Africa/China - investment

Chinese investment in Africa "overstated"

Article published on the 2009-11-18 Latest update 2009-11-18 16:04 TU

Chinese characters go out, encouraging Chinese businessmen to conquest world markets
(Credit: Wikipedia)

A lot has been made recently of Chinese investment in Africa. Alarm bells are being rung in the west, with claims that China will not have the same human rights standards when investing in Africa, nor will it be concerned about the environment. At the Gulf of Guinea oil and gas conference in London on Wednesday, China - surprisingly - didn't send a single delegate. This despite having interests in Angola and Nigeria. Much is being made of Chinese investment in Africa, but things are being overstated, says Alex Vines is the Africa Program head at Chatham house think tank in London.

"China has acreage in Nigeria and Angola and are now visible in Chad for the first time... but compared to international oil companies, this is a small fraction of what is going. It's overstated," says Vines.

China's investment is not only in Africa, but worldwide, says Vines. While China invested 100 billion dollars in the continent of Africa in 2008, "if you look at the figure of Chinese investment in just one Asian country, South Korea, it was $160 billion. So that puts it into context," he says.

Vines says that China has not been perceived correctly, citing the China International Fund deal as a prime example. The Guinean government had announced a landmark seven million dollar deal with China that china later denied.

These are the challenges for China as it encouraged investors and businessmen to flourish worldwide, "but in fact, they [private businesses] are doing things that the Chinese themselves might be worried about in terms of reputation, and Guinea and the China International Fund is a good example of that," he says.