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Chinese takeover? I'm not losing any sleep
Posted Monday, March 15 2010 at 00:00
However, China puts its best forward in the liberal-autocratic developmental states.
Most of these countries are in this neighbourhood — for example, Ethiopia and Sudan.
These countries have lousy Chinese-style human-rights records and censorship.
But they are also, relatively, among the less corrupt and have been quietly undergoing near-dramatic state-led economic transformation.
Ethiopia last year surpassed Kenya as the country with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) in the region.
In Sudan, a mini Dubai is emerging along the Nile in Khartoum.
In 10 years, these liberal autocracies could well be Africa’s most prosperous states, with the continent’s most advanced infrastructure.
That is the legacy China will be associated with, and no one will remember that along the way, its unflinching diplomatic support enabled Khartoum to get away with the slaughter of hundreds of thousands in Darfur.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group’s executive editor for Africa & Digital Media. E-mail: cobbo@nation.co.ke.
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We are supposed to talk about how we can improve the our share of benefits from the Chinese presence. Any business conducted with Chinese whether its oil or commodities need to be fully vetted for its benefits to our country Or else the being misused by corporations will rise.
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