China in Africa

It seems to me that the US has never had any program of investment overseas. We sell discount weapons, but that stuff has no long term return whatsoever, the use of the product causes anguish and destruction, and the main purpose of this trade is to funnel money to the arms manufacturers, not to gain any future benefit for anyone.

We also look for oil, which is a major factor in our impending doom, not to mention all the shorter term bad effects.

What I see the Chinese doing in Africa is something we don’t understand. Our primary relationship with other countries besides trade, which is transactional, not an investment, is to kill them. The Chinese are using their fat purses to make friends with a continent where they see lots of opportunities. Africa is rich in natural resources, and has lots of people to sell stuff to if they had more money.

China is investing in Africa. We saw miles of high-quality roadbed being laid down. Lots of CCCC signs, Chinese Civil Construction Corporation, all Chinese trucks, graders, steamrollers, grading nice wide highways, a layer of crushed stone, then a layer of sand, flattened with a roller, then asphalt. Finish with stripes and modern signage. Built by Ugandans who are dressed in workers uniforms and hard hats and are earning good money. Managed by Ugandans.

And these aren’t roads to get product to the port to take to China. Nevermind Uganda is landlocked, these are the main roads that join the towns together. A big project is a road that dead ends at Murchison Falls, purely for tourist convenience.

What China gets are goodwill and a market. Uganda is getting prosperous, the fields are flourishing, the cities have lots of made-in-China durable goods in the shops, the people are well dressed, every little town has a school. The passenger vehicles are mostly Toyota, but the majority of the many trucks on the road are Chinese. Small scale solar panels are everywhere. Everyone has a smartphone. China is friends with this up and coming country. They are building some infrastructure to help accelerate Uganda’s growth.

We are friends with nobody. Russia, N. Korea, Philippines, Saudi Arabia.

No research, just observation and opinion.