“It’s a myth that no Africans get to work on these projects…. The reason the Chinese go there is because of cheap labor, since labor costs in China itself are rising."
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/chinas-investments-in-africa-whats-the-real-story/
I get the impression that the third world is on the brink of exploding growth to an extent that would be unimaginable in the U.S. these days. For them, the time has come, and they see no reason to hold back. The investment capital is available. For us, the time is as right as ever, but we have developed an undercurrent of a perceived need to hold back as though growth is very dangerous and must be carefully restrained.
Be interesting to see what happens the first time one of the countries decides to "Nationalize" (aka steal) some of the infrastructure the Chinese paid for.
Bingo.
BaltACD My observation of the European colonization of Africa is that it was done to keep the local inhabitants clueless to the enconomic theft the Europeans were 'stealing' the mineral resources of the African continent. I wonder if the Chinese interest in Africa will parallell the European or go beyond it and actually improve the lives of the Africans?
My observation of the European colonization of Africa is that it was done to keep the local inhabitants clueless to the enconomic theft the Europeans were 'stealing' the mineral resources of the African continent.
I wonder if the Chinese interest in Africa will parallell the European or go beyond it and actually improve the lives of the Africans?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyiUCra6rxo every thing you need to know about the Chinese Railways and plans for World Domination.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
CandOforprogress2 Firelock76 I look at it this way, if the Chinese are willing to take a chance on Africa's political instability, corruption, ancient hatreds, and God knows what else, who are we to say they shouldn't? I won't say best of luck to 'em, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out. Yes The United States has had experiance with creating Liberia and failed attempts at Africa Colonsization
Firelock76 I look at it this way, if the Chinese are willing to take a chance on Africa's political instability, corruption, ancient hatreds, and God knows what else, who are we to say they shouldn't? I won't say best of luck to 'em, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
I look at it this way, if the Chinese are willing to take a chance on Africa's political instability, corruption, ancient hatreds, and God knows what else, who are we to say they shouldn't?
I won't say best of luck to 'em, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Yes The United States has had experiance with creating Liberia and failed attempts at Africa Colonsization
Well, Liberia was more an example of repatriation than colonization. The whys, wherefores, and how it turned out in the end anyone can look up if they choose, it's beyond the scope of this discussion.
http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/histoire.php
https://archive.org/stream/abyssiniaethiop00gilmgoog#page/n7/mode/2up
rrnut282 The chinese can afford to take a long view with their investments. Eventually those miners will be locals and make enough to buy imported chinese-manufactured goods. A rail network, as opposed to a single one-way route will allow those chinese goods to flow in efficiently (and cheaply) thereby benefitting the Chinese again.
The chinese can afford to take a long view with their investments. Eventually those miners will be locals and make enough to buy imported chinese-manufactured goods. A rail network, as opposed to a single one-way route will allow those chinese goods to flow in efficiently (and cheaply) thereby benefitting the Chinese again.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
rrnut282The Chinese can afford to take a long view with their investments.
I was thinking along the same lines. The ability to ship between various points may become valuable, nevermind bringing finished goods inland.
A route across the continent might allow the kind of land bridge US railways run with some containers.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
What would Cecil Rhodes say?
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/10/06/with-his-railroad-cecil-rhodes-pushed-to-make-cape-to-cairo-a-reality-for-great-britain/
Why would it be important to build an interconnecting railroad system? Wouldn’t most of the freight be raw natural resources shipped from mine to the nearest port facility for export?
I don't see any problem with this as the whole world is going to benefit from it. For one if they build a decent coast to coast rail network it lessens the strategic importance of South Africa on the horn. Which is good as South Africa ain't doing so well in the Democracy area of late. The markets China is developing and opening are not exclusively China's they are open to the entire world to compete for. China is benefiting via goodwill as well as somewhat financially the railway equipment and steel, etc is probably comming from China. They are building to STANDARD GAUGE standards as they build the network as well instead of keeping each country's gauge. So that is good too.
As I understand it, the Chinese are building oil fields on the west coast of South America (or Africa, not sure which) and they are closed camps using only Chinese labour, or labour that they bring from the Phillipines who will work for almsot nothing like they do in the Emirates and so forth. Not bring the locals jobs, just there to exploit the same as the westerners did 200 years ago.
It is important to note that the work is probably not being done with local labor.
Yes and the benefits will be profound and far reaching for them. Smart play with the nation building via railroads and mining. The next generation big big wave of immigration will be from Africa...while our 2 countries continue on their path of debt, political gridlock, moral decline with a docile empty headed super dumbed down population.
The Eloi ....and the Morlocks.
Maybe that is a bit dark but Wells was a lot smarter than me.
Can't go wrong building railroads and extracting resources.
It's my impression that the Chinese "Communists" expect to turn a profit on their investments. And that they don't do it because it is "nice".
If I was a Mr. Big in a small country, and the Chinese wanted to invest, I think I'd have my lawyers read the contract REAL well. And then maybe go in. If they make a profit, and "we" make a profit (in the narrow and also wide sense), I'd be in.
Ed
It galls me to say this, but it was a good idea when the Chinese were doing this in the '70s and it still is today. None of the Western powers are stepping up to the plate to build these critical pieces of infrastructure, and all the ones I've seen described are not 'financed' against future earnings with a threat of imperialist occupation if the notes are somehow not met.
Of course it galls me further to see the Chinese getting the advantage of cheaper raw materials from these African nations, and I chuckle a bit at how well the 'production surplus' from the miners' labor and so forth is accounted for in Chinese doctrine. But THEY were the ones who actually built the enabling technology, so why shouldn't they receive any exordinate amount of profit or advantage from it?
The Chinese have become the expanding capitalists of the 3rd world.
The Chi-Coms are muscling in in Africa building new railways and establishing a miltary presence filling a power vacume left by the west and russia. When the average man on the street income in many of these countrys is less the 1000.00 USD a year one wonders how will these trains pay for themselves. China is calling its project "One belt One Road Initiative" to establish transport and trade domination over the Indian Ocean and every landmass that touches it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=20&v=8LTTgQdbO9Y
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3163444e786b7a6333566d54/share_p.html
So there is some concern that China from middle east media aka Aljezzera is milking it like a cow- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSzqVYomZ9I
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