The Truth About China in Africa

Audio editing by Eric Schneider
Motion graphics by Vincent de Langen
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster
Writing & Direction by Evan

This includes a paid sponsorship which had no part in the writing, editing, or production of the rest of the video.

Video supplied by Getty Images

[fromthehills]

In my country (Rwanda, in Africa) we have the benefit of a ruthlessly efficient government. Part of that, is making really good deals with China. Part of the deal is Chinese firms need their workers to have a Rwandan majority.

As Africans we can't really blame China when they give us bad deals. Europe and America give us much worse deals all the time. That's just how capitalism works. No one is out for our best interests, they just want a slice of the most resource rich continent on the planet. We need to look to our governments to make better deals. That's my take.

[boony]

Sir. I came here for anti-china propaganda, not objective analysis. How dare you.

[seadog]

"Of course it is a debt trap, we have done it hunderds of times before. "said USA

[chisamatoi]

That’s SIMPLE. China didn’t force Africa to choose it as its investor. If other countries are complaining about China’s threat in controlling Africa, go offer Africans better deals and help them develop better future than China did.

[cgfnortje]

South African here. I think I can add something. If you're into history, you should consider making a video about South Africa's apartheid regime. Many people don't know that the US, the UK, France and Italy continued to support and sell arms to the South African apartheid government despite a UN embargo. This fuelled a 26 year war against African liberation movements in Southern Africa, which is referred to as the South African Border War. The result was that the apartheid regime in South Africa protected western assets from the native Africans going back since colonial times. The fear was that the "communists" would come in and take over control since African liberation movements were mostly supported by Russia, China and Cuba. So, the US, the UK, France and Italy were basically supporting an extremely racist and oppressive regime in order to continue exploiting African countries. In a nutshell, that's why we rather do business with China. We see it as the lesser of evils. Most African governments don't trust Western countries because countries like the US, the UK, France and Italy "secretly" supported apartheid, and exploited Africans for centuries. When I say "secretly", I do so sarcastically. It was all well documented in research journals, where you'll get the actual truth instead of Western news media rubbish. These are obviously facts most people in the West prefer to conveniently filter out from their narrative when they go on about how much they are concerned about Africans. They don't really care. Western governments and industries just don't want anyone else to get in on their action because they would like to assume that every other culture has the the same exploitative and cruel intentions than them. So, when they criticise countries like China, I tend to rather look at it as Freudian projection. So, when they talk about China on CNN, Fox, DW or the BBC, I know that it's mostly their corporate insecurities feeding that narrative. They hardly ever give you "the news." It's corporate propaganda and little else.

[FMetroo]

This video is everything, as a Kenyan many in my country keep talking about the debt trap, when it is the leaders looting these loans & putting us in the trap. The projects that have been successfully completed have greatly changed peoples lives & boosted the economy to the top 5 in AFRICA. While there are lingering issues to do with Chinese employment practices, the money provided is invaluable Thank you China

[NoreenHoltzen]

US military bases in Africa: 29
Chinese military bases in Africa: 0
Russian military bases in Africa: 0
Who would you trade with?

[xelkim]

In China, the government still like to remind the people how the African nations helped them to get a permanent seat in UN back in 1971. China loves Africans, after all they suffered a lot from colonization.

Yes, colonizers not settlers. Oh by the way, it's called bribing, not lobbying.

[PhysioBarn]

Great video. I actually made a summary of the Sri Lankan Hambantota port for my friends and family. Here it is...

1. The Port still belongs to Sri Lanka. China paid over one billion USD to LEASE and operate it for 99years, and they don't have full control. Sri Lanka still has a stake in this venture.

2. Sri Lanka has more LOANS with Japan AND World Bank, than they do with China. Why don't we ever hear of a Japanese "debt trap"?

3. The Hambantota Port was built by Chinese firms in 2007. But even before China got involved, in 2003 the Canadian Devt Agency financed a feasibility study and said there is good potential since the Colombo Port nearby was operating at FULL capacity. With China and Asia rapidly growing, prospects for a new port are sound. In 2005 another feasibility study was conducted by the DANISH, and they said same thing. Build another Port!

4. In 2006 after the Danish feasibility study, Sri Lanka approached BOTH India and USA to build the port. They both DECLINED. Only then China approached Sri Lanka. Construction began in 2007, 6 years before Xi Jinping's One Belt One Road project was even launched.

5. Phase One of the Port construction finished on time after 3 years, but the Sri Lanka President was too aggressive. The Danish feasibility study taken in 2005 recommended they start slow and wait several years for business to ramp up, before expanding to phase two. Sri Lanka chose to go ahead anyway with the second phase. So they got another bigger loan from a Chinese bank at ONLY 2% interest.

6. With phase two now completed, and after afew short years of losing money, Sri Lanka realised they needed more experienced operators, which was what the Canadian Agency recommended way back in 2003. That's when they signed the operator deal with China in 2017, but Sri Lanka still kept a minority stake in the operational ownership. There was NEVER default. The port still belongs to Sri Lanka.

7. Of the External Overseas debt payments Sri Lanka is burdened with, only 5% is related to the Hambantota Port. The biggest burden is the crushing Sovereign Bonds Sri Lanka issued at 8% interest rate. This alone comprises 40% of their total external Debt Burden. Totally unrelated to China.

[AmabossReally]

The main issue I have is the terms of the construction project. In my country (in Africa), most of the projects have terms that require an almost 7:3 ratio of Chinese workers compared to local workers. You can clearly see why this can cause an issue because local talent is not generated since most of the work is done by Chinese workers and the local community doesn’t acquire most positive economical externalities (i.e salary) from having a project in your backyard. Because of this unbalance, majority of the loan is redirected towards the Chinese economy and not the local one because Chinese workers are the main beneficiary and the cash flow recirculates toward back to China.

EDIT: PLEASE read the whole thread, I answered a lot of questions that keep getting repeated. Thank you.

[arkscrew]

I really think that the Chinese policy of infrastructure creation is a great way ahead for developing and poor nations. Because of Chinese interest strategy, now even western countries are thinking hard about changing their approach. Otherwise we know that western countries only ever supplied arms not infrastructure. Whatever the Chinese interest behind it, it is indirectly helping us by pressuring other powers to do the same

[gold_real_money]

When USA and IMF came offering 'Aid' to us, I feel worry. When China came offering 'Debt' to us to build massive and important infrastructure project, I feel having great opportunity to grow. Love from Indonesia to The Rising Dragons, People's Republic of China ❤🇮🇩🇨🇳

[melaninbotswana]

It's funny how they are talking about china's debt trap but African countries have been on European and imfs debt trap

[joela.]

This was a great vid. Your final comments on logical and consistent criticisms are a huge takeaway. We all need to use critical thinking to decipher the propaganda both ways.

[zhiqianwen]

I bursted out when you call India the closest rival of China

[dologongpoloponobonotongpo]

If the US did this the title would be "How the Great Satan Uncle Sam is Building an Evil Neo Colonialist Empire"

[veronicad]

Hambantota port is not a debt trap set by China. Sri Lankans have been talking about building the Hambantota port near the main Indian Ocean shipping lane since the 1920s. Between 2006 and 2007, the Sri Lankan government sought financing from India and Japan, but was rejected because India did not want to support a project that could compete with its home port, while Japan was already Sri Lanka's largest bilateral creditor.

[hellothere]

I remember reading in the Economist about one official complaining that the Chinese were becoming like the IMF after they started getting stricter with their lending requirements cause of the failed projects which made me laugh a bit.

[paco]

As long as you have a little brain cells, you won't believe in debt trap

[jujuchrys]

Since when, the west started caring about African's life?