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Photo credit: Per Arne Wilson (Creative Commons)
Policy Brief 37 — Disasters While Digging: Rates of Violence Against Mine Workers in Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Zambia
In 2010, violence broke out at a mine in Zambia and many local workers were injured. This incident served as a jump-off point for criticism of Chinese mines in Africa and a broader discussion of the treatment of workers by Chinese managers and companies. But is there actually a higher rate of violence against workers in Chinese-owned mines? In this brief, Christian Freymeyer explores rates of violence against workers in mines in Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, and Zambia, and further dissects the idea of mine ownership to help answer this question.
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Photo credit: Sergio Chichava, Shubo Li, Michael G. Sambo
Image: Thomas Allom through Wikimedia Commons
Working Paper 28 and Policy Brief 36 — The Blind Spot: International Mining in Angoche and Larde, Mozambique
Comparing Chinese and Irish companies in their respective dealings with local civil societies and communities, Chichava, Li, and Sambo probe the social impacts of heavy sand mining by international companies in Mozambique. They set to find out how international mining affects local social organization in terms of work, labor relations, and livelihoods, and how disputes are negotiated between the mining companies, municipal and provincial governments, and civil society groups representing the interests of local communities. Disagreements around compensation, resource depletion, and labor-relations are the primary source of controversy and tension generated by the mining projects.
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Prof. Deborah Bräutigam in The American Interest: Misdiagnosing the Chinese Infrastructure Push
In a recent article for The American Interest, CARI’s Director Prof. Bräutigam analyzes China’s latest BRI developments and asks: is the Communist government of China scheming to use cranes and bulldozers to take over the world? Over the past five years, China’s newest packaging of its global economic expansion—the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—has fostered alarm and eagerness in nearly equal measures. How worried should the West be about this new stage of China’s outward march?
Photo credit: Ying Xia
Photo credit: Lin Qi
Working Paper 27 and Policy Brief 35 — Wealth from Waste? Chinese Investments and Technology Transfer in the Tanzanian Plastic Recycling Industry
These papers by Ying Xia explore how, since the 1990s, China has emerged as the center of the global waste trade and recycling industry, importing and reprocessing millions of tons of waste materials every year. In recent years, due to rising costs for labor and environmental compliance in China, Chinese investors have been exploring the recycling industry in Africa, currently serving both Chinese and African markets with a variety of products. This research examines the potential of knowledge transfer from Chinese investments in the Tanzanian plastic recycling industry to the local economy. It also assesses how the recent regulatory change in China, i.e., the imposition of an import ban on waste materials since 2018, has affected plastic recycling and reprocessing industries in Tanzania.
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SAIS-CARI 5th Annual Conference - April 15-16, 2019
The 5th Annual China-Africa Research Initiative (CARI) Conference was held on Monday, April 15 and Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington DC.
This year’s theme was "Catalysts, Competition and Learning: Knowledge, Skills, and Technology Transfer in China-Africa Engagements." The program can be found on our event page.
The conference was recorded - links below.
Neither Tightening Nor Loosening the Belt: Chinese Lending to African BRI Signatories
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Author: Jordan Link, Research Manager at SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative
As representatives from more than 100 countries assemble this week in Beijing for the second Belt and Road Cooperation Forum, questions remain as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) nears its sixth year of existence. Is the BRI a top-down plot for building China’s road to global dominance? Or is it simply a means to “promote world peace and development” as offered by Chinese President Xi Jinping?
