China

Question 1

How much has trade between china and Africa increased by

Answer 1

• Trade between china and Africa is increasing by 19% each year
• over 5 years the trade has grown 40%

Question 2

Neocolonialism definition

Answer 2

The use of economic, political, cultural or other pressures to control or influence other countries, especially former dependencies

Question 3

Evidence to support the statement “chinas relationship with after a is a new form of neocolonialism”

Answer 3

• like European and US factory owners who moved their factories to china, Chinese firms are now outsourcing manufacturing to cheaper countries
• Chinese executives opened fire on workers protesting poor pay at the collum coal mine in Zambia. Additionally in 2011, human rights watch reported that Zambian workers were being mistreated in Chinese owned copper mines; claims were made of unsafe working conditions, exploitive hours, and threats to those who complained
• infrastructure programmes organised by the Chinese government are often carried out by Chinese workers
• the china - Africa bilateral trade patterns involving mainly raw materials leaving Africa and finished goods coming back -> therefore this may prevent Africa from diversifying towards more industrial economies
• Gau Hau, a career railway adviser for the state owned china railway construction corporation limited (CRCC) says: “if China was to keep up sustainable development for many years, china has to secure a supply a supply of natural resources and minerals to feed industries

Question 4

Evidence against the statement “china’s relationship with Africa is a new form of neocolonialism”

Answer 4

• in 2015, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi insisted “china will not sacrifice Africa’s ecological environment and long-term interests”
• Chinese funded infrastructure programmes have created roads, railways, schools, and hospitals
• during the Ebola crisis in Western Africa, china was applauded; china’s assistance was the first to reach the three worst affected counties in west Africa - Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and they provided $120 million of medical aid as well as more than 1200 medical personnel
• over half of chinas foreign aid is distributed in Africa
• in Angola, Chinese construction firms have built an entire city (nova cidade de kilamba) that still stands empty
• 40% of Chinese loans since the year 2000 have paid for power generation and transmission. Another 30% went to modernising Africas crumbling transport infrastructure
• in 2014 alone, china invested £56bn in African infrastructure