Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Looking farther afield, China's current involvement in dam development in Africa has
enjoyed exponential growth; dozens of projects are under way on a score of major rivers
throughout the continent. Sinohydro officials estimate that overseas business now accounts
for more than one-quarter of the company's revenues and that, of the overseas portion of
its portfolio, business activities in Africa are the most lucrative (Sinohydro 2013). One
particularly instructive case is the Lower Kafue Gorge Hydroelectric Project in Zambia, a
contract worth nearly U.S.$2 billion that was awarded to Sinohydro through a noncompet-
itive bidding process in 2010. In an editorial commentary published shortly after the an-
nouncement that the project would move forward, Michael Tarney, managing director for
corporate development at the Copperbelt Energy Corporation in Zambia, expressed optim-
ism mixed with caution. He acknowledged China'sexpertise in the field today,which made
Sinohydro the natural choice as a key partner. But he also urged concessions such as the
employment of Zambian construction workers, a financing package that would make elec-
trical power affordable for ordinary consumers, and technology-transfer programs to boost
Zambia's domestic technical capacity. Tarney remarked, “Success and sustainability of a
robust and stable key infrastructure like energy generation solely depend on technology
transfer. China is where it is today not just because of its role as a manufacturing hub for
the world but also due to huge investment in technology transfers” (qtd. in Post 2010).
Tarney's comments underscore the importance of technology transfers—the process
through which technology, skills, and even specific manufacturing techniques are trans-
ferred from one country to another, usually at the behest of the government as a precondi-
tion for entering into a business partnership. It is true that technology transfer has played
a major role in China's development trajectory, particularly during the Reform and Open-
ing period. Although Chinese companies continue to exercise their primary competitive
advantage in the global marketplace—cheap labor—they also rely on the government to
help establish technology-transfer agreements with global corporations. As a result, in the
space of only a few decades, Chinese engineers have gained expertise in automobile design
from American and German companies, in high-speed railway and train construction from
Japanese firms, and in wind-power production from European firms (Lewis 2013). These
gains have undoubtedly helped China to move up the production chain from labor-intens-
ive manufacturing to more value-added domains such as research and development.
The Chinese model of building dams in African countries is predicated on a set of com-
plementary interests between the two sides. China is in constant need of resources—in
particular oil, minerals, and timber—to continue its domestic economic expansion, and
Chinese firms can enter into quid pro quo arrangements with governments in order to ac-
complish this. For example, the China National Petroleum Corporation has been invest-
ing in Sudan since the mid-1990s even amid armed conflict that has driven away many
Western investors worried about the ethical and public-relations problems with such in-
vestment choices. China National Petroleum has engaged in oil-extraction activities in ex-
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