VZCZCXRO4286
PP RUEHBZ RUEHCN RUEHDU RUEHGH RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA
RUEHRN RUEHTRO RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #0288/01 0370100
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 060100Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2132
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 2091
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIJING 000288 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/FO -- NORRIS 
STATE FOR EAP/CM -- SHEAR, THORNTON, FLATT, PARK 
STATE FOR AF/FO 
TREASURY FOR IA 
NSC FOR LOI, PITTMAN 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
STATE PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINV EAID ECON ETRD UNDP CH
SUBJECT: PROMOTING CHINESE INVESTMENT IN AFRICA 
 
REF: A. BEIJING 118 B. 08 LUANDA 1023 C. 08 NAIROBI 
     2866 D. ADDIS ABABA 149 E. MONROVIA 73 F. 
     LUANDA 51 G. BEIJING 286 
 
Summary 
-------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) In recent meetings with three key semi-official and 
private Chinese organizations that promote Chinese investment 
in Africa, all three stressed that they are paying more 
attention to political and economic risk, environmental 
protection, and China's reputation in Africa and around the 
world.  Large numbers of Chinese firms are already active in 
Africa, but the earlier uncritical African embrace of Chinese 
economic engagement has evolved into a more "normal" 
relationship in which friction over issues such as trade 
deficits, job losses, and compliance with environmental and 
labor laws has become more commonplace.  Nonetheless, China 
remains committed to strengthening its investment position in 
Africa.  Post will report septel on China's official 
assistance to Africa, which is run principally through the 
Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the China Export-Import Bank 
(China EXIM), and the China Development Bank (CDB).  End 
summary. 
 
CADF: Pushing 1st Billion of Equity Investment Out the Door 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶2. (U) At the 2006 Beijing Summit of the Forum on 
China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China's coming-out party as 
a major new donor and investor in Africa, President Hu Jintao 
pledged -- among other things -- to establish an investment 
fund that would eventually allocate $5 billion to support 
Chinese firms investing in Africa.  According to MOFCOM, 
China had already invested more than $5 billion in Africa by 
the end of 2008, but President Hu's commitment was on top of 
existing investment flows.  It led to the June 2007 launch of 
the China-Africa Development Fund (CADF), with a first phase 
of $1 billion in funding provided by the China Development 
Bank (CDB), one of China's three policy banks.  (Note: CDB 
was recently given a new mandate to operate as a commercial 
bank, although sources tell us no major changes have yet been 
implemented in its modus operandi.  End note.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) CADF's modus operandi is to participate as an equity 
partner (though without a controlling stake) with Chinese 
firms doing business in Africa in the following priority 
sectors: 1) agriculture; 2) transportation and energy 
infrastructure; 3) natural resource exploitation; and 4) 
industrial parks.  As a risk-bearing investor that makes no 
loans, CADF does not add to African debt burdens (unlike 
China EXIM and CDB, which are lenders).  Li Dongya and Zhou 
Chao, CADF's Managing Directors for Risk Management and 
Advisory Services, told econoff that CADF is 100 percent 
market-oriented, seeking only commercially-viable projects 
that it will eventually be able to sell off or transfer 
profitably.  To date, CADF has already approved some 20 
different projects in 13 different African countries in which 
it will invest close to $400 million, and is working hard to 
identify more.  Several projects have already begun 
implementation, including a power project in Ghana with 
Shenzhen Energy (CADF partnered with Shenzhen Energy while 
CDB provided a loan for the project), a private cotton 
processing plant in Malawi, and ventures undertaken by SOE 
giants China National Steel and China National Building 
Materials.  More information can be found at CADF's website 
(www.cadfund.com).  (Note: Emboff asked for detailed 
information, including funding levels, on CADF's approved 
projects, but was referred to the website.  We have not found 
much detail there either.  End note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mr. Li told econoff that, as an equity partner, CADF 
is sensitive to risk.  CADF has a three-tiered system for 
ranking risk in each African country that roughly corresponds 
to green, yellow, and red lights.  Though he declined to name 
countries in any particular category, he said that there were 
several in the red light category (as per reftel A, we 
 
BEIJING 00000288  002 OF 004 
 
 
suspect Zimbabwe is in this group, together with countries 
suffering armed violence).  Li and Zhou stressed that CADF, 
though a commercially-oriented institution, is committed to 
the "principles of scientific development," meaning it works 
to ensure that projects it participates in abide by host 
country laws and are environmentally sustainable.  In cases 
where the host country has low or non-existent environmental 
standards, CADF will apply Chinese standards.  Mr. Li also 
pointed out that more Chinese companies are now using African 
workers, rather than importing Chinese labor.  He said these 
moves are not based on altruism, but a hard-headed strategy 
for avoiding adverse pressure from both African and 
international stakeholders. 
 
¶5. (SBU) CADF, which plans to establish a representative 
office in Johannesburg in early 2009, has recently initiated 
dialogues with the NEPAD Secretariat (New Partnership for 
African Development -- the African Union's economic 
development program, which seeks to attract investment and 
espouses good governance) and with the African Development 
Bank on the possibility of joint projects.  Li said CADF has 
also exchanged some information with the World Bank. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Li and Zhao said it was hard to grade the impact of 
the Global Financial Crisis (GFINC) on Chinese companies' 
willingness to invest abroad, pointing out that while some 
firms were hoarding scarce cash, others were perhaps seeking 
to take advantage of good bargains.  They said Chinese 
companies operating in Africa benefit from the overall warm 
ties between China and the continent, Africans' desire to 
learn from China's successful development experience, 
especially in developing their export sectors, and the 
willingness of Chinese entrepreneurs to work hard and endure 
arduous conditions.  On the flip side, they commented, 
Chinese entrepreneurs suffer from their relative lack of 
experience in operating overseas, ignorance of local cultures 
and customs, fierce international competition for lucrative 
projects, and infrastructure gaps that frequently leave 
factories idle due to lack of water or electricity. 
 
CABC - Advising Chinese Firms How to Succeed in Africa 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶7. (U) Econoff also met with Ge Kaiyong, Director of Training 
for the China-Africa Business Council (CABC - visit 
www.cabc.org.cn for more info), which was jointly organized 
in 2005 by the UN Development Fund, the China International 
Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE - 
MOFCOM's entity for liaison with UN economic agencies), and 
the Guangcai Program, a coalition of Chinese private 
companies that was established in 1994 to contribute to the 
fight against poverty.  CABC's mandate is to support Chinese 
private enterprises that want to enter the African market by 
providing information on potential funding sources, 
explaining African culture, organizing trade missions, and 
conducting market research.  At present, CABC has 280 member 
companies and four satellite offices in Wuhan, Hong Kong, 
Macau, and Hengshui (Hebei province). 
 
¶8. (U) For the past four years, CABC has focused its work on 
six core African countries recommended by the UNDP: Cameroon, 
Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique, but it plans 
to expand its geographic scope this year.  CABC does not have 
offices in Africa, Mr. Ge said, but works closely with 
Chinese embassies, host government investment promotion 
agencies, and UNDP offices in those countries.  CABC also 
partners with CADF, China EXIM, CDB, and African banks like 
Cameroon First Bank, Ghana's Echo Bank, South Africa's 
Standard Bank, and the World Bank's International Finance 
Corporation to help Chinese entrepreneurs find appropriate 
financing.  (Note: Mr. Ge said that China EXIM had been 
leading the charge in financing Chinese economic activity in 
Africa, but that CDB and CADF were quickly catching up.  Post 
intends to meet with officials from EXIM and CDB to discuss 
their respective roles in promoting Chinese economic 
relations with Africa in the near future.  End note.) 
Likewise, CABC recommends that its members consider 
 
BEIJING 00000288  003 OF 004 
 
 
partnering with Chinese state-owned enterprises in Africa, 
given the resources and experience many of these SOEs have to 
offer and the difficult conditions Africa poses for small 
companies. 
 
¶9. (U) CABC is an active match-maker.  According to Mr. Ge, 
it worked with UNCTAD in setting up a trade promotion show in 
Nairobi in 2006, co-hosted with the Tanzanian government and 
UNDP a China-Africa Business Forum in May 2008 that attracted 
more than 100 Chinese and 200 African companies (CABC hopes 
to replicate this event each year with a different core 
African partner), and plans to be involved in UNCTAD's 12th 
annual meeting scheduled to take place in Accra, Ghana in 
April 2009.  In addition, CABC has led annual high-level 
business trips to Africa.  In all of these cases, CABC 
arranged briefings for the Chinese participants beforehand on 
cultural and language barriers and the ins and outs of 
operating successfully in Africa (with presentations by 
Chinese diplomats formerly posted to Africa and African 
diplomats stationed in Beijing), and then helped set up 
one-on-one meetings with potential African partners.  Mr. Ge 
said CABC has helped members with a number of big deals, for 
example, bringing a delegation from Ghana to Shenzhen 
regarding the power project mentioned in para 2, which is 
expected to begin generating electricity this year.  He also 
noted that Huawei (a CABC member) has a huge training center 
in Nigeria and Huali Ketai, a Chongqing-based pharmaceutical 
company (another member) doing anti-malaria work in several 
African countries, is considering opening a manufacturing 
plant in Tanzania. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Like the CADF officials, Mr. Ge said Chinese 
entrepreneurs face some serious challenges in Africa, 
including the slower pace of making things happen, different 
cultural and legal environments, and some self-inflicted 
wounds resulting from the cavalier attitude of some Chinese 
businessmen during the 2000-2006 period, when Chinese 
investment in Africa was growing exponentially.  There had 
been a bit of a reality check since then, he said, noting 
Chinese investment scandals in some African countries and 
growing protectionism in others like Nigeria, which has 
effectively prohibited Chinese imports of a range of textile 
and footwear products.  In the same vein, Wang Hongyi, an 
Africa expert at the China Institute of International 
Studies, commented to emboffs that if China isn't more 
careful, it will come to be seen by Africans as just another 
colonial exploiter. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Mr. Ge said China understands the rationale for 
better balancing its trade relationship with Africa, as 
evidenced by recent tariff reductions on hundreds of African 
imports.  (Note: MOFCOM announced last week that two-way 
trade reached a record of $106.8 billion in 2008, with Africa 
exporting mostly raw materials and China exporting mostly 
manufactured goods.  End note.)  With regard to poor behavior 
on the part of Chinese businesses operating in Africa, Mr. Ge 
said CABC is working hard to sensitize its members to 
cultural, legal, and environmental issues and promote 
corporate social responsibility, noting that CABC chairman Hu 
Deping (son of former Communist Party Secretary Hu Yaobang, 
whose death sparked the 1989 Tiananmen movement) attended the 
2nd UN Global Compact Leaders Summit chaired by UN Secretary 
General Ban-ki Moon in July 2008 in Geneva.  The UN Global 
Compact espouses corporate social responsibility standards in 
human and labor rights, environmental protection, and 
anti-corruption. 
 
Private Consultant Also in the Mix 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Econoff also met with the head of Africa Investment 
Net (AIN), a private consulting company that does the same 
type of work as the CABC (i.e., education, match-making, and 
3-4 trade missions annually with interested companies), 
except for paying clients (both SOEs and, increasingly over 
the past several years, private firms).  AIN (see 
www.africa-invest.net for more details) was established in 
 
BEIJING 00000288  004 OF 004 
 
 
1999 by Mr. Wang Wenming, a former MOFCOM official focused on 
Africa, including a tour at the PRC Embassy in Cairo.  Wang 
said that business was picking up as Chinese companies were 
facing a tougher economic environment at home and were 
looking for overseas investment opportunities.  He said his 
clients were focused on establishing factories (particularly 
for construction materials) and shopping centers in Africa to 
serve local consumers and avoid high tariffs on Chinese 
consumer products in key African markets like South Africa, 
Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya.  He said there was also some 
interest in agricultural ventures related to biofuels and to 
growing vegetables popular among the sizable Chinese 
communities in countries like Sudan (50,000), South Africa 
(400,000), and Nigeria (70,000).  Wang echoed the concerns we 
heard at CADF and CABC about Chinese firms (especially 
smaller ones) employing exploitative business practices that 
sullied China's reputation and made it harder for others to 
do business in Africa, and said he spent much of his time 
persuading clients to follow more economically and 
politically sustainable business models.  Incidentally, Wang 
is participating in an African Business Conference being held 
February 21-22 at Harvard Business School, where he will 
speak on a panel entitled "China and Africa: Friends or 
Foes?" 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) China's economic footprint in Africa is large and 
will continue to grow, given the high tolerance for risk and 
arduous working conditions of Chinese entrepreneurs, 
Beijing's firm commitment to promoting investment there, and 
the welcome mat rolled out by many African governments for 
this relatively new, less-conditional, and very large source 
of international financing (see reftels B-F).  Though the 
problems related to corporate misconduct discussed by our 
interlocutors are real and may hasten the end of the 
China-Africa honeymoon phase, the hard benefits to both 
sides' economic interests are substantial and not going away 
(see reftel G).  For Africa, more investment with less 
conditions.  For China, access to raw materials and new 
consumer markets.  And while the Chinese are still willing to 
do business in countries and in ways that Westerners will 
not, many are beginning to understand that good corporate 
practices benefit not just African communities and habitats, 
but their own long-term business (and political) interests. 
This is manifested not only in their rhetoric, but in Chinese 
outreach to the AU's NEPAD, the Africa Development Bank, 
various UN bodies, and the World Bank.  This could serve as a 
foundation for U.S.-China dialogue on our respective economic 
programs in Africa.  End comment. 
PICCUTA