The documentary When China Met Africa sheds light on the relatively new relationships China is creating in Africa. It focuses on three key characters: a Chinese entrepreneur who starts a farm in Zambia, a manager for a multinational Chinese company, and Zambia’s trade minister. China now invests more in Africa than the World Bank. Funding infrastructure in sub-Saharan nations allows the growing nation to get the raw materials it needs to market as quickly and efficiently as possible.
What this documentary provides is an intimate look at the players taking part in these new deals and investments, those desperate for foreign aid and those seeking to provide it. The juggernaut of China’s economy has propelled it onto the world stage and it is making its presence know across the globe. Can post-colonial Africa find its way to prosperity on the shoulders of China?
The film’s website provides this observation:
“China has characterized its relationship with Africa as ‘win-win.’ China gets much needed resources, and Africa benefits from vast investment. China has invested billions of dollars into mining, manufacturing, infrastructure and agriculture and has brought its own brand of development through the provision of cheap loans, technical expertise, healthcare programs and scholarships. Two hundred years ago, Napoleon observed that ‘China is a sleeping giant but when she wakes she will shake the world.’ Wherever you look, that prediction is ringing true – China’s influence in Africa is indicative of a much wider shift in power from West to East.”
When China Met Africa is available on DVD and digital download. It is also being screened around the world, and at an event hosted by the Foreign Policy Association next week. Click here to register for the New York City screening and Q&A on March 26.
