Chinese entrepreneurs like Mr. Jia are spreading their technical expertise around the world, from growing crops in Africa to managing traffic in the Philippines. It is a field that is experiencing rapid growth, based on a concept that once prioritized infrastructure development to promote overseas trade.
This dissemination of expertise is a departure from the large, debt-ridden projects of the past, such as railways and ports, and burnishes China’s global image while opening up valuable new markets in which Chinese companies can grow. This is also the purpose.
China champions investment in Africa ahead of Belt and Road Forum
China champions investment in Africa ahead of Belt and Road Forum
Technology transfer has always been a formal part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which includes around 150 countries, but analysts say these types of exchanges are moving up China’s priority list. .
“China now wants to gradually move away from the infrastructure investments that have been the norm for roughly the past decade,” said a statement from Beijing-based consultancy Rethink Development. “Belt and Road partners and China hope that established projects will begin to generate the expected economic benefits. In this context, the transfer of knowledge and expertise will be important.”
Among recent examples, the Philippine city of Davao last year agreed to receive Chinese transportation planning expertise through a deal orchestrated by the Asian Development Bank.
According to a statement from the development bank, their project will establish a public bus transportation system in Davao, the largest city in the Philippines outside Metro Manila, with modern electric vehicles and reliable timetables, reducing environmental pollution. The aim is to make the ride more comfortable while reducing friction.
According to Development Reimagined, the sharing of technical expertise has become particularly evident in Africa in recent years.
For example, a Shanghai-based research center has developed a water-saving rice that helps improve food self-sufficiency during droughts in some parts of Africa, the Chinese city government announced on its website. He added that the Shanghai Agricultural Biological Genetics Center’s technology could be ready for use in Kenya this year after six years of trials.
In Nigeria, the Development Rethinking Team said Chinese rice-growing experts were training African farmers to increase yields in “suboptimal” conditions. According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 70 percent of Nigerians farm primarily at subsistence levels.
At the Wara Agricultural Park in Kebbi State, Nigeria, run by China’s Green Agriculture Development Company, Chinese experts are teaching rice cultivation techniques, Xinhua News Agency reported in 2021. A party spokesperson said this was despite the country being land-rich.
Last year, China “continued to send agricultural experts” to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda for technical assistance on crop production and pest control, Development Reimagined said.
Chinese investors are eyeing Mauritius in Africa as it becomes more environmentally friendly and are looking to get a better deal.
Chinese investors are eyeing Mauritius in Africa as it becomes more environmentally friendly and are looking to get a better deal.
Meanwhile, Zia led a team that combined maize varieties from seven East African countries to assist local farmers facing crop disasters. Thanks to his efforts, the 74-year-old was appointed president of the Chinese branch of the African Academy of Sciences.
After bringing 1,566 varieties of corn seeds back to China in 2005, Jia has grown up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) per mu (0.07 hectare, 0.16 acre) per mu (0.07 hectare, 0.16 acre) per year by crossing domestic and African varieties. We have developed and launched a high-yielding corn variety. Much of it was used in China to strengthen the nation’s food security.
Feng Xuejie, director of the Tropical Fruit Tree Research Institute of Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said: [Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s] In a durian forum, I made it clear that China’s durian industry has no intention of influencing the Southeast Asian market. Instead, our goal is to introduce unique cultivation techniques to foster agricultural interaction between the two regions. ”
Feng, who is also a researcher at the Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said his team plans to work with Thailand’s Durian Association to build a fertilizer production facility to combat some of the viruses commonly found in the tropical fruit.
In the medical field, Chinese hospitals have partnered with 46 hospitals in 41 African countries since 2015, the consultant said. More recently, Walvis Bay Hospital in Namibia signed a cooperation agreement with Zhejiang Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in November.
“China, through its country, [belt and road] Cooperation with ASEAN countries in the agricultural sector can benefit from exporting more advanced rice seeds, while enriching China’s indigenous varieties,” Feng added.
Eduardo Arral, associate professor of public policy at the National University of Singapore, said China’s overseas expertise includes urban planning and transportation improvements, expertise in renewable energy such as solar and wind power, and the development of electric vehicle batteries. He said there is a high possibility that it will be the center.
“At some point, I think there will be a limit to the amount of hardware you can deploy,” he said.
Analysts say the deals help reduce financial risks and pollution allegations that have caused friction in the past, and further Beijing’s efforts to make the second decade of the 11-year Belt and Road campaign “small and beautiful.” It is said that it is something to do.
“This kind of move towards higher value-added exports is a safer way to extend the Belt and Road, if you like,” said Naubahar Sharif, director of public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
“This shows that China has arrived, and that we are not just using cheap labor to build roads and lay rail lines, but that we have value-added knowledge.” Ta.
How about a safari?African countries target mostly Chinese tourists
How about a safari?African countries target mostly Chinese tourists
Wang Yong, a professor at Peking University’s School of International Relations, said China has been sharing expertise through the Belt and Road Initiative since its inception, including technologies to improve grain and rice stability. He said that because of the small scale and beautiful nature of the mission, such efforts are likely to expand in the future, especially in countries with a relative lack of technical expertise.
“This aspect of the Belt and Road will definitely increase,” Wang said. “The amount of expertise being shared will only increase.”
The history of agricultural aid goes back even further, to the early 2000s, and since then, the Chinese government-backed African Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center has introduced agricultural technology to 22 countries on the continent.
And in September, the state-run Global Times newspaper said that in Central Asia, China’s “technology and experience” in ecological monitoring could give locals “expertise” to build hydroelectric and solar power plants. Reported.
The 800 megawatt (MW) solar power project being developed by Qatar’s Power China Guizhou Engineering will involve sharing technical expertise, according to the Middle Eastern country’s consulate general in Hong Kong.
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China announces US$3.8 billion Belt and Road expansion in Central Asia
China announces US$3.8 billion Belt and Road expansion in Central Asia
The consulate also said that a division of Chinese solar power company Trina Solar will provide “close support at every stage” of the Qatar-based solar power contract, starting with pre-sales product design.
According to the chairman’s statement of the Belt and Road International Cooperation Forum in October 2023, China and several Belt and Road partners plan to cooperate at sea toward “harmonization of maritime technology standards and maritime technology transfer.”
Sharif said individual Chinese contractors will find they have more credibility outside of China by working abroad versus established Western consultancy brands.
Sharif said the expert-led phase of the Belt and Road initiative risks leaving China stuck in the developing world. Wealthy countries will have enough money to collect bids from the world’s top sources of expertise, which may or may not be China, and choose the best one.
Most experts working on Africa’s Belt and Road Initiative rely on government pockets.
And as China becomes better known for its technological expertise, it should expect criticism from the West, similar to what it has received for other parts of the Belt and Road, Sharif said. Ta.
In the early stages of Belt and Road, there were concerns that small, poor countries would have difficulty repaying project loans.
Currently, when launching new Belt and Road projects in Africa, China may create joint ventures as a “condition of payment” for Chinese aid, Development Review said.
Other sharing of expertise could be indirectly rewarded in the form of access to the host country’s natural resources or political support for China in international organizations.
“My projects in Africa are not for financial gain,” Zia said. “Most of the experts involved in Africa’s Belt and Road Initiative rely on government pockets, and China is doing this to create a better image as a world power.”
China resets relations with Belt and Road partners by promoting green investment
China resets relations with Belt and Road partners by promoting green investment
In 2014, Mr. Jia established Hebei Richard Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd., which supports the implementation of Belt and Road projects in Africa.
“China has always emphasized capacity building, or teaching people to fish, in its overall development cooperation strategy with African countries,” Development Review said.
Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Hong Kong, said China’s approach to bringing in Belt and Road expertise is more likely to be due to the limited scope for overseas investment amid slowing economic growth and the growing number of developing countries. He said this is a result of the inability and reluctance to raise debt. The impact of the pandemic.
“China is also concerned about credit risk because, despite the geopolitical importance of some projects, the collateral may ultimately be worthless and unprofitable,” he said. ” he said. “China is likely still benefiting, but not in the same way as before.
“China’s state-owned enterprises will continue to be at the core of implementation and related business opportunities.”
