African leader praised China’s way of making business and criticizes West

Monday, October 12th 2009 - 06:56 UTC

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Rwandan President Paul Kagame has praised the way China does business in Africa, criticising the West for basing relations with the continent on aid. Huge Chinese investment in African companies and infrastructure is helping Africa develop, Mr Kagame said. Read full article

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Chrys Thorsen
As an American living in Africa, I totally agree that the West has made a serious mistake in only bringing aid, and not infrastructure development, to the continent. On the other hand, I'm not so wild about some of the “investments” made here. In Zambia, foreigners bring business, but also take all the money home with them. Money is bleeding out of this country. So much for “investment”-- it provides perhaps a few low-paying jobs, but not much else for society at large.
Oct 12th, 2009 - 03:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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BrianT
He's right though, in that far too much “aid” has gone to despots who've merely padded their own Swiss bank accounts with the money.

He's also right that free-trade, rather than the WTO-managed-trade the World suffers under now would be the greatest gift the world could give to Africa.

Lastly, the Chinese know *exactly* what they are doing. They have spent much of the last decade, or two, locking-up natural resources for their own burgeoning economy. They're locking-in sources of critical commodities while the West sleeps. The manner in which they operate is Asian to the core, where business is based on relationships. But it's a major mistake not to have studied and understood Sun Tzu before making any deals.
Oct 14th, 2009 - 07:34 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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