Rulers in Africa are either very desperate, ruthless or very blind to what China has created on their continent. Either way, China is swiping away any resource opportunities away in the continent from the United States.
MOSCOW, February 2 (Sputnik) — The African Union and China have recently agreed to on an ambitious transport infrastructure blueprint, aiming to link the capitals of all 54 states of the African continent via motorways, rail and air links. Promoting the development of a mature system of transport infrastructure in Africa will be extremely beneficial to China, guaranteeing it access to natural resources and markets on the continent, Chatham House Asia Program Associate Fellow James Edward Hoare told Sputnik on Monday.
“In the past, Chinese interest in Africa was strongly ideological, part of the competition with the USSR for world-wide influence. It also tended to support ‘freedom fighters’ against Western imperialism. Those days have long gone and China’s main interest in the region now is resources and access to them. Cultivating African leaders and building up the transport infrastructure is a good way of guaranteeing access to resources,” Mr. Hoare explains.
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The AU-China Memorandum of Understanding signed in Addis Abeda by AU Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Chinese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Ming ahead of this past weekend’s AU Summit is drawn up in very general terms. The program calls on Africa to mobilize its massive resources to help to implement the ambitious project. Over time, more specified plans are expected to be drawn up on the creation of new multilane highways, high-speed rail, ports, underwater communications infrastructure, hydropower and industrial projects with the assistance of Chinese contractors.
..Over the past decade-and-a-half, China has completed 1,046 projects in Africa, including over 2,200 km of railways and over 3,500 km of highways.
Full article: China Looking to Secure Access to Africa Via Mega Infrastructure Projects (Sputnik News)
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