider north-African region.
One example of this is Mark; he finished his studies in Cairo and went to Khartoum where he started to work in a furniture company. Now he oversees a dozen local workers. He enjoys Sudanese society, particularly the piety, which he thinks both Egyptian and Chinese mainstream societies lack. Nevertheless, he still thinks that the main advantage of his cultural affinity to the region is commercial and that north-Africa is just a stepping stone for a career back home.
Regardless of their religion, Chinese find integration into Egyptian society difficult. Fatima says that nearly all of her friends in Cairo are Chinese. When asked about Egyptian friends, she says she has almost no contact with them and does not like to deal with them. Like many Chinese (and Egyptian women), she complains about the ill treatment of women in Egypt and agrees with the view of many other Chinese in Cairo, who often describe the locals’ behaviour as ‘uncivilised’... (Emphasis mine)The piece was quite fascinating and should be read in full. I look forward to seeing what Krahl and Su produce for the future!
Friday, December 14, 2012
What is the Chinese model of development?
Some think that China is helping build Africa's development capacities, others think that China's involvement in Africa is less than beneficial. Still, everyone can agree that China is affecting African countries, one way or another. And yet, what is the end-game of Sino-African relations? What will they look like in a decade, or five? China and the Asian Tigers all built their economies from levels comparably lower than independence-era Africa, and peoples in Africa were quite interested in the implications for countries under the domination of Europeans to develop so rapidly. Can Chinese relations with African countries turn Africa into another China? Will Botswana or Rwanda turn into another Guangzhou by manufacturing or exporting things to Guangzhou itself?
Sino-Africa scholar Deborah Brautigam argues that Africa cannot develop like China:
Sino-Africa scholar Deborah Brautigam argues that Africa cannot develop like China:
There isn't any country in Africa that has the same kind of leadership as China where there is such a focus on development....There might have been a few places that have come close such as Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi (prime minister until his death in August) and also currently Rwanda, but very few....There are 54 countries in Africa so you can't really say there is one model for Africa,...But it is true there is more focus on manufacturing in Africa. There are a number of countries that have also concentrated on manufacturing such as Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya as well as Tunisia and Egypt and others that are not naturally resource-rich. For some parts of the continent, the manufacturing model is already working.
Abdi Ismail Samatar, a prominent researcher of African political development, emphasizes self-reliance as an element of true development in his recent op-ed. Relying on commodity exports (a massive generalization of African economies, but a useful one) while importing the tools and ideas of others will do those countries no good in the long run:
A number of African scholars have recently argued that China is working with African countries to advance the continent's development, while the United States is deeply engaged in security and terror issues in Africa... Although there is an element of truth in this thesis, particularly with regard to the American involvement in Africa, I beg to differ with the claim that China's interventions are significantly advancing Africa's capacity to develop....The critical question is: What the Asian or PRC leadership did differently than Africans to advance their economies? For starters, the younger Asian Tigers had a model of industrial development in Japan. East Asians and PRC understood that without a strong industrial base they could not develop.Consequently, their industrial strategy was qualitatively different than any other Third World government through the discipline their state exercised. State companies took the lead and this approach blossomed in China after the post-Mao reform in the late 1970. It is the emergence of state-directed industrial development that has given Asia or China an incredible competitive advantage in so many fields....Beneath the media glare that surrounded the inaugural ceremony of the AU ceremony, the Chinese guest must have minimally felt pity for his hosts whose incompetence created the opportunity for such gift giving. In the colonial era, Africans were denied the opportunity to develop their skills and build their enterprises.For instance, early last century, King Khama of Bechuanaland (today's Botswana) established a state company to assist his people compete with South Africa's white businesses in his territory. But the British authorities forced Khama to liquidate his enterprise and this damaged the future Republic of Botswana.More recently, African governments have failed to learn from their history and those of others by squandering opportunities to capacitate their people so they can design and construct their own domes.The African people's disability is unmistakably exemplified by the AU building and that is why it is Africa's "Dome of Shame". To challenge this history, the response of young Africans must be: never again will others build things for us and steal our precious natural resources and markets."
One wonders if, ultimately, the perception that African countries are relying on "the Chinese" (The quote is there to signify that the term is more complicated than its use implies) to build necessary infrastructure is really the way to go.
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