“China investment in Africa not a threat”

“China investment in Africa not a threat” Story: George Ernest Asare & Benjamin Glover, Beijing. Courtesy, China Ministry of Commerce AS part of her foreign policies of deepening bilateral relations with foreign partners, China is desirous of investing massively in infrastructure mostly in Africa to accelerate socio-economic development. The Deputy Director General, Department of Foreign Exchange and Cooperation of the General Administration of Press and Publication in China, Mr. Chen Ying Ming, who announced this during an interaction with participants attending a seminar on press and publication in developing countries, said both the Chinese government and the business community are desirous of supporting accelerated growth in Africa through infrastructure development. Explaining, he said already the western countries have taken the lead in investing in the oil industry in Africa and the Middle East, hence the need for China to embark on infrastructural development in Africa to sustain the interest she has with her developing partners. Debunking the perception that China’s socio-economic development is a threat to Africa, Mr. Ying Ming said, the development of China should rather be seen as a benefit to the continent and the rest of the world. Explaining further, he said, “Investing in infrastructure in Africa is a win-win situation because, while we sustain in Africa, we speed up development in countries where we have invested”. The seminar on news and publication in developing countries was organized by the Training Centre of the State Council of Information of China, (SCIO), and sponsored by China’s Ministry of Commerce and the State Council Information Office of China. Thirty-seven journalists and Information Officers from Africa, including Ghana, Asia and Eastern Europe attended the three week seminar, which was aimed at exposing the participants for them to appreciate the level of cooperation between China and other developing countries in terms of trade and international cooperation. On the seminar, he said it is a challenge for China to expose participants to the culture and the socio-economic development of China for them to appreciate her level of development. He therefore urged them to educate the citizenry in their respective countries on the culture and the socio-economic development of China, as a way of developing the relationships among those countries. For his part, Professor Sun Qi Ming of the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunication, said in spite of the level of development of China, the Chinese citizenry regard China as a developing country, saying, the gap between the urban and rural communities as well as the rich and poor is very huge. He said China is growing very rapidly, but has to learn from other developing countries, hence the need to sustain the bilateral relations between China and all her developing partners. Prof. Sun said as part of the initiative, the Chinese government is desirous of reducing high energy consumption and export of products which it has pursued for the last 30 years to enhancing local consumption and transformed industries to be more environmentally friendly. He said like developing countries, China has a challenge in mechanised farming especially in the rural communities and therefore noted that the government was keen in introducing mechanised farming as a way of boosting production. Dr. Yao Jun Mei, a research fellow on human rights, expressed concern about the misunderstanding that the western world has on human rights issues in China, especially the family planning policy. She said but for the introduction of such a policy, the population of China will have hit 1.8 billion instead of the current figure of 1.2 billion. “We will have been about 600 million more people, who will have been equal to four countries put together and feeding and creating job for such people will have been a major challenge to the Chinese government”, she said. Dr. Jun Mei said as part of the one child policy, no matter how wealthy and intellectual proficient an individual is, there is the need to abide by the policy to sustain the development and growth of the country. She said apart from the family planning issues, the government has proper legal system and legal frameworks that protect the citizenry from any form of abuse. -End- Monday, April 16, 2012