I read this on a plane ride to and back from Guangzhou, having spent my weekend there and catching a performance by Hong Kong stand-up comedian Dayo Wong Tze Wah. China Safari is written by two French-speaking journalists who took a twelve-country tour through the African continent documenting evidence, through interviews, visits and some sneaking-around, of Chinese investment activities (state- and entreprenuer-driven) and military and political involvement in Africa. China is now Africa's second biggest trade partner after the US and a major infrastructure developer across the continent from Sudan to Angola, building resource extraction-related apparatus like hydro-electric dams and railroads. But it is obvious the Chinese are in it for their core interest of resource security and the West's obsession with human rights and democracy has allowed the Chinese gallop ahead and seize opportunities to forge links with African countries and secure concessions from oil drilling to mining and lumbering, throwing up vast profits for both brave entreprenuers and state-owned entities. While the IMF and other US-led organizations are demanding political change in return for foreign aid, the Chinese just dump exorbitant amounts of cash (after all they have US$1.4 trillion at their disposal and who needs taxpayers' permission anyway) on the political leadership interest-free. China's scant regard for human rights and self-proclaimed "non-interference" with domestic politics have also helped endeared them to the African dictators, who are buying Chinese armament and cheap manufactured products in equally copious amounts. China is not just investing money in political leaders and infrastructure projects; they are also investing with their labour (if packing 10,000 Chinese labourers in a ship off to Africa to build a dam at a wage rate of US$500 a month can be called an "investment"), something the "developed" Western countries can no longer do. "God Bless the Chinese," one senior American diplomat in (Congo) Brazzaville says bluntly. "They build roads and dams, and quite frankly we don’t have what it takes to do those things anymore. All we can do is give English classes and try to sell our technology."
The on-the-ground style of reporting is straight-forward and perhaps the best way to deal with such a complex subject. Insight is also shed on the ordinary Africans' reaction to an increasing Chinese presence and the social implications. A quick and fairly comprehensive introduction to what China is doing in Africa.
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