An article by the BBC talks about China's $6 billion investment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire for those who remember it from watching Carmen San Diego as a kid). They plan to build hospitals, health centers, 2 universities, railways and roads. In return, China gains the rights to harvest the Congo's abundant natural resources - namely copper and cobalt. There are many human rights naysayers who argue that this is just a $6 billion exploitation and that the Chinese will end up winning more than the natives. Winning? If both sides win, who cares who wins more? The DR of Congo is one of the most corrupt and dangerous places to live in the world - the argument can be made that it is worse than Sudan. ANYTHING they can win is a vast improvement. Of course, the Chinese are in it for their own gain - they're not pitching this as some sort of half business half humanitarian nonsense. With the Chinese, it is strictly business. So what you will see is a lot of warlords getting rich and a lot of shady dealings, but the end result will be on the plus side for the Congolese. And eventually, this stuff trickles down to the poor. When the warlords start getting really rich off of foreign investments like this, they will start to realize that there is no point to torturing and killing the lower classes.
Helping a war-torn country with a half business half humanitarian deal like the US and UN seem to enjoy always ends up with much of the humanitarian money floating its way into the wrong hands anyway. Oil for Food anyone? Why not just cut that part out? The UN peacekeepers have been chilling in the African heat there for 5 years and every time I see a story about the atrocities that go on there, I am just about in tears. So how about we try a different strategy - one that is all business? This Chinese experiment is absolutely worth watching.
About the Oil for Food scandal - check out this podcast about it. It blew me away. The speech was held at Duke Law School and includes many of those who did some of the actual investigating.
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2 comments:
Good point Joe, the Oil For Food did turn into a huge mess, as it served as a way for those in the military-industrial complex to line their own pockets while also appearing as the good world citizens that their job demands an appropriate level of.
We'll see about China. Their main human rights issue seems to be that they want all of their citizens to fall into line. Anyone stepping outside of this line falls into their binary opposition. They also have extremely low standards in industry with little regulation.
I hope this works. I've never been able to understand why warlords (of any nation) think war is good business. War ruins the infrastructure and the economy. It disrupts the lives of the workers who produce the goods and services and makes the workers hungry and angry. None of this seems like such a good idea.
It makes more sense to me that peace would be better for business and that creating a good atmosphere for business requires some efforts toward a stable society. Perhaps if all China does for the DR of Congo is establish a stable society so China can make a heap of money, this will be a huge step forward for everyone. I like the win-win idea.
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