• briefing asia infrastructure aug 15, 2006 • briefing asia energy aug 15, 2006

China has spent billions of dollars securing drilling rights in Nigeria, Sudan and Angola, and has exploration or extraction deals with Chad, Gabon, Mauritania, Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia.
The Chinese also have become investors in the booming copper industry in Zambia and Congo.
They have been major buyers of timber in Gabon, Cameroon, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia. Chinese companies were widely criticized for keeping former president and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor flush with cash and prolonging Liberia's devastating civil war.
The Chinese influx does benefit African economies. The Chinese also have helped push up the prices of African exports such as oil, copper, platinum, iron and coal.
China has been a significant supplier of jet fighters, military vehicles and guns to Zimbabwe, Sudan and other repressive governments.
"Wherever there are resources, the Chinese are going to go there," said Peter Takirambudde, head of the Africa division for Human Rights Watch. "They see no evil. They hear no evil. That's very bad for Africans."
GRAPH: CHINA'S CLOUT IN AFRICA
Document HOU0000020060616e26f00075

Country Signs Mining And Power Deals With China
by Dumisani Muleya With Bloomberg

546 words

15 June 2006

07:58 AM

All Africa

AFNWS

English

(c) 2006 AllAfrica, All Rights Reserved
Johannesburg, Jun 15, 2006 (Business Day/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
STATE-owned Zimbabwean businesses signed a raft of energy, mining and farming deals worth billions of dollars with Chinese companies, Zimbabwean Vice-President Joyce Mujuru announced this week.
The agreements highlight Zimbabwe's dogged campaign to lure Chinese investors under its Look East investment policy, to replace western capital which has been withdrawn or reduced due to the political and economic crisis.
The largest deal announced was with China Machine-Building International Corporation. The company signed a $1,3bn agreement to mine coal and build thermal-power generators in Zimbabwe.
Designed to reduce Zimbabwe's electricity shortage, the deal was signed by representatives of Ele Resources, a local mining company.
A memorandum of understanding signed by the parties aims to set up a joint-venture coal mine in Dande in the Zambezi Valley and two power plants in the area.
The Chinese firm has built thermal-power stations in Nigeria and Sudan, and has been involved in mining projects in Gabon.
Xie Biao, president of the Chinese corporation, said his firm would help Zimbabwe to recover from its energy crunch.
"We believe we can play a great role in the power sector in Zimbabwe," he said.
Mujuru, who was in China last week on a working visit with government ministers, said that power shortages were hurting the country's economy.
A further deal between the Zimbabwe Mining Development and China's Star Communications will see the groups forming a joint venture to mine chrome, with funding from the China Development Bank.
The country will also import road-building, irrigation and farming equipment from the China National Construction and Agricultural Machinery Import and Export Corporation and China Poly Group.
Zimbabwe relies on China for imports of telecommunications equipment, military hardware and many other critical items it can no longer import from the west.
Wankie Colliery, the JSE-listed company located near Hwange, also signed an agreement with the Chinese company to establish a coal mine and a power station in Zimbabwe.
During her official tour, Mujuru visited China National Aerotechnology Import and Export Corporation headquarters for talks with senior executives of the group.
The company has been supplying Zimbabwe with passenger and military planes, scanning machines and electricity transmission equipment.
Several delegations of Chinese officials and businessmen have made forays to Harare to set up ties. Zimbabwe's police have a dedicated "China desk" to protect Chinese interests in the country.
Mujuru said Harare would continue to use its mineral resources to attract investors from China, as well as from other parts of the world.
The crisis-ridden country has of late been mortgaging its minerals for credit from foreign banks to pay for critical imports.
Zimbabwe has a wide variety of precious minerals including platinum, gold, coal, nickel and diamonds. It also has unverified quantities of uranium.
Two weeks ago, the country signed a revolving $50m deal with a French bank to import fuel. Bindura Nickel Corporation used its mineral resources as a guarantee.
Nyasha Makuvise, the CEO of Zimbabwe's Absa-controlled Jewel Bank, said coal mining and power projects were needed urgently to deal with the continuing power outages.
Document AFNWS00020060615e26f000h0

Economy & Politics

In Africa, China brings growth and unease --- Its hunt for markets, raw materials fuels concerns for future

By Craig Timberg The Washington Post

1,237 words

14 June 2006

The Wall Street Journal Asia

AWSJ

8

English

(c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. To see the edition in which this article appeared, click here http://awsj.com.hk/factiva-ns
Johannesburg -- EVERY TIME NEWSPAPER publisher Trevor Ncube visits his native Zimbabwe, he said, there seem to be more Chinese. He sees them shopping at boutiques, driving fancy cars, picking up their children from elite private schools.
As in much of Africa, Mr. Ncube said, China's reach into Zimbabwe's economy is equally pervasive: The roads are filled with Chinese buses, the markets with Chinese goods and Chinese-made planes are in the skies. Chinese companies are major investors in mining and telecommunications. The government in Beijing, meanwhile, is a crucial backer of Zimbabwe's authoritarian president, Robert Mugabe.
"They are all over the place," said Mr. Ncube, 43, who owns newspapers in Zimbabwe and South Africa. "If the British were our masters yesterday, the Chinese have come and taken their place."
Such unease appears to be rising across Africa as Chinese become powerful players -- and, in some places, the dominant ones -- in economies across the continent. In a pattern replicated across the world, China's voracious appetite for raw materials is helping push sub-Saharan economies to their fastest growth in three decades, and inexpensive Chinese-made products are suddenly available across the continent. Yet many Africans say the influx, while offering consumers more affordable goods, hasn't improved their economic situation and has hurt local companies.
African and Western activists say China's increasingly close ties to the troubled governments in Angola, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe are undermining efforts to nurture democracy and improve human rights.
When Chinese President Hu Jintao toured Africa in April, he implicitly responded to concerns about his country's growing role on the continent. "China's development will not bring a threat to anyone but, instead, will only bring more opportunities and space for development to the world," Mr. Hu told the Nigerian National Assembly, according to news reports.
He also reiterated China's policy of making business deals without any expectation that governments will improve democracy, respect human rights or fight corruption. He told reporters in Nairobi, the last stop of his tour, that China follows "a policy of noninterference in other countries' internal affairs."
China's overall trade with Africa rose to $40 billion last year from $10.6 billion in 2000 and continues to increase, according to Chinese government statistics. Sub-Saharan Africa's economic-growth rate, meanwhile, has nearly doubled over the same period, to an estimated 5.8% this year, the best since 1974, from 3%, according to the International Monetary Fund. Among the major factors, analysts and economists say, is the increasing trade with China.
China has spent billions of dollars securing drilling rights in Nigeria, Sudan and Angola, and has exploration or extraction deals with Chad, Gabon, Mauritania, Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia.
The Chinese also have become investors in the booming copper industry in Zambia and Congo. They have been major buyers of timber in Gabon, Cameroon, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia. Chinese companies were widely criticized for keeping former president and war-crimes suspect Charles Taylor flush with cash and prolonging Liberia's devastating civil war. The Chinese also have helped push up the prices of other African exports such as platinum, iron and coal.
Across Africa, meanwhile, Chinese companies have outbid other foreign businesses on construction projects, winning contracts to pave highways, build hydroelectric dams, upgrade ports, lay railway tracks and build pipelines -- all of which stand to help Chinese companies more effectively transport African resources.
Chinese companies have developed a reputation for going where others won't because of political, environmental or ethical concerns, or because profit margins are too slim. State-owned companies in China, analysts say, have the ability to forgo short-term profits in pursuit of the government's long-term strategic interests.
Infrastructure improvements often are explicitly traded for raw-material contracts. In Angola, where the government has done little to alleviate poverty or stimulate democracy since the end of a devastating civil war in 2002, China has promised $2 billion in aid as part of a deal for oil rights. Human-rights activists say that influx of cash has stiffened the government's resolve against outside pressure -- mostly from the West -- to reform.
Countries that sign deals with Chinese companies also win diplomatic protection. China, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, has threatened to use its veto power to block sanctions against Sudan, which U.S. officials and others accuse of committing genocide in its Darfur region. China also resisted efforts by the U.N. to investigate and punish Mr. Mugabe for a "clean-up campaign" last year in which police destroyed slums and markets, depriving 700,000 Zimbabweans of either their homes or their jobs.
China has been a significant supplier of jet fighters, military vehicles and guns to Zimbabwe, Sudan and other repressive governments.
"Wherever there are resources, the Chinese are going to go there," said Peter Takirambudde, head of the Africa division for Human Rights Watch. "They see no evil. They hear no evil. That's very bad for Africans."
The Chinese influx does have benefits to African economies. Prices of commodities used in manufacturing, such as oil, copper and platinum, are surging in part because of demand from China and other Asian nations. Copper prices have increased sixfold since a 2001 low, topping $8,000 a ton in some recent trading.
Across Africa, the availability of Chinese motorcycles, air conditioners, T-shirts and kitchen utensils has meant lower prices for consumers. In South Africa, two companies are planning to introduce Chinese automobiles to the bustling domestic market at discount prices.
The payoff to ordinary Africans -- especially those who are poor or unemployed -- is mixed.
In South Africa and Lesotho, low-cost Chinese imports have been blamed for tens of thousands of layoffs in the textile industry. As the rates of economic growth have climbed, Africans have reported that both their national economies and the financial conditions of individuals seem to have stagnated, according to Afrobarometer, a polling project that has sampled public opinion in 12 sub-Saharan countries since 2000.
In the latest numbers, released last month, only 27% of those polled expressed satisfaction with their own finances, down from 31% in 2000. The sharpest decline was in Nigeria, where upbeat ratings of personal finances fell to 45% from 68% in 2000. The decline came despite surging oil profits there and growing trade with China.
Other factors, including political turmoil, likely are affecting views of economic circumstances, but Nigerians also complain that growing ties with Chinese businesses have come without major new investments in manufacturing.
Even supporters of expanded ties between Africa and China express concern. "They are selling. They are trading. They are not producing locally," said Victor N. Chibundu, a former Nigerian ambassador to China who is now chairman of the Nigeria-China Friendship Association, based in Lagos, Nigeria.
In that way, analysts say, burgeoning Chinese business interests are following a pattern long established in Africa: Foreign powers treat the continent mainly as a source of raw materials and a market for finished goods.
Those with money benefit from the cheaper, more abundant products, but most of the jobs are created elsewhere, in factories thousands of miles away.
Document AWSJ000020060613e26e0001h
This Day (Nigeria) - AAGM: Police Declare Chinese Wanted Over N200m Scam.
Funm Peter-Omale

306 words

13 June 2006

This Day (Nigeria)

AIWTHD

English

The Financial Times Limited. Asia Africa Intelligence Wire. All material subject to copyright. This Day (Nigeria) (c) 2006 All rights reserved
The Nigeria Police has declared the former Managing Director of ZTE Nigeria Ltd, Mr. Li Xioadong, wanted over a N200m contract that has allegedly gone awry.
ZTE, a foremost Chinese company based in Abuja, is currently handling multi billion Naira communication jobs for the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Commissioner of Police, Federal Capital territory, Mr. Lawrence Alobi who confirmed the story explained that the Chinese has been declared wanted following the inability of the police to trace his whereabout to answer alleged charges of fraud before an Abuja court.
"We are aware of the case and we have been investigating the case to really establish how the fraud was perpetuated. The case is also before the court but unfortunately, the man suddenly disappeared few weeks ago. We have not been able to get him." But he said his men were working round the clock to really establish Xioadong's whereabout.
Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), DCP Haz Iwendi confirmed the Police was aware of the case and that it is being investigated. According to Iwendi, following a complaint of criminal intent by the complainant, the police had swung into action though the Managing Director is allegedly on the run as he was said to have been smuggled out of Nigeria to China. Sources at ZTE however confided in THISDAY that the former Managing Director has been ferried out of the country by embassy officials following the anticipated embarrassment the case would bring to the Chinese government.
A telecommunications company, Hypertronix Nig. Ltd had alleged that it reneged on one of the contracts it signed with it.
Thisday checks revealed that the contract of fencing 100 M-Tel BTS amounting to N200 million, was awarded
Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media. (allafrica.com)
FTDL49545686
Document AIWTHD0020060613e26d0000s

A Section

In Africa, China Trade Brings Growth, Unease; Asian Giant's Appetite for Raw Materials, Markets Has Some Questioning Its Impact on Continent

Craig Timberg

Washington Post Foreign Service

1,368 words

13 June 2006

The Washington Post

WP

FINAL

A14

English

Copyright 2006, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
Every time newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube visits his native Zimbabwe, he said, there seem to be more Chinese. He sees them shopping at boutiques, driving fancy cars, picking up their children from elite private schools.
And as in much of Africa, Ncube said, China's reach into Zimbabwe's economy is equally pervasive: The roads are filled with Chinese buses, the markets with Chinese goods, and Chinese-made planes are in the skies. Chinese companies are major investors in mining and telecommunications. The government in Beijing, meanwhile, is a crucial backer of Zimbabwe's authoritarian president, Robert Mugabe.
"They are all over the place," said Ncube, 43, who owns newspapers in Zimbabwe and South Africa. "If the British were our masters yesterday, the Chinese have come and taken their place."
Such unease appears to be rising across Africa as Chinese become powerful players -- and, in some places, the dominant ones -- in economies across the continent. In a pattern replicated across the world, China's voracious appetite for raw materials is helping push sub-Saharan economies to their fastest growth in three decades, and inexpensive Chinese-made products are suddenly available across the continent. Yet many Africans say the influx, while offering consumers more affordable goods, has not improved their economic situation and has hurt local companies.
African and Western activists say China's increasingly close ties to the troubled governments in Angola, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe are undermining efforts to nurture democracy and improve human rights.
When Chinese President Hu Jintao toured Africa in April, he implicitly responded to concerns about his country's growing role on the continent.
"China's development will not bring a threat to anyone but, instead, will only bring more opportunities and space for development to the world," Hu told the Nigerian National Assembly, according to news reports.
He also reiterated China's policy of making business deals without any expectation that governments will improve democracy, respect human rights or fight corruption. He told reporters in Nairobi, the last stop of his tour, that China follows "a policy of noninterference in other countries' internal affairs."
China's overall trade with Africa rose from $10.6 billion in 2000 to $40 billion last year and continues to increase, according to Chinese government statistics. Sub-Saharan Africa's economic growth rate, meanwhile, has nearly doubled over the same period, from 3 percent to an estimated 5.8 percent this year, the best since 1974, according to the International Monetary Fund. Among the major factors, analysts and economists say, is the increasing trade with China.
"Those places that are energy-rich and mineral-rich are awash in cash," said J. Stephen Morrison, head of the Africa program for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, speaking from his office in Washington. "And that is driven in part by these new, rapid-growth Asian economies."
China has spent billions of dollars securing drilling rights in Nigeria, Sudan and Angola, and has exploration or extraction deals with Chad, Gabon, Mauritania, Kenya, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Ethiopia.
The Chinese also have become investors in the booming copper industry in Zambia and Congo. They have been major buyers of timber in Gabon, Cameroon, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia. Chinese companies were widely criticized for keeping former president and war crimes suspect Charles Taylor flush with cash and prolonging Liberia's devastating civil war. The Chinese also have helped push up the prices of other African exports such as platinum, iron and coal.
Across Africa, meanwhile, Chinese companies have outbid other foreign firms on construction projects, winning contracts to pave highways, build hydroelectric dams, upgrade ports, lay railway tracks and build pipelines -- all of which stand to help Chinese companies more effectively transport African resources.
Chinese companies have developed a reputation for going where others won't because of political, environmental or ethical concerns, or because profit margins are too slim. State-owned companies in China, analysts say, have the ability to forgo short-term profits in pursuit of the government's long-term strategic interests.
Infrastructure improvements often are explicitly traded for raw material contracts. In Angola, where the government has done little to alleviate poverty or stimulate democracy since the end of a devastating civil war in 2002, China has promised $2 billion in aid as part of a deal for oil rights. Human rights activists say that influx of cash has stiffened the government's resolve against outside pressure -- mostly from the West -- to reform.
Countries that sign deals with Chinese companies also win diplomatic protection. China, as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has threatened to use its veto power to block sanctions against Sudan, which U.S. officials and others accuse of committing genocide in its Darfur region. China also resisted efforts by the United Nations to investigate and punish Mugabe for a "clean-up campaign" last year in which police destroyed slums and markets, depriving 700,000 Zimbabweans of either their homes or their jobs.
China has been a significant supplier of jet fighters, military vehicles and guns to Zimbabwe, Sudan and other repressive governments.
"Wherever there are resources, the Chinese are going to go there," said Peter Takirambudde, head of the Africa division for Human Rights Watch. "They see no evil. They hear no evil. That's very bad for Africans."
The Chinese influx does have benefits to African economies. Commodities used in manufacturing, such as oil, copper and platinum, are surging because of demand from China and other Asian nations. Copper prices have increased sixfold since a 2001 low, topping $8,000 per ton in some recent trading. Platinum prices have tripled over that time.
The availability of Chinese motorcycles, air conditioners, T-shirts and kitchen utensils has meant lower prices for consumers across the continent. In South Africa, two companies are planning to introduce Chinese automobiles to the bustling domestic market at discount prices.
Even the blue glazed tiles on top of Mugabe's newest presidential palace, north of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, are from China, according to news reports.
But the payoff to ordinary Africans -- especially those who are poor or unemployed -- is mixed.
In South Africa and Lesotho, low-cost Chinese imports have been blamed for tens of thousands of layoffs in the textile industry. And as the rates of economic growth have climbed, Africans have reported that both their national economies and the financial conditions of individuals seem to have stagnated, according to Afrobarometer, a polling project that has sampled public opinion in 12 sub-Saharan countries since 2000.
In the latest numbers, released last month, only 27 percent of those polled expressed satisfaction with their own finances, a drop from 31 percent in 2000. The sharpest decline was in Nigeria, where upbeat ratings of personal finances fell from 68 percent in 2000 to 45 percent. The decline came despite surging oil profits there and growing trade with China.
Other factors, including political turmoil, likely are affecting views of economic circumstances, but Nigerians also complain that growing ties with Chinese businesses have come without major new