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On
blind date with Chinese Imperialism
Tapera
Kapuya
May
08, 2005
A dangerously
and shallow ill informed letter appeared in The
Independent of 6 May written by Supa Mandiwanzira (once married
to Grace Mugabe’s sister) which I think has to be challenged. There
seems to be a blanket lack of proper enquiry and debate in the country
which results in those in power starting fires in the house unchallenged.
Much of what the psyche of the elite is reflected by those around
it, and in engaging them in dialogue and debate on what they have
sort to be the ultimate truth, we are in part helping them lessen
the damage and as well, building as we struggle, the foundations
and character of how we want to live in our freedom.
In the letter, Mandiwanzira who is/was in China on a personally
funded business insinuates proudly that China is the factory of
the world in his support for the ‘looking east’ Mugabe. To justify
his claim he provides a couple of examples on how companies are
operating in a globalised world where controls on capital flows
and activities are less restrained: why we see a Zimbabwean bank
which is owned by South Africans operating in Zimbabwe. Quite flawed
is his faculties of economic organization that he does not comprehend
that in material terms, for a company to operate in a territory,
it often is required to register according to territorial legislations
of the state, meaning that it has to first ‘localise’ itself first
for operational convenience. This establishment of surrogate nationality
is a phenomenon in 21st century business operations.
But this does not mean however that the surrogate territory becomes
the parent and has entitlement to the business organization.
There are various reasons why companies move into other territories.
Central to these reasons are those of comparative economic advantage
and trade laws. China and Asia are global centres of cheap labour,
the so called sweat shops. The companies which Mandiwanxira have
in mind and the grand sights he saw in his visit are nothing but
US, EU and Japanese islands. The products are not Chinese but American,
EU or Japanese depending on the nationality of the parent company
producing them using Chinese cheap labour. The trade regime that
is in place relates to production. What China provides to the Western
and Japanese international corporations is cheap land space to build
factories; cheap labour from its impoverished people in exchange
for a dollar a day; markets for products; and lax laws in the islands
which allow for immediate externalization (note – products under
these trade regimes are not said to be exported). The resultant
is that the world consumes western products which come from this
way of production, but not paying a penny to China or other centres
of cheap labour. Research into the economic growth of China makes
certain marked pointers. One being that to curl unemployment and
growing desperation which resulted from China’s half century slumber
under Maoist dictatorships and intolerance to democracy (much the
same as we have in Zimbabwe today), it exposed its people to a point
of desperation where they have been reduced into 21st
century slaves. A desperate people are never at an equal bargaining
power and are likely to reconcile with other indirect oppressive
forms to secure their sustenance.
China indeed also has its own products, which are Chinese. Mandiwanzira
confuses the manufacture of cellphones, sports shoes etc which our
so west-looking youths use as coming from China. No, Mandiwanzira.
These are Westen products produced under western specifications
by Chinese slaves in sweat shops. Samsung, Nokia, Siemens, Nike,
Reebok, Sean John etc ate Western products. Chinese products are
what we have known to call Zhing-zhong and are quite infamous
for certain characteristics, namely being cheap and inefficient,
but with dubious quality. The growing resistance to Chinese products
is founded on these and many other factors.
Our contestation on the issue of a slavish looking towards the east,
‘where the sun rises’, is that we are already in the afternoon and
zuva ririkutorova panhongonya. Lokking east at that stage
after moving these miles in development is an affront to posterity.
We can’t move backwards in the direction where others are coming
from. China itself spent over 60 years of systematic repression
which it is still struggling to change. They are moving from a system
of centralised control of citizens towards embracing ‘western’ notions
of democracy centred on individual human freedom and respect for
human rights. It still has a long way to go, but its recent experiments
with democracy seem to be convincing everyone in the Chinese Communist
party to reform and promote free trade.
In the awakening, China seems to be emerging to take over the thrown
as the leader of direct imperialism from the Anglo/American bloc.
Geriatrics and lumpens fooled by a schizophrenic perception of global
trade dynamics want to find relief in a Chinese redemption dream.
They are blind to the fact that China is just starting what Europe
started in the 19th century. Its growth is certainly
its own and not ours. What we are to China today, and something
criminally being perpetuated by the Mugabe regime, is to lock Zimbabwe
as an eternal market and not a producer of our own products.
Any intelligent leadership must realize that the major priority
for any emerging state is the challenge of developing the economic
development infrastructure and appreciating that development is
meant for people. This multi-faceted agenda entails that the primary
resource for economic development, human capital must be freed and
treated by the state as ultimate beneficiaries of production process
not slaves to the process. Other essentials are capital and technology.
We already have the human capital in its abundance and do have all
but a few of the essential raw materials for most of the products
we consume as a country. What then is lacking that makes us proudly
talk of looking East and West instead of looking at our own potential.
The way a nation treats its citizens has a bearing on their productive
capacities. Zimbabweans today live a political life of convicts.
Their existence is with a borrowed sense of dignity which renders
them totally unfit to develop themselves and not to mention their
nation. Those with higher skills and expertise have rather sort
exile than to continue being treated as if they are prisoners of
a religious war on immorality. To reverse this, the focus must remain
on restoration on dignity, on respect for human rights and accepting
that our people indeed can think differently. The incumbent are
not demigods with such rare faculties no other living Zimbabwean
does have. There are a lot of other possibilities outside the present
order of things. Once this is accepted and we establish a system
of government designed to serve the best interests of our people
can we even start looking at other factors in economic reconstruction
and development.
We have to appreciate that we don’t have any much liquid capital
apart from the resources we have in earth which we lack skill and
technology to extract efficiently. This then calls for us to renegotiate
with those with capital and technology to partner in our development.
The terms however, are usually in favour of those at an upper bargaining
power. The more we follow Mugabe and their uncritical followers
like Supa, the more we will awaken in the Chinese style disaster
– dollar a day sweat shop labourors.
A more progressive vision would be one that advocates for technology
transfer not that which reduces us into perpetual consumers. We
need, humbly, to lobby with nations that are at that comparative
advantage, to help us boost our machinery and other technologies
so that we can produce on our own. Sadly, and a reality in global
trade, nations are more concerned with creating markets for their
products than helping to develop another competitor. China certainly
has not been keen on coming forward to assist in technology and
science transfer. It depends itself now in the production of many
of its mass produced goods on western technology.
Another key factor to look at is the trade laws and systems we put
in place. Zimbabwe does not have the legal framework nor the environment
for civilized economic activity. With no objective respect of property
rights, how do you expect people, indigenous or foreign, to invest?
If you don’t even respect your own laws, how do you expect an investor
to trust that their investment would be protected? If investing
means you will not be a full citizen who can exercise civil and
political rights, how can we seriously expect own people to grow
wealth? Examples are not short: we had Strive Masiyiwa having to
choose between being a full citizen and just being a businessperson;
Vingirayi, Makoni and Mthuli Mthuli abandoning their life built
empires after the state sort to consume them. White and coloured
Zimbabweans have literally been exterminated from national psyche
and paraded as ghosts of colonialism and certainly are not at a
point of full committal to national development until such a time
they are accepted to be full citizens.
In the absence of these and other issues being cleared, any thinking
that the continued disintegration of the national economy and its
socio-political effects will be contained is like looking for fish
in a tree. The challenges are clear and the reckless experimentation
of some beggars of choice must cease. Mandiwanzira and others who
are ‘looking east’ must realize that we need to stop the continued
de-industrialisation’ and create development by stimulating our
industry and not through opening our markets like a prostitute opening
her legs to a charming tramp.
Mandiwanzira concludes by telling us that he is ‘on a personal visit’
and is not funded. Well said, but if history remains on our side,
we will demand to know where the billionaires by the night we have
coating the institution of people’s oppression got to where they
are. Certainly those who benefit from a system will seek to rationalize
even its wildest dreams. We are in the driving seat of history.
Tapera Kapuya
Harare
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