China in Africa

It's not unusual to see people decrying the move of Chinese investment into Africa. Some on almost impreial grounds, that they shouldn't be investing where we want to or used to. Others on the basis that it's state directed, or they're buying up influence.

It'ws refreshing to see someone putting the case the other way around. Far from Chinese investment in Africa being a bad thing, it's a great deal better than the usual sort of western aid, at least in this view.

This is because Chinese investment tends to be about actually doing something. Drilling for oil, processing soya or shellfish, building roads. You know , creating actual products that employ people or building the infrastructure that allows others to do so.

As opposed, say, to having a conference on the importance of gender equality in development funding.

I'm not sure I entirely buy the idea but as I say, it is refreshing to see someone taking this contrary view:

...what makes the Chinese adventure in Africa unique is the fact that is mostly commercial (the Chinese precept of not mixing business with politics), leading to “large and largely untied development finance for Africa (in contrast to the present conditional OECD flows) which impacts directly and positively on living standards.”