A friend of mine spent a few years working in a few different places in Africa. He said that the impression of the locals was that the Chinese are the new colonizers, full stop. The labor conditions and treatment of African workers on Chinese run projects was really bad, and the out-and-out racism by the Chinese was crazy.

Case in point... that read like propaganda to me.

Yes. Glance through the author's other articles and a very clear pattern emerges.

are you serious? It's crazy to see point blank the effects of western brainwashing on people. Open your eyes. What China is doing is nowhere close to colonization

Well, it is not colonization, as China doesn't build colonies in Africa.

But look at this photo in this article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/c...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/business/batteries/c...

Imagine if that chinese guy in sun glasses and boots on the desk would be white. Would it look racist/imperialist/exploitive to you?

How would you characterize what's happening in Africa with regards to China? Am genuinely curious.

This is highly anecdotal and based on personal (and professional) experience here in Kenya. Though the Chinese have been present in the country for a while, their signature project was the Thika Superhighway (2009-2012). This captured the imagination of everyone from citizens to the government. Since then, virtually all the major infrastructure projects have been undertaken by Chinese contractors that have set camp in the country. Their model of financing (through grants and ‘cheap’ loans), designing and building has ensured Chinese firms have an upper hand compared to local contractors. This has pushed many local contractors out of business and consequently rendered majority of local young engineers highly unemployed. Generally, there is a quiet uneasiness with the dominance of the Chinese in the infrastructure arena but as it stands; they’re having a field day here in Kenya. I’m convinced this is playing out in many other African countries.

Were there really any local engineers? If so, why haven't they built anything before the arrival of China?

If you're a civil engineer in Kenya you can't simply create an infrastructure startup and build the country. Such a business requires many skills not related to engineering, for starters. You need to know which wheels to grease in government and how. You need to have appreciable investment to fund your equipment. You need to have reliable supervisors who won't steal and will keep the work on schedule. You can't simply start up, get funded and move fast while breaking things.

According to the Kenyan resident in the thread , it was corruption that was stymiying progress. That's something that Chinese contractors have bypassed.

Those 'cheap' loans -- how are they secured? Could a percentage of toll revenues be involved?

> built using modern techniques and quality materials.

Uh, I would double check that, they've been building bridges, malls and apartments in Eastern Europe and the quality was found to be subpar even by local standards (not to mention EU)...

OK yeah so I haven't closely inspected them, but compared to the way roads built by the Kenyan government are made, these ones are high quality.

For example I've seen a road being laid between Nairobi and a nearby town since last June. The original road made by the county council only had a few centimetres of tarmac rolled over the bare dirt (the money for the proper materials all went missing). It disintegrated pretty quickly and led to a horrific cratered road that was impassable to all but the hardiest of vehicles - much worse than the original dirt track.

The new road was dug deep, hardcore laid, months of surveying, measuring, marking out, then several layers of different materials laid over the hardcore adding up to a couple of feet of solid road, with a beautifully smooth finish. I'm not qualified to say whether it meets international standards but it's a lot better than what was being built before.

Yeah, that sounds good, I hope it lasts. I'm also hoping this time African countries won't fall victim to the shrewd business practices from up north.

Right-click (or long-press) -> open in incognito tab.

My muggle wife taught me this trick.

Awesome, that worked! Thanks to you and your wife :)

This is how China is penetrating in most of the developing world, be it Africa or Asia. Consider the recent, and on-going, example of the CPEC in Pakistan.