China in Africa: Why there is no need for alarm

It is almost natural for people to react with suspicion when Chinese come to a place. Africa, America,
Europe this follows years of pervasive western media reporting on China as ‘those guys.’

The current Afro-Sino relations that have picked up momentum since the end of the 80s are causing
so much tongue wagging both in Africa and in the West and some of it for good reasons, yes it is true
that some Chinese businessmen are corrupt, disregard environmental, safety and national standards
and re fueling corruption and poaching. Yes, that is true and must cause genuine worry.

But that should not cloud the bigger picture, the fact that there is so much to be won in having
stronger links between the two. Do you really think there is a committee in in the Chinese
Communist Party responsible for importing elephant Ivory?

There are also a few factors to celebrate from the African side. China is bereft of natural resources
and this hunger comes at a time when its economy needs raw materials the most. We are in luck as
Africans, because we major in raw material production. We do not have the capacity to process stuff
yet, so we sell things raw: Timber, cotton, tobacco, crude oil, fish, cocoa, you name it, we can find it
here on the motherland.

Is it a sustainable model? No, we obviously need to do more, but while we are looking for more, raw
materials will grease our budgets and economies, as they did ever since men could trade.

For China, this is gold, Africans do not have the capacity to sell processed materials, so they will likely
sell them cheap.