Chinese investment in Africa 'indispensible'

WANNING, Hainan - Chinese enterprises in Africa will obey local labor and environment regulations more strictly, and help African countries raise their food output and upgrade their industries, according to a high-level China-Africa cooperation forum on Thursday.

About 200 officials and entrepreneurs from 40 African countries participated in the two-day semi-official Second Roundtable Conference on China-Africa Cooperation, which began on Thursday.

Huang Shejiao, China's former ambassador to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told China Daily: "Chinese enterprises should learn more about African countries' policies and culture before they enter the African market."

Liu Guijin, special representative of the Chinese government on African Affairs, said: "As more and more Chinese enterprises enter the African market, it's natural that some problems will happen."

China is now Africa's largest trading partner. Official figures show that China-Africa trade reached $126.9 billion by the end of last year. Africa is China's fourth-largest destination for outbound investment. China has invested around $40 billion in 50 African countries, including $2.1 billion in 2010 alone.

"We can't deny that because of some small firms' competition, local businesses may be affected. But Chinese investment in Africa is indispensable now," said Liu.

Tageldin Ibrahim Hamad, secretary-general of the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, from Sudan, refuted the criticism that Chinese companies went to Africa just for natural resources.

"China's investment has brought enormous benefits to Africa. Without China, Sudan can't even be an oil-producing country. And then how can local people benefit," he asked.

In fact, European countries and the US have trade structures similar to China, with energy and resources accounting for about 70 percent of their imports from African countries, said Liu.

It's unreasonable to call China's presence in Africa "new colonialism", since China has brought concrete benefits to the continent.

"Chinese enterprises have created 350,000 jobs in Africa. China has provided 20,000 scholarships and trained 350,000 technical staff. China has also aided 100 clean energy projects," said Vice-Foreign Minister Lu Guozeng, emphasizing that no Chinese aid to Africa had political strings attached.

"China has helped Mali build many schools and hospitals," said Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, former prime minister of Mali.

Friedrich Sumaye, former prime minister of Tanzania, said: "What China does in Africa is teach African people how to fish, rather than to give them fish. Then we have fish all our life."

"Unlike Western companies focusing on exports of raw minerals, Chinese enterprises help African countries more with infrastructure," said Liu.

Only after building more infrastructure can African countries develop and improve their trade structures, then more products can be exported to China, Liu added.

Li Jianhua, board director of Insight Holding Group, said his company had invested in a farm in Burundi, where about 80 percent of the staff are locals.

"All the food produced at the farm is sold at the market price to local people. We just want to increase the local food supply," said Li.

The group is also investing in Kenya and Tanzania to develop local tourism. "Tourism won't hurt the environment but will boost the local economy," said Li, adding that more than 10,000 jobs will be created within three years in the two countries.