Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/17890819
Here is the analyses the article refers to.
Eddie Cross, former advisor to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has voiced concerns over the growing presence of Chinese nationals and their influence on Zimbabwe’s economy and natural resources.
Writing recently, Cross revealed that there are now over 85,000 Chinese nationals in Zimbabwe, a figure he initially questioned but was assured is accurate.
[…]
According to Cross, Zimbabwe has become a resource hub for China, likening the country to “the new Australia” for its abundant raw materials. He highlighted vast reserves of iron ore, coal, limestone, chrome, lithium, and gold as key targets for Chinese exploitation, driven by the demands of their industrial complex.
“China needs to move steel production away from home to avoid U.S. and European trade restrictions and shift polluting industries to Africa’s blue skies,” Cross argued. He also pointed out that Zimbabwe’s chrome deposits, valued at a conservative $100 trillion, and its lithium reserves are being exported with little understanding of their full worth.
[…]
Cross noted the significant environmental damage caused by Chinese operations, including open-cast mining and unregulated activities that leave landscapes resembling “a World War I battlefield.”
[…]
“The people of Marange [a region in Zimbabwe] still wallow in poverty, and the diamond fields lack basic infrastructure like tarred roads. Meanwhile, Chinese firms have amassed wealth, building headquarters in Mozambique and flying private jets,” he wrote.
Cross accused the Chinese of monopolising operations by excluding Zimbabwean workers, making it difficult to monitor production. “In 2012, I had to rely on U.S. satellite images to estimate Chinese diamond output as they employed no local staff,” he revealed.
[…]
Cross urged the Zimbabwean government to renegotiate its relationship with China to ensure mutual benefits. “Unlike Australia, where raw materials are sold at market prices, Zimbabwe’s resources are being exploited with minimal returns,” he said.
[…]
[Edit typo.]
I could be argued that China seems to be doing it in a much more humane way than Europe did, while Europe has now virtually abandoned Africa in poverty now that it isn’t cool to steal.
But we’ll see how this evolves.
“virtually abandoned”
you mean respected their independance?
I don’t mean a military abandonment. I mean economical abandonment. Why “only” China helps out?
I am sure there are answers to these questions. These I want to find out.
What european countries of the time did is more or less nothing different, resources in exchange for money. Times were more brutal ofc. African poverty is at the same times overblown (everyone lives in dirt huts) and hugely due to unstable governments, not due to lack of resources or ways to convert them into money.