China in Africa

Having just written that Geneva is a wasteland on the brain fodder front, I must confess that actually I went to a very interesting lecture at the Graduate Institute here t'other day. Given by Deborah Brautigam, it was a revisionist take on the role of China in Africa - very different from the usual Western interpretation of Chinese aid and investment to Africa as exploitative, neo-colonialist, part of a power struggle with the West, etc. She's just published a new book on the subject, The Dragon's Gift, and her very interesting blog is here.  Although I think she sometimes allows herself to be carried away with her role as professional critic of the conventional wisdom, is was certainly enlightening and refreshing. Some tid-bits:

• Chinese official development assistance (ODA) to Africa is actually smaller than that of the US or UK - it's just that we (or rather, the Western media) often misinterpret Chinese loans, credit lines or private investment from China as 'aid'.  
• What's for sure is that Chinese investment in trade with [see correction from the speaker below, thanks you!] Africa is huge, having grown from $5billion in 2002 to $50billion in 2008. But Brautigam was at pains to point out that although the West may have an image of 'China Inc', this is coming from private enterprise.

She seemed to suggest that the Western donor-states could learn from China in terms of promoting and encouraging development in Africa.  I'm all for more of a role for entrepeunership and enterprise in development rather than promoting a reliance on aid, but a short-term model of growth/profit at all costs is not sustainable (in an economic, social or environmental sense). There must be a happy medium...?