China Launches Mining Program in Zambia
By JOSEPH J. SCHATZ (Associated  Press Writer)
From Associated Press
February 04, 2007 6:59 PM EST  

LUSAKA, Zambia - Chinese President Hu Jintao launched a copper mining  
partnership with Zambia on Sunday and won praise from Zambia's finance minister  for 
his focus on economic investment rather than politics.
Hu planned to  travel Monday to Namibia - his fifth stop on an eight-nation 
African tour  intended to increase Chinese investment in the continent, which 
is rich in  natural resources although it suffers from widespread poverty.

Zambian Finance Minister Ng'andu Magande told the Associated Press Hu's  
visit was "one of the most successful visits by a foreign head of  state."
Other donors, he said, have political agendas. "People come here and  talk 
about U.N. reform and conflict zones," he said. "China has decided they  will 
take a different route, they will take an economic route."
China has  gained a reputation for striking deals with African nations 
without demanding  political reforms - such as respect for human rights - sought by 
Western  donors.
But Chinese investments have led to accusations of exploitation in  Zambia, a 
nation of 11.5 million in southern Africa.

Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa was all smiles Sunday as he and Hu  launched 
an economic partnership zone centered around the Chambishi copper mine  in 
Zambia's Copperbelt Province. The partnership is designed to draw $800  million 
in mining investment from scores of Chinese companies and create 60,000  jobs.
China already has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Zambia's  
copper sector, which accounts for 60 percent of the country's exports.

Addressing a crowd that included Chinese managers and Zambian miners in  
orange suits and red helmets, Hu and Mwanawasa said the new economic zone would  
be the first of several around the continent.
The walls and stage at a local  conference center where the event was held 
were festooned in red, featuring a  huge sign reading "Hail to Sino-Africa 
New-Type Strategic Partnership," red  banners in Chinese lettering, and a huge map 
of the proposed economic zone.  Zambian and Chinese dance troupes performed 
outside.
A member of the Chinese  delegation cued the audience when to applaud.

Mwanawasa said the zone would "change the face of the Copperbelt and,  
indeed, the Zambian economy in that our raw materials will now have chance to  enjoy 
value addition of unimagined proportions."
Mwanawasa sounded one  cautious note, however, asking Chinese investors to 
partner with local Zambian  firms and to give priority to local suppliers for 
goods and services.
Since  the late 1990s, Chinese investments in the southern African nation 
have soared  and now total $500 million - the third largest after those of South 
Africa and  Britain.
 

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