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China pledges another US$60b to Africa as leaders meet in Beijing(scmp.com)

17 points16 points19 points submitted by useless_aether
all 10 comments

exPFCwintergreen 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

Am now reading a book by Paul Theroux who has lived in and travelled widely in Africa. According to him all the aid to Africa should stop since it creates even more problems for the continent and only serves to buy more Mercedes Benzes for a lucky few. He lived in Malawi in the late sixties, and says conditions are much worse now. Of course the Chinese have their own reasons and are not necessarily concerned with what is best for the people.

useless_aether[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

yes. and even what little aid trickles down through the fingers of the local warlords will just instill learned helplessness. statism needs masses depending on government handouts. in no case can we allow independent people. get em hooked!

magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

I find China's relationship with Africa just fascinating. It's like some sort of neo-imperialism that is entirely economic instead of military. It's actually probably the best way to go about being imperialistic, in certain ways. Definitely more humane than what western countries did to Africa.

useless_aether[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

it might be deceptive. its, the initial, baiting period. afaik, china just opened a military base in djibouti. i think more will follow as their economic interests will inevitably demand it. i dont think imperialism/colonialism can do without military force in a real world. they are trying hard to maintain a nice internatonal image, but if you look at their policies in china, the situation is not so rosy. which one is chinas true face? i always think its the ugly one. niceness is mostly a facade in politics.

magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

Yeah imperialism is never pretty, and Mao said "political power comes from the barrel of a gun". I didn't know about the military bases, but I'm not surprised.

Still, it's good that they might actually improve the economy there. Kind of like the US did with Japan and Taiwan. They improved their economies so much that they wouldn't consider partnering with China. It's part of the "china containment strategy" in the pacific.

I guess China is doing a similar approach in Africa. I heard Namibia and Angola (far SW africa) have a lot of Chinese people there now. The Chinese government will apparently give your family a stipend if you move from China to Africa. So they're plainly encouraging this sort of "economic takeover" situation. Of course there will be some military aspects to it, but I'd much prefer an economic takeover than a military one, no question there.

I feel like the world has almost reached a stage where military takeovers undergo so much scrutiny and are so heavily shamed, that the only "respectable" way to have an empire anymore is through economics takeovers. But this is a game with diminishing returns, like nintendo selling their consoles at a loss. If there aren't enough other perks to offset it, then they cannot continue because they'll run out of money. So they invest in mines and stuff and try to create new economies.

useless_aether[S] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

i am sure exporting communist ideology plays a big part in it too. that part of africa always had a huge influence from the soviets and cuba and now china. we see whats going on in south africa.

magnora7 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun 5 years ago

exporting communist ideology

Is China even communist anymore though really? It's more like capitalism with a one-party government at this point. Although I guess they might still be exporting the old communist propaganda?