A good friend and old college buddy of mine wrote this article.  Let the
sufferers of "ALES" read this and understand that we genunely care.

-Yus



Reflections of an African's Visit to China

(If these guys are 3rd World, then what is Africa? nth World I guess)Olufemi
Anthony, 03/2002
I just came back from a week's visit to Hong Kong, and later Shanghai.
Jarray, if dem be Third World, then Africa nor be Third but nth World, chai!!


There is nothing I could get in New York City that I couldn't get in
Shanghai. I have to say this, Africa is not even in the game, or is not even
aware that the game is being played with respect to development. My feeling
on this trip was one of deep pain and sadness, as I looked at what the
Chinese are doing, and what they have achieved in about 20 years since they
started their open door policy. I reflect on the fact that at independence,
these Asian tigers were at the same level of development as our home
countries, and can only conclude that most political leaders in Africa should
all be tried for high treason by the people they purport to lead. High
treason because I do not feel the cause is ignorance but simply wickedness
and yes, evil.
Our political leaders cannot claim ignorance of development because they
travel to these countries, they cannot claim to be resource-disadvantaged
when compared to places like China and Japan, their only claim to fame is
incompetence and corruption.
It seems to me that it is now that China is undergoing it's "Great Leap
Forward", as Mao Zedong once said.


I attended some courses at the Hong Kon Univ. of Science and Technology for
the 1st 3 days of my trip. One class I took which was 3 hours long was on the
impact of WTO entry on the Chinese economy, and one of the most poignant
moments for me was when the professor pointed out that  labor in Africa was
cheaper than in China but China attracts substantial inward investment but
not us to make the point that cheap labor is not the only condition for
attracting investment. So, what are these conditions that have made China
such a magnet, while Africa is not?

"As long as Africa dey suffer, Africa nor unite, No freedom, No Justice, we
go hear Pansa-Pansa..." Fela Kuti , Pansa-Pansa

IMO, these are China's strengths - some of them man-made, others natural, in
ascending order of importance.

Contributions of overseas Chinese people's wealth and skills.
Huge population
Huge cheap labor market
Huge consumer market to spur demand
Large, well-educated workforce
A Political leadership that is focused on leading the Chinese people to
greatness. So lets analyze the factors listed above, viz-a-viz China and one
or two African countries as examples. Note that I have not listed natural
resources - the most important factors IMO, are related to the country's
people. Africa has natural rersources but yet is an economic basket case.

Factors 3 and 4 only occur as a result of Factor 2. Many political economists
have often pointed out that Africa's burgeoning population are a reason for
the poor state of the continent's economies, but China shows that such a
large population can be used as an asset, rather than a liability. After all,
Africa's population of around 650 million is half of that of China's home
population of around 1.3 Billion. Huge populations are not an excuse - the
fact that African countries are getting poorer as their populations grow is
not a causal relationship - rather it is a symptom of the failure of African
governments at achieving any significant eceonmic growth.

'Dat mean to say you nor dae for Africa at all. If you dey for Africa you go
know plenty; about water, foodooo, houseee, lighteee...' Fela Kuti, Original
Sufferhead

Political and Economic Development


Call them, commies if you may, but these guys at the top in China are smart.
They have figured out in this era of globalization capital follows stability
and good governance. "Democrazy" is not a pre-condition for inward investment
or development. In fact, in China's case, full democracy may be sand in the
gears of China's great leap forward. Case in point - Russia tried to reform
its political system first, before its economic system, and now you have a
chaotic situation where the country is run by oligarchs and the Russian
version of La Cosa Nostra. Or for that matter India, which has been a
democracy for 50 years, yet now lags China in development terms.
Mr. Bush's recent lectures on democracy and freedom not withstanding, the
Chinese government seem to have gotten it right - develop the economy first,
we'll talk about politics later. The problem in Africa is that one-party
systems have led to stagnation, and the system has not reformed itself unlike
that in China - with the ascent of Deng Xiaoping after the death of Mao. This
begs the question - why did it happen in China but not in Africa? My opinion
on this issue is that Africans may have some deep cultural flaws - such as
the big man syndrome - but this opens up a whole can of worms that are better
left to another essay. Secondly, they may be communists, but the Chinese have
reformed their system and no longer have a president for life since the days
of Mao, and so the system experiences change from within. Zhang Zhemin is
scheduled to step down later this year to be replaced by Hu Jintao.

But I digress here. It seems obvious to me that Factor 6 has played a very
significant part in achieving China's Great Leap Forward. The Chinese people
are lucky; they have a totalitarian goverment, we all agree, but one that is
focused on achieving greatness for their people. There is an implicit compact
between the Chinese people and their government  : deliver economic growth
and you (the government) can keep control. This situation will last as long
as China keeps its present rate of development; once its population attain a
certain standard of living, the populace will start advocating for more
political rights. Thus China will follow the path to political reform
exhibited by other Asian tigers - South Korea, Taiwan. It will be an
evolutionary, rather than revolutionary process. This is ample evidence to me
that "democrazy" is not a prerequisite for development. But how does all this
relate to our motherland? Is this a model we can follow? Alas, the answer is
no. For there are no benevolent, sane, sensible despots like the present day
Chinese Communists in Africa.  Note the three adjectives used. There may have
been one or two that satisfied the first two descriptions - benevolent and
sane, but not sensible. Nyerere, Nkrumah, Kaunda come to mind. Mandela may be
the one exception. But that is all. How many of our post-independence despots
have recognized that their time is up and stepped down voluntarily?

This suggests to me that the Asian model is not one that Africa is in a
position to follow. This leads to the only viable alternative, IMO, which is
a democratic dispensation. One party states have failed to lead us to the
promised land of development - instead those systems result in stagnation,
ossification and underdevelopment.

"Crazy Demo, demonstration of crase, Democrazy..." - Fela Kuti, Army
Arrangement
Human Capital

A huge labor and consumer market means that China becomes an attractor for
inward investment from Western companies. But as I have stated previously,
that only tells part of the story. African countries like Nigeria exhibit the
same chracteristics.
This brings us to Factors 4 and 5 - a large well-educated workforce, which
China has developed, and a stable political leadership that has the interests
of its people at heart, which has been discussed previously.

China recognized that achieving its Great Leap Forward required maximally
utilizing its greatest asset - human capital. Thus it has invested in a
fairly decent education system, and it has achieved a critical mass of its
population that are well educated and possess the technical skills necessary
to develop the country.  The Chinese population is so huge that achieving
that its labor pool can be regarded as infinite, and one that cannot be
ignored by international capital that is relentlessly seeking sources of
cheap labor.

But, again the government is smart. They don't just let these MNC's come in
willy-nilly but require a commitment on their part to enter into joint
ventures and implement technology transfer. Thus the system is
self-perpetuating. The MNC can't afford to ignore the huge, educated labor
force, so it enters the market in a joint venture, and contributes technology
in exchange, which then helps educate more Chinese workers and so on. No MNC
can own more than 49% of an enterprise in a joint venture. Also, the
government requires that the company invest in assets on the ground in China,
so the MNC can't just pack up it's bags and repatriate capital out of the
country. Even with WTO entry, I doubt that the Chinese will allow easy
repatriation of capital. Why then, do MNCs keep on coming? China has created
human capital endowments that are hard to resist. If the Americans don't
come, the Europeans will. If not the Europeans, then the Japanese.

"Many foreign companies dey Africa carry all our money go..."
- Fela Kuti, International Thief Thief

Imagine if Nigeria, (nooffence to my Nigerian friends) with it's population
of 120 million were able to adequately channel it's relatively large
population as China is doing? They could be the engine for growth for the
rest of the ECOWAS region. Why can't we follow this model? Alas, lack of
Factor 6 comes into play.

Overseas Human capital
There are an estimated 300 million overseas Chinese all over the world - in
Asia, North America and Europe and the government is making an effort to
encourage them to return home and contribute their technical skills and
financial resources. For example, one company I visited, SMIC - Semiconductor
Manufacturing International Corporation was started by two Chinese American
professors who have gone back to China. With government backing, they have
set up the first foundry for the manufacturing of semiconductors in China.
Why can't our African governments do the same?

Conclusions

Despite my rather gung-ho observations of China and its "Great Leap Forward",
I acknowledge that there are still huge problems, as in any system. For
example in such a system, corruption is endemic. But, unlike Africa, it is
not completely preventing economic progress, and officials don't commit such
acts with complete impunity. Then there is also the prickly issue of human
rights. But I am willing to speculate that most Africans would gladly
exchange their governments with one like that of China. At least they are
delivering substantial economic growth, guarantee stability and have the
interest of their country at heart. They are moving forward and we are not.
This trip to China made me think of the wasted opportunities since
independence and made me sad and angry at the same time. Unless we get
serious about solving our political problems, Africa will always be an
economic basketcase, weak and vulnerable from within and without.


"For overseas, where I see
Communication organize
Agriculture organize
Education organize
Electric organize
For Africa my house I don see
Communication disorganize
Agriculture disorganize
Education disorganize
Electric disorganize... "
- Fela Kuti, Upside Down

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~