Interesting paper in Africa Studies Quarterly- China’s attempt at a...
Jim Garrison Keillor@books_rum
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Apr 05, 2024
~5 min read
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Interesting paper in Africa Studies Quarterly- China’s attempt at a “win-win” relationship with Congo is at best hopelessly naive and at worse exploitative asq.africa.ufl.edu/wp-content/upl…
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Basically, if China can’t help create political stability in the DRC, their infrastructure buildup is totally inadequate
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When the DRC's elite class is this corrupt I can't think of any responsible way to be business partners with them
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It's actually kind of amazing how quickly China locked up the entire supply chain for cobalt. You can't deny the urgency for the development of a low-carbon energy economy, and Congo's problems LONG predate China's involvement. But they're not helping. e360.yale.edu/features/siddh…
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On Sep. 3, 2018 Xi Jinping spoke about Africa, outlining 8 ways China hoped to help Africa. These include investment in infrastructure, humanitarian aid, increasing exports from Africa, etc. As a matter of policy they're avoiding nation-building and political interference
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So to me the humanitarian disaster in Congo looks like a result of a failed Chinese policy which now needs to change; not the GOAL of the policy
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And reading Walter Rodney is giving me a stark examples of hundreds of years of European underdevelopment of Africa, so how does China reverse that? What is the new model?
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What exactly is China expected to do about the Kabila family? Or the corruption of the Tshisekedi government?
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Tshisekedi claims the 2008 Sicomines deal was a ripoff for the DRC, and they are renegotiating as of this month. But for a government this corrupt to blame missing infrastructure funds on China is a bit hard to swallow voanews.com/a/uncertaintie…
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As of two days ago the renegotiated deal was referred to by Congo's Inspector General of Finances as a "win-win" for both parties reuters.com/markets/commod…
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Yes, it took 15 years to arrive at a deal that the DRC could refer to as "win-win." Is China a flawless investor? No, but it's a far cry from the CIA murdering Patrice Lumumba, and financing 30 years of Mobutu history.state.gov/milestones/196…
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Is China making things worse in Africa? While Africa’s debt is lower than that of other regions, it’s more burdensome because it is mostly owned by foreign, private lenders who charge high interest rates. 70% of it is in USD mo.ibrahim.foundation/news/2023/publ…
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China is Africa’s primary trading partner for both imports and exports, but Africa is losing out because the trading model hasn’t changed since colonial times: exporting raw materials, importing finished products mo.ibrahim.foundation/news/2023/afri…
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Is China responsible for building up Africa’s manufacturing-tech sector? Should they be expected to do this? At some point should they begin to encourage socialism with African characteristics?
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Oh it looks like Congo once had a leader who wanted independence and state-led economic involvement that might’ve avoided the pitfalls of neo-colonialism. I wonder what happened to him
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What was it about Lumumba and Congo's independence that concerned the CIA? This 1960 cable specifies that "Lumumba may enable communists to influence policies of independent Congo," and increased flight of European capital from Congo cia.gov/readingroom/do…
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Another CIA bulletin from 1960 discusses Lumumba's popularity and his support for Ghanaian President Nkrumah's "brand of militant pan-Africanism." Clearly Africans nationalizing their own industries had to be prevented cia.gov/readingroom/do…
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And the CIA overthrew Nkrumah when he wanted to nationalize Ghana's aluminum industry and modernize his country. "The aluminum industry would have done for Ghana what the steel industry had done for the United States" modernghana.com/news/363669/th…
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"Thus, Lumumba's contact with Kwame Nkrumah at the AAPC and his (Lumumba's) independent posture vis-à-vis Belgian design in the Congo qualified him to be viewed by the West as an ally of the East even before June 30, 1960"
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The West could not let Lumumba regain control of mineral-rich Katanga, which had just seceded. And they could not let Africans get control of their own resources.
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Congo's current problems are absolutely the end result of the CIA's interventions. And the 1960 secession of Katanga was arranged by Belgium in the first place.
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We know how JFK felt about Lumumba's assassination. So what were his plans for African nationalism?
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Africa quickly became a focus for JFK in the late 50s, and he supported national independence and the territorial integrity of former colonies. But US national security needs overwhelmed his plans.
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And in fact, the CIA's tradition of acting with impunity in Africa stems from the Lumumba assassination apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA…
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In the 80s the CIA supported Chad's dictator Hissene Habre, "Africa's Pinochet." Chad remains the world's 7th poorest country in the world bbc.com/news/world-afr…
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Idriss Deby, who deposed Habre in 1990 and became an authoritarian in his own right, ruled till 2021 & was part of Habre's military. He made a name for himself fighting pro-Libyan forces with the CIA's backing. We see the long ripple effects of CIA support, even after it ends.
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Why haven't African countries nationalized their resources and built up their manufacturing and tech sectors so they could reverse the export-import pattern of the colonial era? The West made sure that didn't happen.
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29 US military bases in Africa theintercept.com/2020/02/27/afr…
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China just completed their first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017 foreignpolicy.com/2022/08/16/chi…
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Huge database of Chinese loans to Africa. The majority of these are non-concessional, low interest loans from China's two main state banks, Exim Bank and Chinese Development Bank. These banks are handling their Belt & Road Initiative bu.edu/gdp/chinese-lo…
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Chinese "debt trap diplomacy" is Western propaganda. h/t @__jumpi__ therealnews.com/why-chinese-de…
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@__jumpi__ More on Chinese lending from Deborah Brautigam: "China" has 30 separate lenders; while they usually do collect on their debt, they also restructure and relieve debt; they do not seize assets in lieu of debt thediplomat.com/2020/04/chines…
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@__jumpi__ Yes, one of the mine owners named in this anti-slavery lawsuit is a Chinese firm. But all of this cobalt is heing purchased by Dell, Google, Tesla, and Apple theguardian.com/global-develop…
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Huayou Cobalt is one of China’s top 500 private companies huayou.com/en/about/leade…
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This supply chain is controlled by US firms and their business models. The transition to renewables just will never be done ethically when there are shareholders, investors, and the private ownership of surplus value
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So America spends most of the 20th century destroying Congo’s attempts to modernize their economy; Silicon Valley has a business model that relies on child slavery; and Americans point to the DRC and say “Look at what China is doing”
