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China economically conquer Africa

After putting forward the concept of "New Silk Road" in September 2013 years, its main goal was considered to be the connection between Europe and Southeast Asia by a single transport network, Andrey Ganzha writes on the website Daily. The priority direction was the transport route from the northwestern borders of China (Xinjiang Uyghur region) — through Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey— and further, across the Bosporus to the Old World.

How much Chinese trade ambitions have spurred Islamism and Middle Eastern civil wars can only be speculated.. But you can't get away from the fact: the growth of military activity is clearly forcing Beijing to reconsider the geography of the project. And the recent visit of President Xi Jinping to Africa is a vivid confirmation of this..

The main visit was considered to be Johannesburg (South Africa) to participate in the anniversary, tenth BRICS summit. But along the way, the Chinese delegation "stopped" at three African countries, the choice of which may seem unexpected. President Xi zigzagged through Africa from northwest to southeast, visiting small Senegal on the west coast of the continent, little Rwanda in its center and Mauritius— tiny island in the Indian Ocean, off the east coast of Africa. Now is the time to think about strategy.. However, the stops only seem strange.

For Senegal, China is not only the second largest trading partner, trade turnover with which increased 17 times in ten years: everything is easier— 90 percent of Senegal's economy is controlled by Chinese businesses. China is also the largest investor in Senegal., especially in transport infrastructure (bridges and highway under construction from Dakar to Tuba). Beijing does not skimp on humanitarian projects: for Chinese money in the villages of Senegal was built 251 well and paved 1800 kilometers of pipes, which made it possible to solve the problem of drinking and domestic water for a seventh of the country's population. President Xi reminded the Senegalese of all this in an article published in the most authoritative and quasi-official Senegalese newspaper.The sun. Article, by the way, called "China and Senegal rallied together".

China is also important for Rwanda: not only as a leading trading partner, but also especially for the education and medicine of the country. Even in the distant 1976 year, the Chinese government began to provide scholarships to Rwandan students, studying in China. And since 1982, China began to send special medical units to Rwanda., and so far there have been eighteen of them.

Как Китай экономически покоряет Африку

What explains Beijing's choice of Rwanda?? Zhao Hongwei, Chinese Ambassador to KigaliXinhua said in an interview: "In 20 years, Rwanda has achieved national reconciliation, political stability and economic development. Today's Rwanda is „exemplary“ for African states. Thanks to its development, Rwanda has not only improved the lives of its people, gained prestige in the international community, but also provided investment opportunities to citizens of other countries". this, of course, hard to think about the country, where even less than a quarter of a century ago genocide raged, and the Hutu desperately slaughtered the Tutsis. However, the Chinese have never been stopped by the moral qualities of their business partners..

Well, and Mauritius has long been in the sights of Chinese investment interests. Back in 2009, the creation of the Jinfei Economic Zone began there.. Now it's 211 hectares of trade, tourism, financial, as well as high-tech and textile industries.

It turns out, that China took into account its already not only economic, but also political interest three small countries (easy to control, easy to invest, easy to defend), that lie on the line, cutting through Africa from the southeast, off the coast of the Indian Ocean, to the north-west, to the Pacific coast. To my mind, these are just ideal points of trade and economic expansion!

But business interests mean nothing without the brute force factor.. Beijing remembers well, that when Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in Libya(2011 year), China lost there 18 billion dollars of investment and was forced to evacuate thirty-five thousand of its citizens.

Yes, and competitors are worried. Americans, who have long been worried about Beijing's activity on the Black Continent, Back in 2008, they created the entire African Command of the US Armed Forces (AFRICA, AFRICOM). true, actually there are few American soldiers in Africa— about three hundred people at the Garoua airfield in Cameroon. The rest are dozing at bases in Germany and Italy. Formally, AFRICOM was created to counter terrorism and rebels in the Sahara region.— Sahel and the Niger Delta. But another task of AFRICOM is not a secret either.: training of US allied armies in Ethiopia, Sudan (Darfur), Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, of Seychelles, a small, in Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Liberia, Cameroon, Gabon, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania.

And here it is impossible not to recall the events of three years ago. In that, 2015 year, sixteen current UN peacekeeping missions involved 106 245 military and police personnel, provided by 122 countries of the world. Of them 89 127 people were in Africa, where during the implementation of nine missions have already died 785 "blue helmets". There was a catastrophic lack of people and money at the UN. And suddenly, from the rostrum of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly— Xi Jinping said: "I would like to announce, that China will join the new alert system of the UN peacekeeping capability, and that, to this end, he has decided to take the lead in establishing a permanent contingent of peacekeeping police forces, allocating to their composition a reserve of 8 000 Human".

And, so as not to raise unnecessary doubts, Xi vows to establish China-UN Peace and Development Fund, with a capital of one billion dollars for a period of 10 years". Ovations of the hall! And now it will not be too bold to assume, that China, in its African search, can count on the forceful support of the highest "level of accreditation"— eight thousand fighters in the blue helmets of UN peacekeepers. And very successfully «propped up» logistics point for the Chinese fleet in Djibouti, intended for temporary basing of Marine Corps units, surface ships and submarines, performing combat training and combat missions in the Indian Ocean. Well, isn't there a place for the deployment of "blue helmets"?

These fighters will have something to defend. According to the British audit and consulting company Ernst & Young, in 2016volume of Chinese investment in Africa was 36,1 billion. The data is far from complete., since the Chinese themselves have repeatedly admitted that, that they do not know the real volumes of their Chinese investments. However, this is enough, since in the same year the total volume of investments of other large investors of the continent amounted to only 29,1 billion.

If the proposed version is correct, and Beijing really started to form transcontinental African logistics, then we can offer another conclusion: Xi Jinping brought money to Africa. Much money… Amounts not disclosed, but Chinese media, just on the eve of the trip, a very significant poster was published— many hands reach out towards the stretched Chinese palm: white, yellow and black. It is understandable, because now only China is able and ready to provide real assistance to lagging countries in their economic development. Russia and Brazil in crisis, im not up to acorns…

                          
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