STORY SUMMARY
DAILY STAR, LEBANON
This debate is particularly animated with respect to Chinese investment in Africa – a continent with a long history of political, economic and commercial exploitation by foreign powers.
The so-called “neocolonialist school,” popular among China skeptics, considers China’s economic relationship with Africa as essentially imperial.
China supports almost all Sub-Saharan African states (except those that do not accept China’s “One China” policy and continue, for example, to recognize Taiwan as an independent country).
China’s manufacturing investments, however, are often located in industrial parks or special economic zones. Such arrangements protect the investor from an unstable business environment, but they can also cut investors off from indigenous businesses; and when SEZs offer investors special tax breaks, the country is deprived of potential revenues.
Research on the impact of Chinese investment in Africa’s SEZs suggests that ties to local enterprises have been numerous and positive, and that they contribute to broader industrialization of the host economy.
Overall, there is little hard evidence to support a malign view of China’s investments in Africa.
African governments could match China’s “Africa policy” with their own “China policy”.
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)