Chinese companies playing major role in African infrastructure development despite tough conditions.
Jin Xiushan says contending with poisonous snakes can be part of everyday life on a construction site in Africa.
Zhou Yongsheng has probably done more than anyone to tackle the bustling city of Addis Ababa's traffic problems.
Though Chinese companies have been making overseas strides for some time now, during the past few years they have been focusing more on Africa. Nearly 2,000 Chinese companies from sectors such as construction, infrastructure, mining, manufacturing and transportation have established a presence in Africa and paved the way for more companies to follow suit.
But after the cost advantage, there are hurdles along the way
Performance of Western economies has bearing on China's growth, which in turn could have an impact on African and other developing countries.
As the relationship between China and Africa has blossomed in recent years, one area that has attracted particular attention is investment. Chinese investment in the continent has not only contributed to the development of both parties, but has implications, strategic and otherwise, worldwide. However, with the amount involved now at historic highs, it is urgent that China upgrade its investment in Africa so as to promote sustainable development.
In 2012, with the eurozone crisis and shrinking global demand, China's foreign trade growth slowed to about 6 percent - but this was still higher than the world as a whole and that of some major economies.
Last year, China was the world's second-largest foreign direct investment recipient after the United States, according to preliminary projections by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. So what is the outlook for China's inward foreign direct investment for 2013 and beyond?
China is in danger of losing its title as the world's factory. The threat does not seem to be coming from the West through higher productivity and more innovation from the United States and Europe, but from China itself. The threat is nothing else but China's demographic time bomb.
In many ways 2012 was a year that Chinese companies, which were ardent supporters of green energy or new energy, would like to forget. Considering the battering that the new energy sector received in the capital markets, it would also be safe to surmise that the sector was severely affected by the ongoing global financial crisis last year.
Gary Rieschel
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