China Monitor 2006 – The Centre for Chinese Studies

The Forum on China-Africa Corporation (FOCAC)

November 2006 – Issue 13

Three days before the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) summit was held in Beijing the skies over the city were drab and polluted – typical in Chinese cities. Somewhat miraculously, they were sunny and blue when the forty-one African Heads of State arrived. The Chinese government did the same that it had done when the International Olympic Committee arrived in Beijing to evaluate the city as a contender to host the 2008 Olympics – it ordered half-amillion
government-owned cars off the road and temporarily shut down all large polluting factories within a designated radius of Beijing.

The Biofuels Industry

October 2006 – Issue 12

With China’s economy averaging between 9-10 percent in the last several years, Beijing’s need for energy security has become a critical consideration in the Communist Party’s 11th five year plan. Since coal accounts for the primary energy consumed in China, the People’s Republic of China is considered to be the second largest emitter of energy related carbon dioxide emissions after the United States.

China’s Agricultural Developments

September 2006 – Issue 11

Reform of the agricultural sector from the late 1970’s into the early 1980’s established the basis of China’s commercial success. The move away from a collectivist and state-heavy approach to land management and the freeing of the country’s agricultural sector unshackled the market and boosted productivity in agriculture.

When Hernando de Soto wrote his book “The Mystery of capital”, he could have been referring to Chinese policy making vis-à-vis its land reform policy. China effectively unlocked the value that lay in its land through marketising its usage and giving incentive to private capital. The labour intensive nature of the sector caters for 750 million Chinese peasants, the majority of China’s population.

Chinese Multinationals

August 2006 – Issue 10

Chinese companies are striving toward multinational status. At present, there are twenty Chinese firms ranked within the Fortune 500 list of the global economy’s largest companies. Over the next two decades, it is likely that this number will increase three-fold.

The drivers of China’s going global strategy include securing resource assets, capturing of market share and acquiring brands and technologies.

Wen Jiabao’s Africa tour

July 2006 – Issue 9

Last year was declared by Prime Minister Tony Blair as the Year of Africa. He was mistaken. Rather than last year, 2006 is the year of Africa and it is being driven by China.

This year marks a historic year for China-Africa relations. In January, the Chinese Government published its White Paper of its foreign policy toward the African continent. In April, President Hu Jintao visited Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya. In June, Premier Wen Jiabao visited seven African countries – Egypt, Ghana, Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola and South Africa. In November, the Forum on China-Africa Conference (FOCAC) will be held with 47 African Heads of State invited to participate.