SADC: Tomorrow: U.S. Competitiveness in Africa w/ Members of Congress

On Tuesday there will be a ton of interesting events, I hope to see you at some of them!

Dear Colleagues, I hope you all had a Happy Father's Day! I sure did, as I participated in Andy's Google+ Hangout, along with Jemila, which was was quite successful! Here is the edited video and summary (we ran into some technical errors), and while we could not get the original panel of guests, Shuang and Andy found a wonderful substitute in Hongxiang Huang. I thought it went really well, though my wife pointed out some of the ways I could have improved my performance (I said "umm" way too much, sadly... next time I will do better, honey!). This week there should be a lot of interesting events going on in the DC area, I hope to meet some of you on Tuesday for the  congressional discussion about US competitiveness in Africa as well as the remarks by the Honorable Raila A. Odinga, who will talk about Sino-African relations and Africa as a whole. Jemila, along with Blogging Ghana, is putting together her own Hangout on Thursday, June 20. The panelists are still being worked out, but there are going to be a lot of them and a few of our members should be participating. And, in the same vein of Andy's Hangout, the participants will all be Chinese or African except for myself (I somehow keep representing the United States in all of these events...). Be sure to check it out! If you have a bit of free time on your hands, I urge you to read through the latestSouth Africa Foreign Policy Initiative Digest, which can be found here. While mostly focused on BRICS issues, there are a number of pieces that are of interest to Sino-Africa watchers, (Thank you Prof. Park) Since no one responded to the potluck idea, it has been dropped. Enjoy the weather! Area Events U.S. Competitiveness in Africa – Leveling the Playing Field (Thank you Maame) By: The Office of Ranking Member Karen Bass, House Africa Subcommittee Date and Time: Tuesday, June 18, 08:00 AM - 10:00 AM Location: The Member’s Room, Thomas Jefferson Building Library of Congress Reaching Across the Pacific: Latin America and Asia in the New Century By: Woodrow Wilson Center Date and Time: Tuesday, June 18, 8:45 AM - 1:00 PM Location: 5th Floor Woodrow Wilson Center A Briefing by The Honorable Raila A. Odinga: African Achievements and Challenges: Learning from the Past but Looking Forward By: Woodrow Wilson Center Date and Time: Tuesday, June 18, 11:00 AM - 11:30 AM Location: 5th Floor Woodrow Wilson Center Amadou and Mariam (Thank you Edward) By: 9:30 Club Date and Time: Tuesday, June 20, 7:00 PM Location: 9:30 Club 815 V St NW Women as Agents of Change: Traditional Practices and Community-Based Social Change in Ethiopia By: Woodrow Wilson Center Date and Time: Thursday, June 20, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM Location: 6th Floor Woodrow Wilson Center Cheick Hamala Diabate (Thank you Edward) By: Kennedy Center Date and Time: Thursday, June 20, 6:00 PM Location: Kennedy Center - Millenium Stage 2700 F St NW Emmanuel Jal (Thank you Edward) By: Kennedy Center Date and Time: Saturday, June 22, 6:00 PM Location: Kennedy Center - Millenium Stage 2700 F St NW Miss Africa USA Pageant (Thank you Edward) By: Miss Africa USA Pageant 2013 Date and Time: Saturday, June 29, 07:00 PM Location: The Fillmore Silver Spring 8656 Colesville Rd  Silver Spring, MD 20910 Conferences Asian Studies Association of Australia International Convention of Asia Scholars 8 Oxford University China Africa Network & Alpha Professional Network Emerging Powers in Africa Forum Calls for Papers Call for Papers - International Journal of Human Rights Special Issue: Corporate Power & Human Rights (Thank you Prof. Park) Call for Papers - Verge: Studies in Global Asias (Thank you Prof. Park) Call for Papers: State Policy and the Cultural Politics of Heritage-Making in East and Southeast Asia -  International Institute for Asian Studies (Thank you Prof. Park)  Call for Papers and Panels - Asian Studies Association of Australia (Thank you Prof. Park) Call for Proposals: China, UK, Low-Income Countries and Agriculture/Food Security - AgriTT (Thank you Prof. Brautigam) Call for Submissions - Politique Africaine (Thank you Prof. Park) Opportunities (courtesy of Nina) Communication Advisor for Tanzania and Burundi - ActionAid Communication Advisor for Nigeria and Liberia - ActionAid Communications Coordinator for Africa - Center for International Forestry Research Convening Officer - Civicus Finance Analyst - International Finance Corporation Financial Consultant - Saferworld Grants Manager - International Organization for Migration IT Support Officer - Camfed Logistics Coordinator - QED Group Phandulwazi nge China Scholarship Programme for visiting scholars from Africa  - Stellenbosch University Centre for Chinese Studies Photographer - Adeso Product Manager - Grameen Foundation Project Coordinator - Invisible Children Program Manager, Education Programs - IREX Programme Funding Manager, Sahel - Christian Aid Program Officer - Freedom House Project Officer - Adeso Senior Fellow/Fellow, Africa Growth Initiative - Brookings Technical Project Manager - Grameen Foundation Of Interest Africa: The China-Africa Convergence: Can America Catch Up? - A balanced, nuanced look at how American involvement in Africa is trailing that of the Chinese, why it matters, and what must be done about it. Howard French is also awesome, so always read his stuff. Anonymous ‘Baba Jukwa’ Facebook Dishes Dirt on Zimbabwe Politics  - Baba Jukwa, an anonymous Facebook poster writing about Zimbabwe politics from an insider's perspective, tells one story (out of many) about a Chinese contractor whose project was built  to support the Zimbabwe government rather than its people. It is not the fault of the Chinese though, they are just doing their job and the author's ire is directed towards the Zim government Chinese investors look to broaden their African portfolios - If one can get over the "China is the best" tone of the article, there are some really great quotes and anecdotes to be found. From Gold Mine to Land Mine – The Chinese in Ghana - This fantastic essay gathers social media sources and scholarly monographs and articles to talk about the situation in Ghana, and locates the tension within the context of different labor cultures. The story about Chinese racism and their handling of Ghanaian maids is quite chilling. Leave Chinese alone - Prostitutes cry out - “'The galamsey [small-scale miners] operators don’t even ask for reduction for our services; they accept whatever prices we give them,' Victoria said. 'The Chinese galamseyers pay well unlike the ordinary Ghanaian who would ask for reduction,' she added." Who says the Chinese do not create jobs in Africa? Lifan sees Africa as doorway to world - This interview with Yin Minshan, President of the automaker Chongqing Lifan group, talks about his companies plans to expand in Africa. A few of my buddies in China had Lifan motorcycles but I do not really know the company. Over there: China ponders sending more combat troops on UN peacekeeping missions - A fascinating analysis of what China has to think about as it sends over 500 troops to Mali, some which might be actual soldiers rather than the usual engineers, medical workers, or transport staff. SA is riding the Chinese dragon into a tempest - A look at how China's economic growth and contractions affect the South African economy. I am not sure the housing market situation in China is as dire as the author contends, though. As someone who predicted a Chinese housing crash back in 2009 for 2012-2013 (and planned to buy property in that crash), I learned to NEVER make predictions about the Chinese housing market, because you will always be wrong. Save elephants from Chinese ivory trade or we lose them, says researcher - This piece joins the growing chorus of people who track the ivory poaching issue as saying China should do more about it. Soft Power? China Has Plenty - An interesting overview of Chinese soft-power in Africa through the lens of aid and education, citing both Prof. Brautigam and Prof. Kenneth King. I think that the author oversells the point, and I could have done without the $74 billion aid figure cited, but worth a read regardless. Taskforce dared to arrest chiefs benefiting from illegal mining - While much of the focus over last week's row over Chinese mining in Africa was directed at illegal Chinese miners, this piece talks about some of the actors who facilitated their actions: local chiefs. Member Contributions Hansen, Peter C., "Increasing U.S. Exports to Africa: Why U.S. Investment Is First Necessary" House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Hansen, Peter C., "Subcommittee Hearing: Increasing American Jobs through Greater Exports to Africa" House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Liu, Andy Shuai, "China Open Mic Hangout: Chinese Miners in Ghana - Does It Matter which Cat Catches the Mice?" China Open Mic Liu, Andy Shuai, "Open Note: Transparency and Open Engagement Help Both Africa and China" China Open Mic Shinn, David, "China Establishing Two New Investment Funds for Africa" The official blog of Amb. David H. Shinn

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Mali, the Chinese Military, and the Chinese People

EDIT: Some of the translations could be better, thanks to Kaiser Kuo for catching that, and the error was mine for not reading properly. I also modified the ending.

Tendai Musakwa put up another must-read translation on the China Africa Project, this time detailing what some in the Chinese military think about France's intervention into Mali, as well as the Chinese netizen reaction.

Reading: The Dragon's Gift

UPDATE: I finished finished reading Deborah Brautigam's The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa. I wrote an earlier post describing some of my initial thoughts and I just finished something a little more substantive.

Prof. Deborah Brautigam has written a text that should be on the shelf of anyone interested in Sino-African relations, plain and simple. Professor and Director of the International Development Program at Johns Hopkins University/School of Advanced International Studies, Brautigam has more than three decades of experience studying development, specifically African development, and she is one of the world's foremost experts on Sino-African relations, having been interested in Chinese aid projects to Africa since the 1980s. Looking primarily to debunk some of the more excessive stories being written about China's presence in Africa, she succeeds in that mission. However, she also either ignores or does not deal with evidence that contradicts her thesis, and she does both in a way that made me wary of her overall research. However, even with that said, her research and arguments are compelling enough to make up for those problems.