China uses economic clout to intervene in Zambian election. China's hostility to democracy and human rights makes it a natural ally for Africa's corrupt dictators.
China issues Zambian election threat.
By JOHN REED
06 September, 2006
Financial Times
The Chinese government has intervened in Zambia's upcoming presidential election in a forceful sign of the commodity-hungry country's growing economic and political clout in Africa.
Li Baodong, China's ambassador in Lusaka, said Beijing might cut diplomatic relations with Zambia if voters elected Michael Sata, an opposition candidate, as president, Zambian media reported yesterday.
His remarks are the first sign of overt political interference by China in African affairs in decades, reflecting Beijing's rapidly expanding role as an investor on the continent and a client for long-term supplies of raw materials. China is a leading investor in Zambian copper, the country's biggest export product by value.
China has invested billions of dollars in Africa in recent years, rivalling the US as it does so, and Chinese trade with the continent has quadrupled since the start of the decade, mainly through purchases of crude oil.
In Zambia alone Chinese companies are believed to have ploughed more than Dollars 300m (Pounds 158m, Euros 234m) into copper and other industries.
Mr Sata is challenging Levy Mwanawasa, the incumbent president, in the September 28 election. Mr Sata has been quoted calling Taiwan a "sovereign state," angering China and has also spoken out against Chinese labour practices in Zambia. Recognition of Taiwan would mean turning away from the country's ties with Beijing.
Most African countries have thrown in their lot with China, leaving only a handful of governments maintaining official relations with Taiwan. Zambian media also reported that Mr Sata, currently running second to Mr Mwanawasa in opinion polls, had met Taiwanese businessmen.
The Times of Zambia yesterday quoted Mr Li saying Chinese investors were "scared" to come to Zambia because of Mr Sata's "unfortunate" remarks. If Mr Sata won and established relations with Taiwan, Beijing might think of cutting its relations, the newspaper reported.
"Chinese investors in mining, construction and tourism have put on hold further investments in Zambi a until the uncertainty surrounding our bilateral relations with Zambia is cleared," the state-owned Zambia Daily Mail quoted Mr Li as saying.
In Zambia several mineworkers were shot and injured in July after a violent protest at Chinese-owned Chambishi Mining. There are conflicting reports on whether Chinese managers or Zambian police shot the workers. Mr Sata has spoken out against Chinese mine managers' alleged ill-treatment of workers during his campaign. "They ill-treat our people and that is unacceptable," Reuters reported him saying.
Chinese influence can be seen in African countries as disparate as Liberia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have both visited the continent this year.
Many African countries look up to China as the developing world's biggest success story, and Beijing has in many cases proved a less critical and more pragmatic ally than Washington.
In Angola, for example, it is bankrolling projects costing billions of dollars to replace war-damaged infrastructure, including reconstruction of the Benguela railway from the Atlantic to the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo. |
