China-Africa Pre-Doctoral Research Fellowship

The China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies is seeking one or two part-time, pre-doctoral research fellows, who will lead student teams in collecting, cleaning and analyzing Chinese finance and investment data, and writing papers and reports based on the data and on African fieldwork reports. The candidate should hold a Master’s degree and be currently enrolled in a doctoral program, with ABD status, i.e. with course work and exams complete. We seek a creative individual with the skills of a detective or an investigative journalist, an organized and cheerful perfectionist, a quick learner, diligent and tenacious in tracking sources. This will be desk research, but will involve extensive follow up by telephone and other means.

The successful candidates should have knowledge of China and be able to read Chinese. Knowledge of Excel and some knowledge of China are required, while ability to do research in Chinese, knowledge of Stata and some econometrics would be helpful. Experience with China Development Bank or China Export-Import Bank or Africa would be an asset. Major responsibilities include (1) serving as primary leader of student teams working on data collection, cleaning, and analysis; (2) drafting papers analyzing the data; (3) maintenance of databases and data archival system. The role will require up to 20 hours per week for a 9 month commitment starting in September 2015, and may be renewed. Applicants must be eligible to work in the United States.

To apply please send a cover letter and cv to sais-cari@jhu.edu

What does China's Shock Yuan Devaluation mean for Africa?

This morning, CNN published my op-ed, "What does China's shock yuan devaluation mean for Africa?"

China's development decisions are critically important for Africa. In Lagos, Addis and Johannesburg, China's surprise yuan devaluation has African analysts scratching their heads.

Obviously Chinese goods will be cheaper in Africa, and African exports more expensive in China. So far, this decision is just a tremor, not a quake. Yet why did China devalue, and what is this likely to mean for Africa?

To understand China's devaluation, we need to take a step back. Beijing has been trying to manage China's enormous structural transformation ever since Chinese leaders made their historic decision to move out of poverty by turning to the market in the late 1970s. Their supercharged development model depended on low wages, high levels of foreign and public investment, and rapidly expanding, cheap exports. 

Continued here.

Are Chinese Resource Companies the Worst at Transparency?

We often assume that Chinese oil, gas and mining companies are "the worst of a bad bunch" (quoting from a Global Witness email blast). Several years ago I attended a conference in the Netherlands on transparency and natural resources, where I was intrigued to hear a representative from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) state that Chinese companies were no different from others. But this was only anecdotal. Now, a new study confirms this. As Global Witness noted in the same blast, "financial disclosure by Chinese oil, gas and mining companies around the world [is] becoming their new normal." Or, as Global Witness put it: 财务披露成为中国海外石油、天然气及矿业公司的 “新常态”

Here's more from Global Witness:

"When it comes to foreign companies denying locals basic information about what they’re up to Chinese firms are frequently fingered as the worst of a bad bunch.  However a new study challenges that assumption.

The briefing by the international transparency scheme for the oil, gas & mining industries, EITI, sets out how much information Chinese companies have published about their operations in EITI member countries around the world.

The results are encouraging and indicate an ability and willingness for Chinese firms to act transparently where disclosure is the law or the commercial norm and, at times, to go beyond the minimum requirements.

Key findings from the EITI briefing include:

• At least 90 Chinese companies are involved in EITI reporting globally, including some of the world’s biggest oil and mining names such as China National Petroleum Corporation, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Nonferrous Metal Mining.

• Chinese firms disclose information about the payments they make to host governments as much as non-Chinese firms. In the limited cases where Chinese companies were reluctant to report, they were in the good (or not so good) company of businesses from countries such as Australia, Canada and the US that were also dragging their feet.

• Information disclosure by Chinese firms doesn’t stop at financial payments. Indeed, Chinese companies in DRC, Mongolia and Nigeria made declarations about their ownership and control, known as beneficial ownership, while firms working in Afghanistan published their oil production contracts. 

• Chinese firms are involved in EITI ‘Multi-Stakeholder Groups’ – the national committees that oversee implementation – in at least six countries, which in itself goes beyond the minimal requirements. 

The findings of the report mirror those of an earlier study by Global Witness and Beijing-based consultancy SynTao which examined the extent to which Chinese companies were publishing details of their payments to foreign governments either through EITI or in line with stock exchange reporting rules.

Both studies reflect China’s increased awareness of risks faced in overseas operations and point to the role disclosure rules can play in building a more stable investment environment for companies. Research by Global Witness and other groups has shown how questions over hidden payments can damage the reputation of Chinese companies, at a time when many are seeking greater recognition on the international stage as a basis for forging joint ventures, getting listed or gaining access to new resources. Meanwhile there is growing awareness that transparency of payments made by companies to governments can help prevent corruption and associated conflict.

Given the new evidence of widespread disclosure of financial, beneficial ownership and contractual information under EITI by Chinese companies, the time seems right for leading firms to engage with and support the scheme at a more institutional level. An immediate step would be for industry leaders in China to make a public commitment to the scheme and the principles it enshrines – something that would also go some way towards reassuring doubters that Chinese companies are committed to operating as responsible players on the global stage." 

Guest Post: When the U.S. visits Africa, so does China

Photo: Ben Curtis, AP via The Detroit News

This guest post is by Janet Eom, the Research Manager at the SAIS China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University.

After his historic Africa tour, President Barack Obama is back in Washington. It was the first time a sitting U.S. president visited Kenya and Ethiopia, and Obama’s roots in Kenya lent a personal touch. But even in a story of the U.S. in Africa, China was present.

The U.S.-China-Africa plot went something like this: Africa, young and quickly growing, is the place of the future. However, U.S. trade with the continent is declining, China’s is growing. But not to worry: where China is extracting minerals, the U.S. is planting good intentions. At the AU Headquarters (constructed by Beijing) in Addis Ababa, Obama declared, “Economic relationships can’t simply be about building countries’ infrastructure with foreign labor or extracting Africa’s natural resources. Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to create jobs and capacity for Africans. That is the kind of partnership America offers.”

But as this is a story of diplomacy, how much exactly have the two governments’ leaders visited Africa? There is rhetoric, but there is also the decision to visit in the first place.

Into Africa: A Timeline

In 2009, the year Obama became president, China became Africa’s largest trading partner, surpassing the U.S. Although we can’t conclude a cause-effect relationship between presidential visits and changes in trade, it is interesting to look at patterns. This approximate timeline of visits that involved meeting with African governments in the several years before and after 2009 is strung together via the U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian and China Vitae.

George W. Bush, 2001-2009 7 days in 2003 June 2-3: Egypt July 8: Senegal July 8-10: South Africa July 10: Botswana July 11: Uganda July 11-12: Nigeria 9 days in 2008 January 16: Egypt February 16: Benin February 16-19: Tanzania February 19: Rwanda February 19-21: Ghana February 21: Liberia May 17-18: Egypt

Hu Jintao, 2003-2013 7 days in 2004 January 29-February 1: Egypt February 1- 3: Gabon February 3-4: Algeria 6 days in 2006 April 24-26: Morocco April 26-27: Nigeria April 27-29: Kenya 11 days in 2007 January 31-February 1: Cameroon February 1-2: Liberia February 2-3: Sudan February 3-5: Zambia February 5-6: Namibia February 6-8: South Africa February 8-9: Mozambique February 9-10: Seychelles 6 days in 2009 February 12-13: Mali February 13-15: Senegal February 15-17: Tanzania February 17: Mauritius Bonus: Hu Jintao spoke at FOCAC in Beijing in 2006 and 2012

Barack Obama, 2009-  3 days in 2009 June 4: Egypt July 10-11: Ghana 7 days in 2013 (traveled with the First Lady) June 26-28: Senegal June 28-July 1: South Africa July 1-2: Tanzania July 2: Senegal (stopped during return to Washington) 5 days in 2015 July 25-27: Kenya July 27-29: Ethiopia Bonus: August 4-6, 2014: U.S.-Africa summit of 50 out of 54 African heads of state in Washington D.C.

Xi Jinping, 2013- 7 days in 2013 March 24-26: Tanzania March 26-29: South Africa (Durban for BRICS Summit) March 29-30: The Congo

Quick Observations:

• Five months into his presidency, Obama made his first visit to Africa. Xi made his two weeks after assuming office, his first foreign tour. As many people suggest, are Obama’s second-term, “end-heavy” Africa tours an after-the-fact catch-up effort? Indeed, Hu intensely traversed Africa every one to two years, before halting once the trade balance shifted in 2009. However, at the same time, Bush did conduct pre-2009 tours in both his terms. With more information, it would be interesting to track whether the trade changed first, then the tours, or vice versa.
• While both Obama and Bush made short stops, neither Hu nor Xi had one or two day stopovers – all their visits were tours, with Hu visiting a whopping 8 countries in 11 days at one point. Perhaps this is because Chinese media does not publicize short visits, focusing on significant, committed trips instead. But maybe the Chinese trips are purposefully long to convey stateliness and intention. Chinese diplomats have been associated with formality and red carpet treatment to convey importance. Meanwhile, Obama emphasized his personal identity as the first Kenyan-American president of the U.S. What is the role of culture in diplomacy in Africa?
• Overlap of countries between U.S. and China visits: Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, South Africa, Senegal, and Tanzania. What may be some common priorities for potential U.S.-China-Africa collaboration in these countries?

Of course, counting visits only goes so far and there’s a lot to explore beyond this post’s scope; we need to track concrete commitments. But leader-to-leader diplomacy is symbolic, conveying priorities and intention. For now, it seems that any future U.S. or Chinese state visit to Africa will not occur without drawing comparisons to the other. It will be something for the next U.S. president to ponder.

Additional Sources:

"Chinese, Kenyan Presidents Agree to Enhance Co-op." Gov.cn, 28 Apr. 2006. Web. 4 Aug. 2015. <http://www.gov.cn/english/2006-04/28/content_269154.htm>.

"Chinese President Concludes Five-nation Trip." Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China, 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 04 Aug. 2015. <http://www.focac.org/eng/zt/Topichjt2009/t607439.htm>.

"Chinese President Hu Jintao Wraps up Successful African Tour." China View. Xinhua News Agency, 11 Feb. 2007. Web. 04 Aug. 2015. <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-02/11/content_5724926.htm>.

"President Hu's Arab-African Visit Fruitful: FM." China View. Xinhua News Agency, 30 Apr. 2006. Web. 4 Aug. 2015. <http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-04/30/content_4492702.htm>.

Stone, Amanda. "President Obama Travels to Kenya and Ethiopia." The White House Blog. The White House, 26 July 2015. Web. 04 Aug. 2015. <https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/07/26/president-obama-travels-kenya-and-ethiopia>.