Working for shared prosperity
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All Western vilifications, however, have been completely contrary to the facts. Take staff localization. Many Chinese enterprises in Africa employ more than 60 percent of staff from local regions.
David Shinn, a former US ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, too has talked about the high degree of staff localization done by Chinese enterprises.
Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Ltd (ZTE) ventured into Africa in 1995. The listed Chinese company has continuously expanded its business there over the past decade and had set up 15 training bases in South Africa, Angola and other African nations by January 2007, annually training about 4,500 specialized professionals. With two-thirds of its 1,100 staff employed from local regions, ZTE is one company that has successfully realized its localization goal.
Another example is the Tanzanian subsidiary of the China Railway Construction Engineering Group. With a workforce of 5,000 laborers being employed annually from local regions, the company has not only lowered its costs but has also become very popular among local residents. Its localization strategy has helped expand employment opportunities and trained the necessary professionals in Africa.
Undeniably, Chinese enterprises still have a long way to go before realizing their internationalization target, and they are expected to encounter a variety of new problems while doing business in African countries.
At the same time, more and more Chinese enterprises have understood the precise nature of their problems and tried hard to resolve them. Chinese enterprises have also realized that they should perform a certain social role besides economic performances.
Just as China has repeatedly emphasized, Sino-African cooperation has long been on an equal and mutually beneficial basis and can serve as a good example for positive South-South Cooperation.
Investment by Chinese enterprises has driven African economic growth and promoted China's ever-deepening cooperation with the continent. Their investment has not only improved local infrastructure but has also boosted local people's living conditions.
By the end of September 2006, 79 percent of projects by the Export-Import Bank of China in African countries were related to infrastructure construction. At the same time, the factories that China's enterprises built in local regions have employed a significant number of local workers, helping those countries train the necessary personnel for management and technological duties.
Increasing investment from China has also offered these countries some much-needed funds and raised the distribution efficiency of investment and resources.
Globalization has turned into an irreversible trend since the end of the Cold War, accelerating interactions and mergers of different cultures and concepts. Africa-based Chinese enterprises will play a big role in promoting mutual understanding between the Chinese and African peoples and further booming Sino-African cooperation.
The author is Assistant Professor with the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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