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This is a report from a Sri Lankan Newspaper..which clearly explains what is going in Africa w.r.t Chinese investments..and they are scared it may so happen in Sri Lanka too....
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SL opposition to follow Africa against China ?
Chinas stance regarding the UN panel report was revealed through its Foreign Ministry spokesman. The latter said, not to complicate the issue and leave it to Colombo to handle it. China took two to three weeks to make this statement after Russias stance was announced in relation to the panel report. China pursued a silent policy earlier in connection with the panel report. Although China was inclined to back the Sri Lanka (SL) Govt., yet it did not rush to express its stance. Russia however came out into the open against the panel report while China expressed its stance through its Foreign Ministry spokesman under pressure exerted by the SL Govt. It is unknown what made China take this reluctant and reticent attitude in connection with the panel report.
Like how the governmental and non-governmental patriotic organisations are conducting a campaign against America and the Western countries, there is a build up of a campaign against China launched by the UNP within SL. The UNP has begun criticising the Hambantota Port and the Chinese work force in other Chinese projects. This situation is reminiscent of that which prevailed in Africa when China was deploying its resources there long time ago.
Countries in Africa are revolting against the Chinese investments and trade in their continent. People are increasingly getting anxious and restless about Chinese intentions, who are being viewed as the new Colonial powers. China claims that it has done more to end poverty in Africa than any other country. China is Africas biggest trading partner and its money has paid for countless new Schools and Hospitals.
In the initial years, investments and trade with China were welcomed with open arms. Chinese investment boosted employment in Africa and made basic goods like shoes and radios more affordable . In 2010, Chinese trade with Africa was more than US $ 120 billion. In the past two years China has given more loans to poor countries, mainly in Africa than the World Bank. Chinese are now expanding beyond just mining activity in Africa. Chinese Companies are signing infrastructure deals worth more than $ 50 billion a year. China is also investing in other areas like finance and industrial, and the Commercial Bank of China has bought 20% of South African Standard Bank, the continents biggest Bank.In recent time, attitudes towards China have changed in Africa. Chinese products are increasingly held up as examples of shoddy work. Investments from China have multiplied corruption in the African countries. They are also seen as interfering in the internal politics of the countries and therefore viewed as a colonial power. Africans say they increasingly feel under siege. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from China have fanned out across the continent. More Chinese have come to Africa in the past ten years than Europeans in the past 400. First came Chinese from State owned companies, but more and more arrive on their own and most of the contract workers, mainly prison labour are left behind after finishing contract work.
Buildings erected by the Chinese construction firms have occasionally fallen apart.
A hospital in Luanda, the capital of Angola, was opened with great fanfare but cracks appeared in the walls within a few months and it soon closed. The Chinese-built road from Lusaka, Zambias capital to Chirundu, 130 km (81 miles) to the South east, was quickly swept away by rains.
Chinese expatriates care little about rules and regulations. Local sensitivities are routinely ignored at home, and so abroad. Sinopec, an oil Firm has explored in a Gabonese national park. Another state oil company has created lakes of spilled crude oil in Sudan. To avoid censure regarding poor working conditions, Chinese managers bribe union bosses. Tensions came to a head last year when in mines in Sinazongwe, a town in Southern Zambia, two Chinese managers fired shotguns at protesting workers, injuring at least a dozen. There are three possible reasons for recent hatred towards Chinese in Africa. First is that competition, especially from foreigners including Chinese, is rarely popular. Hundreds of textile factories across Nigeria collapsed in recent years because they could not compete with cheap Chinese garments, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. The second reason could be that the Chinese are bringing bad habits as well as trade and investment. The mainland Chinese economy is riddled with corruption, even by African standards, so when the Chinese go abroad they carry on bribing and undermine good governance in host countries. A third reason is that China is seen as hoarding African resources.
China has become a rallying point for most opposition leaders in several countries because of their relationship with ruling Africa Dictators. Opposition parties, especially in southern Africa, frequently campaign on anti-China platforms. Even in normally calm places like Nambia, antipathy is stirring. In Zambia, the opposition leader, Michael Sata, has made Sino-skepticism his trademark. It could only be a matter of time before the Africans start to throw out Chinese like they did to other colonial powers.
If the SL opposition succeeds in inciting and instigating the people against the Chinese, the new colonial power, it can prove that the Exim Bank of China can be more lethal than the World Bank.
During the tenure of office of the UNP Govt., the SLFP which was in the opposition at that time frowned upon and identified the World Bank ; America and western countries ; and multinational Companies as extortionists, sucking the blood of third world countries. They discredited and described them as the new colonial power. Today, if the UNP which is in the opposition hurls the same allegations against China, a situation akin to that in Africa could be spawned in SL.
====================================================
SL opposition to follow Africa against China ?
Chinas stance regarding the UN panel report was revealed through its Foreign Ministry spokesman. The latter said, not to complicate the issue and leave it to Colombo to handle it. China took two to three weeks to make this statement after Russias stance was announced in relation to the panel report. China pursued a silent policy earlier in connection with the panel report. Although China was inclined to back the Sri Lanka (SL) Govt., yet it did not rush to express its stance. Russia however came out into the open against the panel report while China expressed its stance through its Foreign Ministry spokesman under pressure exerted by the SL Govt. It is unknown what made China take this reluctant and reticent attitude in connection with the panel report.
Like how the governmental and non-governmental patriotic organisations are conducting a campaign against America and the Western countries, there is a build up of a campaign against China launched by the UNP within SL. The UNP has begun criticising the Hambantota Port and the Chinese work force in other Chinese projects. This situation is reminiscent of that which prevailed in Africa when China was deploying its resources there long time ago.
Countries in Africa are revolting against the Chinese investments and trade in their continent. People are increasingly getting anxious and restless about Chinese intentions, who are being viewed as the new Colonial powers. China claims that it has done more to end poverty in Africa than any other country. China is Africas biggest trading partner and its money has paid for countless new Schools and Hospitals.
In the initial years, investments and trade with China were welcomed with open arms. Chinese investment boosted employment in Africa and made basic goods like shoes and radios more affordable . In 2010, Chinese trade with Africa was more than US $ 120 billion. In the past two years China has given more loans to poor countries, mainly in Africa than the World Bank. Chinese are now expanding beyond just mining activity in Africa. Chinese Companies are signing infrastructure deals worth more than $ 50 billion a year. China is also investing in other areas like finance and industrial, and the Commercial Bank of China has bought 20% of South African Standard Bank, the continents biggest Bank.In recent time, attitudes towards China have changed in Africa. Chinese products are increasingly held up as examples of shoddy work. Investments from China have multiplied corruption in the African countries. They are also seen as interfering in the internal politics of the countries and therefore viewed as a colonial power. Africans say they increasingly feel under siege. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs from China have fanned out across the continent. More Chinese have come to Africa in the past ten years than Europeans in the past 400. First came Chinese from State owned companies, but more and more arrive on their own and most of the contract workers, mainly prison labour are left behind after finishing contract work.
Buildings erected by the Chinese construction firms have occasionally fallen apart.
A hospital in Luanda, the capital of Angola, was opened with great fanfare but cracks appeared in the walls within a few months and it soon closed. The Chinese-built road from Lusaka, Zambias capital to Chirundu, 130 km (81 miles) to the South east, was quickly swept away by rains.Chinese expatriates care little about rules and regulations. Local sensitivities are routinely ignored at home, and so abroad. Sinopec, an oil Firm has explored in a Gabonese national park. Another state oil company has created lakes of spilled crude oil in Sudan. To avoid censure regarding poor working conditions, Chinese managers bribe union bosses. Tensions came to a head last year when in mines in Sinazongwe, a town in Southern Zambia, two Chinese managers fired shotguns at protesting workers, injuring at least a dozen. There are three possible reasons for recent hatred towards Chinese in Africa. First is that competition, especially from foreigners including Chinese, is rarely popular. Hundreds of textile factories across Nigeria collapsed in recent years because they could not compete with cheap Chinese garments, resulting in thousands of lost jobs. The second reason could be that the Chinese are bringing bad habits as well as trade and investment. The mainland Chinese economy is riddled with corruption, even by African standards, so when the Chinese go abroad they carry on bribing and undermine good governance in host countries. A third reason is that China is seen as hoarding African resources.
China has become a rallying point for most opposition leaders in several countries because of their relationship with ruling Africa Dictators. Opposition parties, especially in southern Africa, frequently campaign on anti-China platforms. Even in normally calm places like Nambia, antipathy is stirring. In Zambia, the opposition leader, Michael Sata, has made Sino-skepticism his trademark. It could only be a matter of time before the Africans start to throw out Chinese like they did to other colonial powers.
If the SL opposition succeeds in inciting and instigating the people against the Chinese, the new colonial power, it can prove that the Exim Bank of China can be more lethal than the World Bank.
During the tenure of office of the UNP Govt., the SLFP which was in the opposition at that time frowned upon and identified the World Bank ; America and western countries ; and multinational Companies as extortionists, sucking the blood of third world countries. They discredited and described them as the new colonial power. Today, if the UNP which is in the opposition hurls the same allegations against China, a situation akin to that in Africa could be spawned in SL.
