The paper is based on the theme of an article that emphasizes on China's role in Africa. We first learn about the contents of the article and then state the status quo of the collaboration between the country and the continent. After description, we will go through a critical thinking section that will make us think deeper about the situation. Indeed, we will take into account many parameters and consider the environment implicated and concerned about the partnership. The objective of the paper is to think about the ethical grounds that could be infringed and see how we could close the ethical gaps between the intentions, the actions and the results of the Sino-African partnership.
The article presents a book that describes China's activity in the African continent, its economical and ethical rise in Africa. The Sino-African partnership is well established and already very profitable for both the continent and the Asian country. Africa is given modern infrastructures and labor force in exchange to its natural resources. The book presents pros and cons, healthy partnerships but also flaws of its business relations.
After two years of observation in 12 different African countries, the two Francophile authors wrote a realistic status quo of what is going on so far in the western world. They are also warning about the key advantage China has. Indeed, China and Africa don't have the same objectives in the partnership. The Asian country is denounced to use Africa in order to move towards a greater scale; their ambition is not necessarily to stick with the Africans.
"It is indeed difficult to prevent some new situations and new problems from emerging in the course in which Sino-African cooperation is developing at high speed. However, when compared to the general interests of the Sino-African cooperation, these issues are merely problems during the progress and development. They can be completely solved through friendly consultation and deepened cooperation" (Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China ).
China has a huge human resource that is demanding for work and power. Chinese are ambitious people who don't sit idly in their homes. One person out of five in the world is Chinese so they need much more resources than the ones they have in their territory.
China is interested in the raw materials that are present in the continent: mainly oil but also copper, timber, natural gas, zinc cobalt, iron, etc. Reciprocally, Africa also finds China appealing for a variety of reasons. A bilateral relation with China "provides an alternative to development and political economic reforms espoused by "the West" , the experience in economic development can be exported, and China's growing demand for natural resources make it complementary to African demand (D. Thompson, 2005).
For the Chinese, Africa is the future
China's economical reforms make it easier for entrepreneurs and opportunists to invest in foreign markets. Consequently in 2008, Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for more than 1 million Chinese people.
[...] Are interpretations of the value of the actions conducted in the Third World continent by the Chinese, similar for Chinese and Africans? Do Africans really care about all this stuff and material aspects that Chinese crave for? Are Westerners not empathetic enough to understand the way Chinese are helping? Can we evaluate the quantity and quality of performing ethical actions? There are international organizations that are present on the “Chinafrica” site, but they are not allowed to control the business China coducts in Africa. [...]
[...] Financial systems: China lends 10 billion dollars to reinforce the financial system, invest in small African companies, and they annul all the debts Africa owes to China Commercial trade: 60% of the African products are not subjected to tax when imported to China. Agricultural transfer of knowledge and creation of 20 agricultural centers to demonstrate new technological ways for agriculture was also done. Health: 3000 African doctors and nurses. Human Resources: Construction of 50 Sino-African schools and training of 20,000 African teachers. [...]
[...] Beijing has its fingers crossed in regard to relations within and between the African countries staying peaceful. The best way to prevent conflicts is to influence relations positively. China's action in the Somalian pirate combat is not necessarily driven solely by the fact of sharing the savior status: being a donor, an actor of the economical growth and a loyal partner is not only good for pride and helping Africa but also for securing China's crucial imports of natural resources. [...]
[...] Marafa, Africa's Business and Development Relationship with China : Seeking Moral and Capital Values of the Last Economic Frontier African Economic Conference, Website PDF November 2007, http://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Knowledge/25040356-FR- CHINA-AFRICA-AFRICAN-ECONOMIC-CONFERENCE2007-MARAFAL.PDF, accessed on 1st November 2010. Canby, Hewitt, Bailey, Katsigris, Xiufang (2007), “Forest Products trade between china & Africa”, website, Illegal Logging http://www.illegal- logging.info/uploads/2_ChinaAfricaTrade.pdf, accessed on 31st October 2010 ARTICLE WEBSITE: Angilee Shah (2010), How does China Help Africa? The China Beat, article, March 11th 2010, http://www.thechinabeat.org/?p= accessed on 20/11/2010 Fiona Dwinger (2010), “Combating Climate change: China's contribution to the expansion of Africa's renewable energy sector”, Consultancy Africa Intelligence, web article, 16th July 2010, http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i d=479:combating-climate-change-chinas-contribution-to-the-expansion-of- africas-renewable-energy-sector&catid=58:asia-dimension-discussion- papers&Itemid=264, accessed on 31st October 2010. [...]
[...] This means the involvement should not profit only China's image but the overall world. Indeed, China is expected to respond to natural disasters, conflicts around the world, and international relations by participating in world politics too.[21] If China wants to be credible, it will need to prove that the Sino-African relationship income has real ethical intents. Reporters have admitted that there are efforts to minimize and ban the ethical infringements. China seems to be working in the rightdirection; the direction International Organizations require. BIBLIOGRAPHY IN-CLASS MATERIAL: Lindsay J. [...]
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