Western countries' African exploitation claims unfounded

BEIJING, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Western media have described Chinese cooperation with Africa as a form of "new colonialism," alleging that China exploits the continent's resources and exports goods created with those resources back to Africa.

However, they neglect to acknowledge the high-risk, low-profit investments that have addressed the needs of Africans. Western countries also fail to realize that they benefit from Chinese investment in Africa.

Africa is enjoying an explosion in infrastructure construction, largely due to the efforts of Chinese companies operating across the continent.

While western countries are not interested in such high-risk and low-profit investments, Chinese companies are finding a way to fit into the picture and build African roads, railways, pipelines and ports.

Infrastructure construction will allow African countries to boost their manufacturing capacity and eventually achieve self-resilience.

Western countries also benefit from China's investment in Africa, as they sit on the higher end of the global value chain. Since China is an outsourcing production base in the global value chain, the minerals it imports from Africa not only serve the country's own consumption, but the world's.

China's appetite for resources is also determined by its position on the global value chain. In a globalized world, China-Africa trade relations are not only bilateral, but also a part of international production distribution.

Western companies also benefit by selling machinery to Chinese plants operating in Africa. These companies' trade relations with Africa seem less defined only because they operate on the higher end of the global value chain.

There is no point in trying to pick a "winner" in China-Africa trade relations or in trying to pit China against Africa, as their trade is complementary. Exporting manufactured goods is only a small part of the picture, as China also transfuses capital and technological know-how into the continent.

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