China and Africa Strengthen Ties With $1.9 Billion in Deals
BEIJING -- Leaders from China and 48 African nations, wrapping up a summit unprecedented for its size, announced a new type of partnership intended to strengthen links between the developing world's biggest economic-success story and some of its poorest nations.
The weekend gathering in Beijing has drawn global attention to a significant trade-and-political relationship that has the potential to eclipse Africa's historical reliance on Western-led development institutions and former colonial powers.
China is unapologetic about its need for African resources to supply its booming economy, but its leaders also point to the construction projects, technical training and low-price goods it is bringing to Africa. "In this new era, China and Africa share increasing common interests and have a growing mutual need," Chinese President Hu Jintao said in a speech.
At a business forum yesterday, Chinese and African enterprises signed 14 business deals valued at a total of $1.9 billion, including contracts to build a rural telephone system in Ghana, construct an aluminum factory in Egypt and build a highway in Nigeria, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Mr. Hu, signaling that China isn't acting purely out of self interest, promised to provide Africa with $5 billion in preferential funding in the next three years. China also will double its aid to Africa and cancel some debt owed to China by the poorest African nations, he said, though Mr. Hu didn't put a value on either commitment.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz have both publicly welcomed the summit meeting, saying there is much Africa can learn from economic overhauls in China that have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
"Economic cooperation should be at the core of the renewed Sino-Africa strategic partnership," said Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Messrs. Hu and Meles, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, read a declaration calling for strengthening China-Africa ties on a basis of "political equality and mutual trust."
Total trade between China and Africa has been increasing at 30% a year and is expected to top $50 billion this year, up from $39.7 billion in 2005. Resources and raw materials dominate the relationship: Angola this year surpassed Saudi Arabia as China's largest supplier of crude oil, and the scale of China's purchases means the country runs a trade deficit with Africa.
The economic links are even broader than those figures suggest. Chinese engineering companies have built thousands of miles of railways and highways across Africa, and are expanding. China Civil Engineering Construction Corp., a state-owned company, said last week it signed an $8.3 billion deal to build an 815-mile railway between the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Kano. It said the project is the largest international construction project by value ever undertaken by a Chinese business.
For African countries, whose lack of infrastructure has stunted their economic expansion, such deals are attractive -- especially when China's government-backed banks also can offer inexpensive financing. And China gets credit for being willing to work in war-torn countries where others fear to tread. "Chinese investment is crucial to us because we have destroyed everything" in the civil war, said George Wallace, the foreign minister of Liberia.
Critics say such munificence is just a way for Chinese firms to get a leg up over competitors in the scramble to lock up Africa's resources.
中非宣布建立新型战略伙伴关系
规模空前的中非领导人峰会日前在北京闭幕，来自中国和非洲48个国家的领导人宣布建立新型战略伙伴关系，藉此加强中国这个经济发展最为成功的发展中国家与部分最贫困国家之间的联系。
周末举行的中非峰会吸引了全球的关注，中非间贸易、政治关系的重要性日益加大，它有可能削弱非洲传统上对西方牵头的经济发展组织以及前殖民大国的依赖。
中国并没有为自己对非洲资源的渴求进行辩解，但中国领导人提到了中国为非洲带去的建设项目、科技培训以及低价商品。中国国家主席胡锦涛在讲话中表示，新形势下中非发展目标一致、利益相近，中非之间越来越需要对方。
在周日举行的中非企业家大会上，中非企业签署了14项商务合同和协议，总价值19亿美元，其中包括加纳农村电话网合同、埃及铝厂建设项目以及尼日利亚高速公路建设项目等。
胡锦涛暗示中国与非洲合作不只考虑己方利益，他承诺在未来3年内向非洲国家提供总额50亿美元的优惠融资，并将对非洲的援助规模扩大一倍、免除部分非洲重债穷国和最不发达国家的部分债务。不过胡锦涛并没有公布具体的援助数量和债务免除额。
联合国秘书长安南(Kofi Annan)和世界银行行长沃尔福威茨(Paul Wolfowitz)均公开对中非高峰会议表示欢迎，他们表示，中国的经济改革让数亿人脱离了贫困，非洲国家能从中学到许多经验。
埃塞俄比亚总理梅莱斯(Meles Zenawi)表示，经济合作应该成为中非新型战略关系的核心。梅莱斯、胡锦涛以及埃及总统穆巴拉克(Hosni Mubarak)共同宣读了《中非合作论坛北京峰会宣言》，呼吁在政治平等互信的基础上加强中非关系。
中非之间的贸易往来正以每年30%的速度增长，预计今年贸易总额将超过500亿美元，高于2005年的397亿美元。中非贸易主要集中在资源类商品和原材料上。今年安哥拉超过沙特阿拉伯成为中国最大的原油供给国，中国庞大的采购规模意味着中国对非洲存在贸易逆差。
中非之间实际的经济联系比上述数字显示的还要广泛。中国工程公司在非洲建设了数千公里的铁路和高速公路，并且这一数量还在不断增加。国有的中国土木工程集团公司(China Civil Engineering Construction Corp.)上周表示，该公司签署了一份价值83亿美元的合同，承建尼日利亚拉各斯与卡诺之间一条长1,315公里的铁路。中国土木工程集团公司表示，这是迄今为止中国公司承建的金额最大的一项国际建设项目。
对于那些由于基础设施匮乏而阻碍了经济增长的非洲国家，这样的合同非常具有吸引力，特别是受到政府支持的一些中国银行还会为它们提供低息的融资支持。另外，中国愿意在其他国家不愿涉足的战乱地区工作也为其赢得了不少声誉。利比里亚外交部长华莱士(George Wallace)表示，内战摧毁了一切，因而中国的投资对于我们至关重要。
有批评人士称，中国的慷慨只是为了让中国公司在获取非洲资源方面得到竞争优势。中国还有意与苏丹、津巴布韦等一直饱受西方批评的国家和地区开展贸易往来。
中非之间经济联系的快速发展也引发了矛盾冲突。在9月份的赞比亚大选中，中国就成为了焦点之一，之前在中国人所有的一家铜矿，工人因工资低、工作环境恶劣而发生骚乱。而南非的纺织行业也要求限制中国进口，称由于中国廉价纺织品的大量涌入，南非当地的纺织品厂商纷纷破产。
Andrew Batson
