LONDON, July 15 (Xinhua): China's trade and investment in Africa benefit not only Africans, but the European and the United States as well, a British researcher has said.
Bill Durodie, associate fellow with the Royal Institute of International Affairs, made the remarks late last week in his speech at a one-day conference entitled "Battle for China," which aims to present a balanced portrayal of China in the West.
China provides financing to Africa in the form of direct investment or loans which the West is not too keen on.
African countries that have been growing at 5-6 per cent a year for a decade need new roads, power stations and manufactured goods. Investment from China helps these African countries to build roads, railways, hospitals and schools, he said.
Unlike others in the region, he pointed out, the Chinese have a reputation for paying promptly and well. The Chinese, "with their no-strings-attached investment policies, have been so welcomed across the continent. Chinese loans come with few demands, benchmark conditions, requirements for risk audits and environmental impact assessments. But they do get things done."
While acknowledging problems in the course of China's trade and investment in Africa as other countries may also have, he stressed that Western countries' criticising on China's new role and impact on Africa is a sign of the Western imagination's inability to view Africans as capable of dealing with their own problems and the West's obsession with viewing China as malign.
Meanwhile, the overall demand including household consumption, enterprise investment, government purchase and net import, is shrinking in China, marking the economic slowdown, according to the state information centre.
A foreboding indicator of economic climate shows that China's economy is on the downward trend after hitting the peak.
The overall demand is a key gauge of the country's economic climate in the short term.
Household demand is mainly decided by disposable income. Statistics show that there has not been tangible increase in Chinese income in recent years.
The actual income of many Chinese citizens has declined due to sustained price hikes and increased tax burden.
Enterprises' investments are directly correlated to fiscal and monetary policies. As China's central bank has raised the required reserve ratio six times this year, bringing the ratio to a record of 17.5 per cent. It is more difficult for China's enterprises, in particular those small and medium ones, to get loans from domestic commercial banks.
