Africans In China

Nectar of the Broke: The World’s 5 Worst Ways To Get Drunk

Getting drunk on a tight budget is practically a rite of passage. Just about all of us have some tale to tell about nights spent getting shitfaced on Olde English 800 or some equally putrid swill.

But party all the time as we might, it’s doubtful any of us have stories that involve being so broke, we had to resort to throwing down any of this. If we had, we’d likely not have lived to talk about it.

Nothing about tharra, a home-brewed alcohol native to India, sounds too bad at all. Granted, its 90 percent alcohol content will end your shit, but that’s the point of homemade alcohol, right? But unlike other homemade swills you’ll read about later, tharra is rarely mixed with other less drinkable alcohols to improve its potency. It is simply made by fermenting the mash of sugar cane pulp in large ceramic containers. It sounds kind of delicious really, and it may very well be at first.

And you can drink it right out of a bag!

But before you go dipping into that bottle of finely-aged tharra that grandma brought back from her trip to India during her days as a high school floozy, there’s something you should know. Unlike other spirits, whiskey for example, tharra doesn’t benefit from aging. In fact, let it sit long enough and it turns from barely consumable alcohol into full on poison.

But if the numbers are any indication, a little copper formaldehyde poisoning isn’t going to stop anyone from getting their drink on, because tharra continues to kill hundreds of people each year.

Just last September in the Pakistani city of Karachi, 22 men died after drinking tharra from an illegal brewery run by a police constable. And why were they drinking tharra when regular old alcohol is plenty legal in Pakistan? For the same reason any of us would have. It was the middle of the holy month of Ramadan and the liquor stores were closed.

For all of you who still think communism is evil, hear this. During the reign of communism in the Soviet Union, alcohol was one of the few things people could afford. In present day Russia, steep excise duties have put alcohol out of the price range for many working-class stiffs. We’d take communism any day, thank you very much.

To get around the pricing problem, many Russians have turned to the most horrible of options: surrogate alcohol. For those unfamiliar with the term, your liver thanks you, because surrogate alcohol refers to any number of products that have high alcohol contents but are not intended for human consumption. In Russia, in a pinch, common cleaning products will do, but the surrogate alcohol of choice is usually cologne or aftershave.

Boasting a 97 percent alcohol content that should earn it a skull and crossbones on the label, the cheap aftershaves are often bottled to resemble cheap vodka, because, you know, drinking out of an actual aftershave bottle would just be humiliating.

No one knows how widespread the whole “getting drunk off aftershave” thing is, in or out of Russia. “These are products that are often consumed by people living on the margins of society,” said professor Martin McKee, head of the Department of Shit We Already Knew at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Thunderbird is far and away the most normal drink on this list. It’s perfectly legal to buy and finding it is as easy as following the trail of broken souls to your nearest crime-ridden neighborhood liquor store.

But that’s where the normalcy ends. Thunderbird was introduced shortly after prohibition ended by E&J Gallo Winery. According to Bumwine.com, the brothers Gallo wanted to corner the young wine market and began selling Thunderbird in the ghettos of America. Good luck finding that info on their website.

As part of the marketing campaign for Thunderbird, they produced radio ads with the catchy lyrics, “What’s the word / Thunderbird / How’s it sold? / Good and cold / What’s the jive? / Bird’s alive / What’s the price? / Thirty twice.” You know what’s not awesome about that? Not a damn thing.

Thunderbird is so synonymous with vagrancy that several cities have introduced legislation banning its sale in certain impoverished areas. Oh, and one more thing about Thunderbird, despite being pale yellow in color, it has the pleasing side effect of turning the lips and mouth black whenever consumed in large quantities. Scientific studies confirm, that’s pretty fucked up.

Created from fruit, sugar and, oh dear, ketchup, pruno ranks just below anal rape as one of the least favorable alternatives to the luxuries of the outside world that prison has to offer.

When speaking of pruno, it’s not unusual to hear words like “bile” and “vomit” used to describe its unique flavor. Even the type of hardened killers who eat a little bit of their victims probably hold their noses when downing a glass of this fermented goop. While prisoners are famously unconcerned with exactly what they use to make it, just so long as it gets made, the most famous recipe comes from a jailhouse poem and calls for ten oranges, fruit cocktail, 40 to 60 sugar cubes, water and ketchup. Minus the ketchup, that doesn’t sound all that unpleasant.

But most recipes don’t call for hiding the contents away in a Ziploc bag out of the line of sight of prison guards so they can ferment for days on end either. And that is the long and short of the pruno-making process. Add ingredients in a Ziploc bag, let it rot, heat it occasionally, strain it, drink it.

To add to the deliciousness, stories abound about guards who, upon finding batches of pruno being made, have opted to piss in the would-be-hooch rather than confiscate it. Because of its trademark unflinchingly foul taste, most prisoners may never taste the difference. Sometimes revenge is a dish best served lukewarm.

Brewery.

Look, we understand that, as a website whose main talent lies in our ability to place comic book movies in order from least to most awesome, you probably take whatever advice we give you with a grain of salt. But please, we beg of you, if ever there comes a time to view Cracked not as a symposium of dick jokes but instead as a source for information invaluable to your very existence, let it be the time you spend reading the following sentence:

If you’re ever in Kenya and someone asks if you’d like to try some changaa, do not drink that shit.

In a simpler world, changaa would just be another variety of home-brewed alcohol, like moonshine in the US or tharra in India. But in Kenya, the production of changaa is often controlled by criminal gangs who are in competition with each other. With that competition comes a willingness to go to dastardly lengths to make sure one gang’s changaa provides more of a “kick” than the competitor’s changaa.

To up the alcohol level of their product, gangs have been known to dilute changaa with tasty mixers like jet fuel, car battery acid or formalin (a mixture of formaldehyde, water and methanol, if you’re keeping score at home). In case you’re wondering, yes, changaa kills a lot of people every year.

Above: Changaa, powering a small barrel across a lake.

But thanks to its considerably low price compared to traditional alcohol, people still risk it. Of course, some people have opted not to chance drinking tainted changaa and instead have made kiroro their drink of choice. What’s kiroro you ask? Jet fuel, of course! Except without all those needless “meant for human consumption” ingredients. We only wish we were joking.

(cracked.com)

The recruitment of volunteers for the Shanghai 2010 World Expo will begin on May 1, and people from abroad are welcome to apply, an Expo organizing committee official said Wednesday.

Around 70,000 volunteers will be recruited to work inside the Expo site and another 100,000 to staff more than 1,000 service centers around the city during the event, which is expected to attract 70 million visitors, said Ma Chunlei, deputy leader of the committee’s Expo volunteer team.

Volunteers at the site must be at least 18 years old, and will act as interpreters, information advisors, assistant receptionists, and assist physically challenged people. Those at the service centers should aged over 16, and will help with information, first aid and etiquette awareness.

Each volunteer must agree to work for at least 14 days during the Expo, which starts on May 1, 2010, and runs for 184 days. They should also obey the law and regulations of China, and be in good health.

The organizer will provide volunteers with insurance, uniforms, equipment and meals. It will not pay for accommodation for those from abroad.

People from abroad can apply online at en.expo2010.cn or call +86 219 620 10. An English language service is available.

The deadline for applications is Dec. 31

(crinordic.com)

The 330-kilovolt Lumwana substation in Zambia, was recently put into operation and has started to supply power to local copper mines, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). It was contracted to be built by the Electric Power of Henan under the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC).

Zambian President Rupiah Banda attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony and highly praised the project, recognizing the outstanding contribution SGCC has made to stimulate the local economy.

Zambia’s 330-kilovolt Lumwana substation is the electricity transmission and conversion project with the highest voltage class, and is the biggest contract signed by a Chinese enterprise for this type of project. It is also the power grid project with the highest voltage class in Zambia. SGCC’s Electric Power of Henan and China Henan International Cooperation Group Company jointly participated in the bidding to win this project, which had a total contract value of 22.22 million USD.

The enterprises under SGCC were responsible for the project’s design, installation and debugging, while Chinese manufacturers produced all the major equipment, effectively boosting Chinese power technology and equipment exports.

By People’s Daily Online

POLICE in Lusaka have arrested five suspects in connection with the murder of a Chinese national at his residence in Makeni area last Wednesday.

The robbers got away with a Mitsubishi Pajero and an undisclosed sum of foreign currency after killing him.

Police spokesperson, Bonnie Kapeso said police had recovered the stolen vehicle, one AK 47 rifle with 30 rounds of ammunition and an undisclosed amount of money.

Mr Kapeso said in a statement that the first three suspects from Kanyama Township were arrested on Saturday while the other two were arrested in Chawama on Sunday.

He said among the suspects was a former gardener of the Chinese who is alleged to be the mastermind of the murder.

“The deceased Chinese national was ambushed at his residence at about 23:30 hours when he was struck with an iron bar and left dead by criminals who also stole his Mitsubishi Pajero,” he said.

Mr Kapeso said the robbers later abandoned the vehicle because the immobiliser was activated.

The five suspects were detained in police custody and will appear in court soon.

Meanwhile, Inspector General of police, Francis Kabonde has said professionalism among police officers is critical in national development and human rights enhancement.

Mr Kabonde said in Lusaka yesterday that a country in which police officers respected the rights of suspects did not only improve the nation’s image but also attracted investors.

Speaking at Lilayi Police Training College when he officiated at the opening of the criminal investigation and training of trainers workshop, Mr Kabonde said no investor would open up businesses in a country whose police officers violated human rights.

The training programme for the police officers is sponsored by the United States (US) government and is aimed at improving investigation of gender-based crimes among the officers.

Mr Kabonde thanked the US government for sponsoring the course, saying the police officers would acquire effective and efficient investigative skills.

He appealed to the participants to apply the acquired knowledge to their investigative workplaces and share it with other officers who had no chance of participating.

Earlier, US ambassador to Zambia, Donald Booth said his government had taken the global lead on a wide ranging and ambitious programme designed to fight gender-based violence.

Mr Booth said the Zambian legal system should be strengthened to protect women and punish violators.

(ALLAFRICA)

Self-styled freelance inventor Georges Koussouros has developed a mobile equipped with a pair of lips that lets you send real kisses down the line.

When the user kisses the device, it detects the pressure, percussion speed, temperature and sucking force of the kiss, and transmits the data to the loved one at the other end of the line, where the kiss is reproduced exactly.

Kisses can be repeated, left as a message and even relayed to other people. Koussouros even envisages a “kiss bank” allowing users to receive a kiss from Madonna or other stars.

Koussouros has already developed an eclectic range of inventions, most of which are rather less romantic than the KissPhone. They include a new type of fertiliser packaging and a self-bolting door.

(tgdaily.com)

Target: Carla Bruni modelling jewellery in 2003. Police believe the stolen pictures could be posted on the web

Hundreds of ‘highly intimate’ images of the French president’s wife and her former lover have been stolen during a burglary.

The photographs and videos of Carla Bruni, who is on an official trip to Spain with Nicolas Sarkozy, date from the 41-year- old’s affair with philosopher Raphael Enthoven.

Thieves broke into the Paris flat of his brother, 27-year-old actor Julien Enthoven, where the prints and videos were being kept, and stole them.

Police believe the images could be posted on the web, serving to embarrass Nicolas Sarkozy or be sold for a sizeable sum, thanks to his third wife’s status.

A source said: ‘The thieves appeared to know exactly what they were looking for, taking highly intimate prints, a camera full of further images, videos, and numerous computer files.

‘They broke into Mr Enthoven’s flat in Rue Dauphine, in the sixth arrondissement, on Sunday night, smashing a window in the sitting room which looks out on to the courtyard. Nobody was at home at the time, and nothing else was taken.’

Raphael, who fathered Miss Bruni’s son Aurelien, eight, is believed to have entrusted the pictures to his brother as he did not want them to embarrass his new partner, or Mr Sarkozy, a detective working on the case said.

The Sarkozys arrived in Spain the day after the raid.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy places a protective hand on his wife’s back as the pair met with Spanish prime minister Jose Zapatero (not pictured) in Madrid

But neighbours in the mansion block where Julien Enthoven lives said it was ’suspicious’.

‘It’s almost impossible to get into any of the flats here, and burglaries are pretty much unheard of,’ said Jean-Frederic Avel.

Miss Bruni had been living with the Enthovens’ father, the Paris philosopher Jean-Paul, in the late 1990s before leaving him for his married elder son.

Raphael’s ex-wife, the author Justine Levy, never forgave her, portraying Miss Bruni in a book as a ‘husband stealer’ with a ‘terminator smile’.

Ms Bruni and Raphael Enthoven - who is said to have entrusted the intimate snaps to his brother so that they would not fall into the wrong hands

Ms Bruni with her former lover and their son Aurélien at the funeral of her brother in 2006

Last year, just before a state visit to Britain, nude pictures of Miss Bruni, a former model, were released.

Since then she has been trying to tone down her image.

In February the home of the president’s brother, Francois Sarkozy, in the upmarket suburb of Neuilly was raided, with the loss of official documents and cash.

A week earlier £500,000 worth of jewellery was taken from the Neuilly apartment of Cecilia Attias, Mr Sarkozy’s second wife.

Of the most recent theft, a police source said: ‘We can not rule out a link with earlier burglaries.’

Embarrassment: This 1993 image of Ms Bruni during her modelling days was released by Christie’s just before she arrived in England to meet the Queen

(dailymail.co.uk)

ADDIS ABABA, (Xinhua) — China is concerned over the difficulties that African countries are suffering from the global financial crisis and hope to work together with them to tide over the difficulties posed by the crisis, said a Chinese deputy speaker here on Tuesday.

China will continue to increase its aid to Africa despite the impact of the global financial crisis, said Abulaiti Abudurexiti, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

He cited a case in point in the commitment made by Chinese President Hu Jintao during the recent G20 summit in London.

Chinese President Hu said at the summit that his country will, within its capability, continue to increase its aid to Africa, reduce or cancel African countries’ debts, expand its trade and increase investment in Africa, fulfilling the commitments it made during the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006.

Abulaiti, also president of the China-Africa Friendship Association, is on a two-day visit to Ethiopia.

During his talks with Degefi Bula, speaker of the House of Federation, the Chinese deputy speaker said China and Ethiopia have enjoyed long-standing friendship over the past several decades, adding that the two countries have witnessed frequent high-level exchange of visits, stronger mutual political trust and fruitful economic cooperation in recent years.

Degefi, for his part, said Africa and China should enhance coordination in efforts to eliminate the adverse effects of the financial crisis.

He expressed his gratitude to Chinese government for its support to Ethiopia in particular and to Africa in general even in time of global economic meltdown.

Degefi said the Ethio-Chinese relations had a firm foundation and traced as far back in history as the age of maritime voyage.

He said the participation of Chinese investors in Africa is creating jobs for many Africans, which eventually is supporting the economies of the countries.

Degefi said Ethiopia is benefiting from the participation of the Chinese investors engaged in various sectors in the country.

He added Ethiopian is desirous to scale up the relations of the two countries to a higher level.
Editor: Mu Xuequan

Oriental Morning Post
April 28, 2009

A laid-off factory worker made headlines today after being admitted to a PhD program at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University.

According to Shanghai’s Oriental Morning Post, Cai Wei finished his formal education 18 years ago when he obtained a high school diploma. He did not succeed in his college entrance examinations, so he went to work in a factory in his hometown of Jinzhou, Liaoning Province. He was laid off in 1994.

Cai then became a roadside peddler and moonlighted as the driver of a three-wheeled bicycle after his wife fell ill in 2007. In the meantime, he studied ancient documents on his own time and published articles in online forums.

Cai, who is now 38 years old, was also in correspondence with Fudan professor Qiu Xigun, a prominent academic in the field of ancient documents. Qiu was impressed with Cai’s knowledge and even made adjustments to his own work based on suggestions that Cai made.

Fudan University introduced admissions changes this year to give professors more leeway to pick their own PhD candidates. Previously, only those who had obtained a master’s degree were qualified to apply. In Cai’s case, he was recommended by three professors, including Qiu, and was admitted without a qualifying exam.

According to the university administration, in consideration for his academic background, Cai will not be asked to study English. However, he will be required to study Japanese, the language in which much of the literature in the field was originally written.

(danwei.org)

BELGRADE (Reuters) – A Serbian union official who chopped off his finger and ate it in a protest over wages that in some cases have not been paid in years, said Monday he did it to show how desperate he and other workers were.

“We, the workers have nothing to eat, we had to seek some sort of alternative food and I gave them an example,” Zoran Bulatovic told Reuters. “It hurt like hell.”

Bulatovic, a union leader at the Raska Holding textile factory in Novi Pazar in southwest Serbia, used a hacksaw to cut off most of his left-hand little finger Friday.

Bulatovic said he decided to act after his deputy, “a single mother of three, was the first to say she would cut off her finger. I could not allow her to do that,” he said.

State-owned Raska Holding was a major textile producer in the late 1980s with a workforce of 4,000. It suffered during the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and a loss of markets and mismanagement during a decade of wars and sanctions led to massive job cuts, leaving the company with just 100 workers.

Some employees have not been paid for years, only collecting social benefits, like free medical care.

About two dozen workers went on a 19-day hunger strike last year. They want the company’s debt to be swapped for state-held equity and a welfare program for those nearing retirement.

Bulatovic said his comrades will not back down from their demands, but they will postpone planned self-mutilations at least until talks with government officials in Belgrade expected Tuesday.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Gordana Filipovic and Matthew Jones)
()

By Hisane MASAKI

The increasingly fierce competition between Japan and China over energy and political influence is spilling over into Africa.

Following in the footsteps of Beijing, Tokyo has recently begun to turn to the continent as a new source of oil. Meanwhile, the leaders of the two Asian neighbors have recently made whirlwind tours of Africa.

Japan/Africa

While Japan until recently has almost ignored Africa as an energy-resource supplier, China has been aggressively pursuing oil and gas interests in Africa. Japan and China are the world’s No 3 and No 2 oil consumers, respectively. And they are both hungry for energy
to feed their economies, the world’s No 2 and No 4, respectively, in terms of gross domestic product.

Japan imports almost all of its oil, nearly 90% of which comes
from the Middle East. Deeply concerned about energy security at a time of stubbornly high global oil prices and a global rush for oil and other energy resources, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) recently released a new long-terms strategy aimed at ensuring stable oil, gas and other energy-resource supplies.

The New National Energy Strategy calls for, among other things, strengthening relations with resource-rich countries, securing energy resources abroad through the fostering of more powerful domestic energy companies, and boosting to 40% by 2030 from the current 15% the ratio of “Hinomaru oil”, that is oil developed and imported through Japanese domestic producers.

METI chief Nikai Toshihiro announced recently that Japan will send a high-powered mission, including the head of the METI-affiliated Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, to Libya to strengthen bilateral ties in energy and other areas. Libya, with an estimated 39 billion barrels of oil, has the world’s ninth-largest reserves.

Last October, Japan scored a coup in its oil diplomacy. Five Japanese enterprises won international tenders to acquire the rights to develop a combined six oil blocks in Libya. The deals marked the first oil-exploration concession ever given to Japanese firms in Libya.

Two Japanese oil blocks in Libya

Japan is also eyeing interests in oilfields in the rest of Africa. The government sent a fact-finding mission of officials from oil developers, trading firms and engineering firms to Mauritania and Chad early this year. Mauritanian Petroleum and Energy Minister Mohamed Aly visited Tokyo recently and met with Nikai. The two ministers agreed to cooperate in developing oil resources in the northwestern African country. Nikai pledged to send a high-level private-public mission to Mauritania soon, led by the head of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

Japan also views as promising the development of oilfields in other African countries such as Equatorial Guinea and Ivory Coast.

While Japan has largely ignored Africa as a source of its badly needed oil, not all Japanese oil developers have shied away from making forays there. AOC, for example, signed a production-sharing contract with Egypt in July 2005 for oil and gas exploration and development in the Northwest October block in the Gulf of Suez. AOC plans to start production there during fiscal 2008. Teikoku Oil is more active in Egypt. It was awarded two blocks through an international tender in June 2005 - the South October and North Qarun blocks.

Earlier, Teikoku Oil had acquired interests in the West Bakr and Southeast July blocks. Teikoku Oil also made inroads into the Algerian oil and gas sectors several years ago. It is participating in development projects in Ohanet and El Ouar I and II blocks. Teikoku Oil has also participated in an offshore oil development project in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the 1970s.

Teikoku Oil’s gas project in Algeria

Japan’s new focus on Africa as a source of energy resources, especially oil, comes on the heels of China’s aggressive forays into the continent’s energy sector, as exemplified by recent visits by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Hu visited three African countries, including Nigeria, the continent’s largest oil producer. Wen visited seven countries, including Angola, the continent’s second-largest oil producer.

China is a leading player in the recent global rush for oil and other energy reserves. China now depends on imports for more than 40% of its oil. The International Energy Agency predicts this will rise to 75% in 2030. Competition for energy sources has increased tensions between China and Japan. The Asian neighbors are locked in a simmering fracas over Chinese gas projects in the disputed waters in the East China Sea. They have also lobbied hard for alternative routes for a pipeline from eastern Siberia’s oilfields to Pacific Rim nations.

China’s aggressiveness in the global oil market drew widespread attention last summer when China National Offshore Oil Corp’s takeover bid for US oil-and-gas firm Unocal was blocked by the US government.

Still, China has gotten its hands on many foreign oil deposits in the past year or two, including some in Africa. China won oil interests off the coast of Angola after wooing that African country with a US$2 billion credit line. China also made the $2.27 billion purchase of a 45% stake in the Akpo offshore oil-and-gas field in Nigeria. China secured four oil-drilling licenses from Nigeria during Hu’s African tour. The ratio of crude-oil imports from Africa to China’s overall imports of the fuel has reached 30%. China’s focus is on Nigeria, Angola and Sudan. It is possible that Angola has already replaced Saudi Arabia as China’s largest oil supplier.

To be sure, Japan has also stepped up its Africa diplomacy in recent years. But this has been driven mainly by a strong desire to gain support from the continent’s 53 countries for Japan’s bid for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat.

Meanwhile, in late April Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro visited Ethiopia, where the African Union is headquartered. Japan has hosted the ministerial-level Tokyo International Conference on African Development three times since 1993 to muster international support for the region, still plagued by poverty, conflict and infectious diseases. Japan will host the fourth TICAD in 2008. Japan, the world’s second-largest donor of official development assistance (ODA) after the United States, has chipped in about 10% of such money extended directly to developing countries. At the Asian-African summit in Jakarta in April last year, Koizumi announced a decision to double Japanese ODA for Africa in three years.

However, China seems to be outdoing Japan in forging closer economic relations - and increasing influence - with Africa. African-Chinese trade totaled $40 billion in 2005, up 35% from 2004. This figure eclipses African-Japanese trade, which totaled $18 billion in 2005. In addition, China’s investment in Africa is rising sharply, and Beijing boasts a proactive record on aid and debt relief, having given more than $5.5 billion in assistance and canceled the debt of 31 countries.

China does not seem to be fussy about where its oil comes from. It gets oil in Sudan, for example, despite the international uproar over the Darfur crisis. To be sure, Japan won concession rights for oil and gas in Sudan in June last year. But the winner, Systems International Group, is a company newly established by a Japanese non-governmental organization, Reliance. It plans to use the profit from oil development in eastern Sudan to finance humanitarian support in Africa.

China’s appetite for oil and other resources is not the only reason for Beijing’s active charm diplomacy in Africa.

Taiwan announced early this month that it was breaking off diplomatic relations with Chad, just hours before a planned trip by Taiwanese Premier Su Tseng-chang to the Central African country. Su’s trip was canceled. A Taiwanese spokesman said Chad was under pressure from Beijing to end its relations with Taiwan, so the island’s leaders made the break before Chad could move on its own.

At first glance, many African countries seem to be benefiting from China’s runaway economic growth. Critics say that Beijing’s interest in Africa is driven by self-interest and that it is prepared to ignore political, environmental and humanitarian considerations in its search for energy resources. They also say that oil wealth could entrench corruption in countries while natural resources are controlled by small elites.

Unlike China, Japan, the self-proclaimed champion of democracy in Asia, cannot turn a blind eye to poor records on democracy and human rights in many African countries. Japan has applied strict criteria for aid provision to developing countries in Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the world, with democracy and human-rights protection as basic conditions.

China’s influence in Africa looks set to grow further. The emerging economic powerhouse seems to be seen by some African leaders as a role model for their own nations. The odds seem to be in China’s favor.

Hisane Masaki is a Tokyo-based journalist, commentator and scholar on international politics and economy. Masaki’s e-mail address is yiu45535@nifty.com. This is a slightly abbreviated version of an article that appeared in Asia Times. Posted at Japan Focus on August 19, 2006.

(mascareignas.blogspot.com)

China really does not get enough credit for its generosity. The latest wave of investment by Chinese companies in oil production in Brazil, Russia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan is a reminder that the country is exporting billions of dollars of capital to create benefits not just for China itself, but to be shared by the whole world. There are reasons why such a strategy makes sense, but the caricature of planners in Beijing steering China Inc to “tie up” the world’s natural resources is a long way from the truth.

The game was given away recently by Jose Gabrielli, the CEO of Petrobras, who told Bloomberg that the loan of up to $10bn that he expects to get from China, “will not be collateralized with oil.”

As Bloomberg put it:

Chinese companies will instead receive right of first refusal on some future output as part of a deal being finalized between Brazil and China’s Development Bank

In other words, the Chinese will be able to buy some oil, if they want. That’s not much of a return for $10bn.

That deal is only the most extreme example of a common theme in Chinese oil investment: China is putting up money to raise oil production, but not claiming the full benefit of that increased production. In fact, the point would be the same even if China secured every drop of Brazil’s oil, because in a broad, liquid global market such as oil, barrels are - to a first approximation - fully interchangeable. Every barrel that China imports from Brazil or Venezuela or Russia is one less that it will need to import from Saudi Arabia, which can then export more to Japan, Europe or the US.

That is true for all China’s oil investments. It is, for example, a little-considered truth about CNPC’s hugely controversial involvement in Sudan - a country that was one of the world’s fastest-growing oil producers in 2007 - that the US and Europe are beneficiaries as much as China.

China is not tying up resources that no-one else will be able to use. The truth is exactly the opposite: by investing in resource production, China is making a contribution to global supply that benefits oil consumers everywhere.

Gas is somewhat different, because there is less of a global market (so far, at least). If China builds pipelines to take gas from Turkmenistan or Russia that are cheaper and more reliable than the export routes for those countries to sell in the EU, then Chinese customers can get a better deal than Europeans. Even there, though, the growth of LNG has created arbitrage opportunities that smooth out differences in gas markets worldwide. If China buys more gas from Turkmenistan, it will import less LNG from Australia, which will as a result be able to export more to Japan and the US.

The point is not that naive Chinese investors are being fleeced by canny operators in Brazil and Russia. The deals may very well make sense from the point of view of the different Chinese companies and banks involved, which are seeking to extend their global reach. The oil may also be sold at below-market price, which makes them attractive for the Chinese buyers. But to see these moves as reflecting the grand strategy of “China Inc” is a profound misunderstanding.

Even worse is being alarmed by these moves and trying to block them. The world needs all the investment in energy it can get; even more so at this time when finances are constrained by low oil and gas prices and the credit crunch. China still has capital to invest, and its dollars are as good as anyone else’s. Turning them away would be madness.

China takes the long view on oil (FT Energy Source)
Why do international oil companies partner with Chinese NOCs? (FT Energy Source)
China gets busy (FT Energy Source)

The billion-dollar China-Africa Development Fund opened its first Africa office in Johannesburg on Monday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao announced the creation of the 5-billion-dollar fund in 2006 to support Chinese investment in Africa, which supplies China with oil and other commodities.

South Africa’s leading candidate for president in April elections, Jacob Zuma, attended the opening, together with Chen Yuan, the chairman of the Chinese Development Bank, and other Chinese officials.

‘The fund will boost economic development in Africa by encouraging investment by Chinese enterprises,’ the Fund said in a statement.

Since its establishment in 2007, the fund has facilitated over 20 investments in Africa, amounting to nearly 400 million dollars, the statement added.

The Chinese Development Bank has seeded it with 1 billion dollars.
(mascareignas.blogspot.com)

As I watch the electoral process unfold in SA from China I feel proud of my country. My heart jolted as I wrote the words, “my country”. The elections are being done peacefully, democratically. My heart was warmed by the sight in the Mail & Guardian of a picture of an IEC official helping a blind, elderly woman vote as that polling station had no Braille ballots.

Since leaving SA nearly five years ago to explore the world, live elsewhere – a dream of mine since childhood – I have never really missed the country much as I was too busy absorbing one or another culture. Sure, I had travelled overseas several times before leaving, SA (perhaps for good, perhaps not) but I had never worked in another country. Believe you me a quick two week or two month tour of a country does not get it into your being. Not at all. It was too difficult to miss SA as I was too occupied with experiencing (not always enjoying) other countries, England, France, New Zealand and, omigod, especially trying to crack China as my regulars well know. The latter was the serious culture shock, France was simply enchante.

Today, at school between lessons, as I watch through the window the spring leaves slowly flare out of the street side plane trees, I miss the old girl: SA I mean. What almost comes first to mind and heart is the purple drama of Gauteng (Gauteng! You make my heart sing…) thunderstorms: that electric hush and thrill to the air as I cycled in the Magaliesberg, then the rain pounding down and the sudden klap of lightning loosening the bowels. The smell of wet veldt and the bluegum and fir trees’ leaves darkly boiling sideways into the storm. Ten minutes of clobbering rain: then that spiky silence again as the Magaliesberg emerges from the storm again, shrugging herself off, refreshed and slowly starting to smoulder again in the long, dusty summers…

Braais come next (barbeques for non South Africans), and I suppose it is a question of upbringing, but there is nothing like a SA braai. I haven’t had one in fricken three years, and the last one was in New Zealand where I had to grudgingly (I emphasise grudgingly) admit the beef and lamb was better than South Africa’s, my bru. The Chinese have no clue; just about everything is cooked and drowned in oil. The first thing the Chook wants when we get to New Zealand next year is: 1) Her daughter Michelle to have a large packet of biltong with her when she collects us at the airport. 2) A braai with pap (sudsa) and tomato bredie and mielies simmering on the grate.

What still features in my nightly dreams like a spiritual yearning for transcendence are the forests in the Eastern and Western Cape, particularly the Tsitsikamma forest and hiking the Otter Trail. I was always way ahead of the group I was with and it was great to sit for a bit on a completely desolate strip of beach butt naked with a glass of whiskey and water, sweating from the day’s hike and look at the whales’ spume arcing in the distance, Plettenberg Bay starting to twinkle as the night breathed in. The forests: sitting under tall masts of pine as they sang and whispered, sailing me off into a deeper peace, only occasionally broken by a falling pine cone chuckling to the ground. I will never forget the smell of wept pine gum on my hands: my eyes moisten at that miracle of remembered scent even now.

My first alma mater is Rhodes University and today for the first time in many, many years, about two decades in fact, I looked at some pics of Rhodes on the internet and my heart ached to see all those white buildings and the hill leading up to the 1820 Settlers National Monument.

But I do not really miss the people. I have often thought about that and can only relate it to my ambivalent feelings for the Chinese. So here goes.

Things I dislike and find amusing about mainland Chinese is that they hawk and spit on the streets periodically right in front of you, they do not queue a lot of the time, and will happily jump in front of you in queues (Beijing had special training days for months before the Olympics to get people in bus and subway queues to behave like civilised people). On the street they point out foreigners and seem to ridicule us with their laughs and grins, talking about us openly. For the most part, even in the school I teach at (and I get on with the staff and kids very well) I am still just known as lawei, the foreigner. Wherever I go I am just referred to as lawei and of late it has been freaking me out.

I can’t go to the park on People’s Square and just smell the flowers and relax in silence under the pine trees, because every second Chinese has to walk up to me and try out their swak English on me. Now their friendly efforts might sound very sweet, dear reader, but when all you want to do is time out and just enjoy the beauty of the flowers in peace, but can’t, because nearly every time there are endless people quite happy to single you out as the only lawei in the park and disturb you. (My trick when I see someone about to start talking to me is to pretend I am asleep.)

The Chinese are daft, nutty, half-baked. (Anal-retentive, “politically correct” readers have accused me of being distasteful when I describe the Chinese; I don’t care a fig. ) For example, right now workers are refurbishing our apartment building, as part of Shanghai’s general facelift for World Expo 2010. We are on the twenty-second floor and live in a green cocoon of scaffolding and netting. This is the view from our kitchen window, somewhere on this blog.

The first thing the workers did was paint the corridors white, just one or two coats, and no protective enamel paint, which is typical. Then, oh sweet heaven and all the saints and angels, only then did they start repairing windows, the elevator, the paving and wiring. The paintwork, only a few weeks old, is already spoilt with indelible grime, scuff marks and spatters of cement mix. What an utter waste of money and labour. Repairs to the building first surely, then the cosmetic bit where you paint all the walls. But honestly, these okes just don’t think, dammit think! And this is one of endless episodes I can tell you. It’s hilarious living in “The Middle Kingdom”!

But I love the Chinese. They are unbelievably friendly, viscerally so. And generous. I have got friends for life and two wonderful god-daughters. Once in the rain a distinguished looking Chinese rolled down his electronic car window and tossed me an umbrella, singling me out from the dozen or so Chinese also standing in the downpour. Positive discrimination. We gave our ayi (maid) Salina a Christmas present of chocolates once and she got us socks, scarves and legwarmers. We weren’t expecting anything. We were embarrassed and moved by her loving kindness and knew she really just wanted to be part of our little family.

I will be talking and writing about the daft, wonderful Chinese for years to come and will definitely miss them, but South Africans? Not really. (Though I am thrilled I recently made contact with an old school mate of mine, a friendship that goes back to standard seven in Boksburg High in 1978 and with whom I stowed away on a ship in Cape Town in 1982 headed for France because we took great exception to compulsory military service.)

Why? I don’t know. But I can make some guesses, such as maybe, just maybe too many are too busy being “politically correct” or playing one race card or another. Maybe I will try and answer the question in a future blog, depending on the response, if any, of that glorious, hilarious, multi-faceted and feisty character, the ta-daah…Thought Leadership Commentary!

(thoughtleader.co.za)

Chinese textile experts are assessing the Zambia China Mulungushi Textile in Kabwe to ascertain the viability of the factory.

Defence Minister, George Mpombo, says the team, which was in the country about two weeks ago is assessing the production capacity of the textile plant.

Mr. Mpombo told ZNBC news in an interview that the experts also want to assess capital injection requirements.

The Minister said the technical report on the plant will be ready by mid next month.

Mr. Mpombo said officials from Zambia have also been invited to travel to China to discuss the matter.

Over one thousand workers lost their jobs after the Kabwe factory closed about two years ago.

(znbc.co.zm)

(mint.com)