The study suggests that 93% of people in sub-Saharan Africa cannot obtain basic surgical care.
(Quoted with some edits from The China Daily News)
An Africanews’ June 6 article “Why Africa will choose Beijing in ongoing US-China trade war” shows how successful China has been in building trade alliances that Trump the bluffery from Trump.
Trump’s capitulation to Huawei is a major help to China’s effort to make Africa part of a World Wide Web supported from Beijing.
“… Much of the continent’s telecommunications backbone has been built and is still being built by Huawei. Should Huawei get crippled by sanctions, Africa’s technology and communication gains will suffer as well …
“… While America may have legitimate concerns about Huawei gear in its communications infrastructure, Africa’s worries, for now, are about connectivity. The continent just wants to get online …
“… As Addis, Nairobi and Kigali position themselves as centres of innovation; boasting about gains in AI work and robotics, they can and should worry that Washington has a tendency to be erratic and punitive … (pay attention to the description: ‘erratic and punitive’)
“… Huawei’s telco equipment is cheap and reliable … The share of Africa’s urban population is projected to increase to 50% and 60% by 2030 and 2060 respectively. China long figured out when and where to be in Africa …”
China’s efforts in Africa are not without competition. Africans are free to choose as all major powers are competing for their attention seriously. For example, South Africa’s Business Report said on July 1 that “US-China-Russia race for Africa is well and alive:
“The Trump administration now wants to introduce a new approach, namely, ‘Prosper Africa’ that shifts US focus on the continent from aid to industry …
But, the Trump response is far too little and utterly too late. “Prosper Africa” “will offer technical help to companies looking to enter or grow in Africa” is merely “$50 million” (USD). And, the thrashing and name calling of Trump’s America is anything but reassuring to African businessmen .. some of who are working in what Trump called “shitholes.”
Africa with its colonial history, location and unique natural resources is going to play a key role in the competition between the US and China to define the 21 century. China, unlike the US, has its own history of being abused by colonialism. Today, China is a business, no longer an ideology. Businessmen (and women) in Africa need the security of a rational business approach. China,Inc. offers that. China, however, also offers a vast consumer market to buy stuff made in Africa.
I advised an African businesswoman during her two-month’s with a business accelerator in Seattle. This inspired me to learn all I could, and I did indeed find Chinese making MOUs with a university, for example. My brief exposure to local efforts (Gates Foundation hosted a gala Africa Week, for example) left me skeptical that we’re aware enough to take action. OTOH, I can only work from grassroots level. Still, I’m hopeful of seeing her products in Seattle.
I do not think the issue is here in Seattle or, for that matter selling stuff across the US. The issue is the future and trading with Africa itself. The “Great” in “Great Britain” was not Britain’s own markets. it was the Empir .. a world always under the shadow of the union jack, a world that lived off of the supply chain to and from the mother country. Africa in 2050 will be more or less like India and China in the 19th century .. a tributary member of a worldwide trading community led by the Chinese president rather than Queen Victoria. That sort of world is China’s goal for the 21st century!
Stephen Schwarts asked if I’d like to participate in his blog and lo and behold Bill Ritchie’s name appears in this post with his feedback. My comment has to do with his round the world tour documenting artists for his project over 30 years ago when he first visited my studio in Hawaii with his video camera! I hope this is the same Bill Ritchie!