China Looking to Secure Access to Africa Via Mega Infrastructure Projects

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.

China reportedly just bought 5% of Ukraine (but the Ukrainian partner denies it)

Update (9:21 a.m. ET): Ukraine’s KSG Agro released a statement today, Sept. 24, denying reports that it had reached an agreement to sell 3 million hectares to a Chinese firm. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post had reported a deal between KSG Agro and China’s Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, (XPCC) in which China would be able to farm the area for up to 50 years. The paper cited a statement from XPCC as the source of its report. Quartz and other media also reported on the story.

In its statement, the Warsaw-listed agricultural firm said that it is only working with its Chinese partners on a project to install drip-irrigation systems over an area of 3,000 hectares in Ukraine next year. “KSG Agro does not intend or have any right to sell land to foreigners, including the Chinese,” the statement posted on their website said. China’s XPCC could not be immediately reached for comment.

Original (September 23): China has inked a deal to farm three million hectares (paywall), or about 11, 583 square miles of Ukrainian land over the span of half a century—which means the eastern European country will give up about 5% of its total land, or 9% of its arable farmland to feed China’s burgeoning population.