China to s(t)eal $9bn DR Congo deal
(by John C Dvorak at http://www.dvorak.org/blog)
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Newsnight | China to seal $9bn DR Congo deal –This is one of those China-Africa deals I’ve been harping about on the weekly No Agenda podcast. If you read between the lines you can see how the Chinese are operating in Africa.
Due to be signed in Beijing in the next few days, it gives DR Congo $6bn of desperately needed infrastructure – about 2,400 miles of road, 2,000 miles of railway, 32 hospitals, 145 health centres and two universities.
In return, China gets a slice of DR Congos precious natural resources to feed its booming industries – 10m tonnes of copper and 400,000 tonnes of cobalt.
Its a barter deal – what the Chinese side loves to call “win-win”. Not aid with strings attached, like Western powers have given DR Congo over the years, but pure business.
Any bets that they get started on the mining before the 32 hospitals?
Here is the kicker paragraph late in the article:
A copy of the original DR Congolese-Chinese memorandum of understanding obtained by Newsnight appears to exonerate the Chinese side from all taxes and customs duties until the promised building work is completed.
So the Chinese flood the local economy with everything from spatulas to food to computers paying no duties. This goes into the local economy and drives competition out of business. They keep this up forever because there is no timetable in these deals and the building work is never completed so the Chinese get this sweet deal forever as they stall on the projects while raping the mines. Slick. This was explained to me two years ago yet nobody does anything about it. Oh, and in the process, the Chinese colonize the area since they have to bring in their own workers. Everyone will wonder what is wrong with Africa when someone gets a clue and the populace goes on a rampage and butchers all the colonists some years from now. Unless, of course, the Chinese bail out by then leaving half-finished projects and the country in a shambles with no resources left. They can then blame the Western powers for somehow meddling. Somehow the USA will get blamed. Smooth.
1 comment
Comment by nuria
nuria May 5, 2008 at 9:18 am
This is terrible. How can such a thing happen in the face of the international community with no reaction from other economic powers??