Okay, so I doubt there are any Ramones or Johnny Thunders fans that are going to get the sarcasm of this Post’s title.  BUT, today I was listening to NPR and they had this segment on talking about Africa and China.  While most of the Western world has been very cautious about investing in some of the less stable African nations, China is jumping in with both feet.   Awesome, right? 

Before we get too warm and fuzzy about how wonderful the Chinese are it is important to point out that the reason the West is restraining itself from investing in these counties is due to serious human rights abuses.   China, no stranger to human rights abuses itself, is investing in building factories, which is creating jobs and this is all generally well received by the recipient governments and local populations.  In fact, some African officials are now telling the US and it’s Western Allies that their money is no longer needed.

As it turns out China is not only investing in some business ventures in countries like Zambia, but they are also flooding their markets with Chinese goods.   And there is the rub.   The Africans claim that China produces two categories of goods, a higher quality level of good exported to the West and a much lesser quality of cheap goods dumped onto the African markets.  

Two African girls in a local market selling these Chinese goods are excited at the colorful sandals they see for sale.  But one whispers to the other that they will wear out and break within 2 weeks.  Although the sandals “only” cost $1 USD this type of poor quality is inexcusably wasteful and the Chinese government should be ashamed for exploiting impoverished nations to dump inferior goods onto.  

Assuming they are not supporting bad governments, I am happy that they are creating much needed jobs in these poor nations, but at what cost to human rights and dignity?