China Facing Tougher Trade Conditions in Africa

Chinese Translation of the Week

Experts say that, recently, more and more people are having doubts about China's impact on Africa. This skepticism comes not from western countries, but from African natives.

参考消息网10月8日报道    外媒援引分析人士的话称，中非经济关系的态势在不断发生变化，壮了胆的非洲政府如今开始向中国争取更加优厚的条件。

This article has been translated from Chinese. Click here to read the original version on Xinhua News.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP), a Hong Kong based newspaper, reported on October 7th that "many African countries are 'striking back' (against China)," quoted Prof. Jean-Pierre Cabestan, the head of the Department of Government and International Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University.

According to Anthony C. Desir, a partner of the Strategic African Mineral Investment Fund, some pending China-Africa trade agreements are suffering from slow progress in negotiations because African countries are now more prudent in examining the conditions that China has offered.

Desir refused to offer more details about these agreements, but he mentioned the judicial dispute between Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinopec and the Gabonese government as an example.

According to a report in Reuters in last month, Addax Petroleum Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the top Chinese refiner Sinopec, lost a court ruling at an international tribunal for Gabon oil license-document. The legal battle involved more than $1 billion in total.

Dr. Roland Marchal, a researcher at Sciences Po in Paris, said: "more and more people are having doubts about China's impact on Africa. This skepticism is not from western countries, but from African natives." He also said that China is Africa's biggest trade partner. Among the international contracts signed by Chinese companies in 2012, one third was with their African counterparts. The economic relationship between China and Africa is of great significance.

Desir claimed that many African leaders that were "wooed" by China in the past have stepped down or been replaced in elections. "It is disappointing for Chinese government planners to lose partners in Africa."

He also said that because many African countries are democratic, their leaders must be responsible to their voters and the public. As a result, they also need to request that China offer favorable conditions in trade agreements.

Article translated by Laiyin Yuan, Staff Intern for the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center.

Photo attribution to the Defence Images.