There is little question that there are plenty of distractions in the world today. Lately, political and economic turmoil seem to be the norm.

So it isn't too surprising how a profound story like the one that follows is easily missed by most.

If you thought the world was a complicated place before, it just may have gotten a little more complicated than you realized after you read this.

PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

I think I am probably going to die any minute now. An inflamed, deceived mob of about 50 desperate men are crowding round the car, some trying to turn it over, others beating at it with large rocks, all yelling insults and curses.

They have just started to smash the windows. Next, they will pull us out and, well, let's not think about that ...

Why did they want to kill us? What was the reason for their fury? They thought that if I reported on their way of life they might lose their livings.

These poor, hopeless, angry people exist by grubbing for scraps of cobalt and copper ore in the filth and dust of abandoned copper mines in Congo, sinking perilous 80ft shafts by hand, washing their finds in cholera-infected streams full of human filth, then pushing enormous two-hundredweight loads uphill on ancient bicycles to the nearby town of Likasi where middlemen buy them to sell on, mainly to Chinese businessmen hungry for these vital metals.

...

Out of desperation, much of the continent is selling itself into a new era of corruption and virtual slavery as China seeks to buy up all the metals, minerals and oil she can lay her hands on: copper for electric and telephone cables, cobalt for mobile phones and jet engines - the basic raw materials of modern life.

It is crude rapacity, but to Africans and many of their leaders it is better than the alternative, which is slow starvation.

While America is preoccupied with the war in Iraq (cost: half a trillion dollars and counting), and while think-tank economists continue to spit out papers debating whether vital resources are running out at all, China's leadership isn't taking any chances. In just a few years, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has become the most aggressive investor-nation in Africa. This commercial invasion is without question the most important development in the sub-Sahara since the end of the Cold War -- an epic, almost primal propulsion that is redrawing the global economic map. One former U.S. assistant secretary of state has called it a "tsunami." Some are even calling the region "ChinAfrica."

There are already more Chinese living in Nigeria than there were Britons during the height of the empire. From state-owned and state-linked corporations to small entrepreneurs, the Chinese are cutting a swath across the continent. As many as 1 million Chinese citizens are circulating here. Each megaproject announced by China's government creates collateral economies and population monuments, like the ripples of a stone skimmed across a lake.

Beijing declared 2006 the "Year of Africa," and China's leaders have made one Bono-like tour after another. No other major power has shown the same interest or muscle, or the sheer ability to cozy up to African leaders. And unlike America's faltering effort in Iraq, the Chinese ain't spreading democracy, folks. They're there to get what they need to feed the machine. The phenomenon even has a name on the ground in the sub-Sahara: the Great Chinese Takeout.

China, Africa, and Oil

As global demand for energy continues to rise, major players like the United States, European Union (EU), and Japan are facing a new competitor in the race to secure long-term energy supplies: China. As its economy booms, China is intent on getting the resources needed to sustain its rapid growth, and is taking its quest to lock down sources of oil and other necessary raw materials across the globe. As part of this effort, China has turned to Africa, an oil-producing source whose risks and challenges have often caused it to be overlooked economically. Some reports describe a race between China and the United States to secure the continent's oil supplies. Others note that while Chinese interests in Africa have surged, Western states still make the vast majority of investments in Africa and remain highly influential.

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Eighty-five percent of Africa's exports to China come from five oil-rich countries (Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, and Sudan), according to the World Bank. But Chinese interest in Africa extends beyond oil. China now ranks as the continent's second-highest trading partner, behind the United States, and ahead of France and Britain. From 2002 to 2003, trade between China and Africa doubled to $18.5 billion; by 2007, it had reached $73 billion. Much of the growth was due to increased Chinese imports of oil from Sudan and other African nations, but Chinese firms also import a significant amount of non-oil commodities such as timber, copper, and diamonds. China recently began to import some African-manufactured value-added goods, such as processed foods and household consumer goods.

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Concerns about China's role in Africa have been voiced by a range of actors -- from human rights groups to international observers to Africans themselves. Many Africans are concerned over how China operates in Africa, accusing Chinese companies of underbidding local firms and not hiring Africans. Chinese infrastructure deals often stipulate that up to 70 percent of the labor must be Chinese, according to CFR's Economy.

Africa to pay for Europe`s, green policies

In efforts to make quick and symbolic gains in Europe`s otherwise failed policies to curb climate gas emissions, environmental and anti-globalisation politicians are aiming at Africa`s few economic success stories.

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Populist solutions that are to satisfy costumers, politicians and the European industry alike are therefore surfacing all over Africa`s neighbour continent and the main market of its products.

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All over Europe, therefore, home-grown campaigns are being promoted, attacking Africa's newest and most successful export products.

Outsiders come and go in Africa, some greedy, some idealistic, some halfway between. Time after time, they fail or are defeated, leaving behind scars, slag-heaps, ruins and graveyards, disillusion and disappointment...

Now a new great power, China, is scrambling for wealth, power and influence in this sad continent, without a single illusion or pretence.

Perhaps, after two centuries of humbug, this method will work where all other interventions have failed.

But after seeing the bitter, violent desperation unleashed in the mines of Likasi, I find it hard to believe any good will come of it.

Originally posted by loam
reply to post by SR

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What's interesting about your view, then, is you find the parties actually doing the exploitation blameless.

I can think of no view more sinister than the one you have espoused.

Is this a commonly held belief in China?

Originally posted by SR
What do you think of the African exploitation of the world????

Originally posted by SR
What do you propose of the guilt tripping of era's long gone???

Originally posted by SR
It reminds me of the story of the eel fish that sits at the bottom of the ocean letting other fish take little bites of it and staying hidden until it suddenly strikes and eats the fish that was once eating it.

Originally posted by SR
There is no straw man logic or arguement here my friend simply without the explotation card would Africa garnered so much attention and free money from the world???

Originally posted by SR
We'll talk numbers and direct aid proportion compared to other countries if you would like?

Originally posted by SR
This thread even gives the arguement away on it's very premise 'oh the poor africans' 'the little slaves'

Hypocracy at it's finest what about the poor Russians, Poor Indians, Poor Chinese, Poor in any country, slave labour in any country??? You place the Africans above them?

You do it out of sense of indoctrined guilt for actions that don't concern you or any of todays African generation.

Originally posted by SR
Africa is a rich and bountiful country still otherwise the Chinese would not be their in the first place who's it your fault they haven't been able to govern themselves successfully for the past century and are actually willing to let themselves become serfs.

Originally posted by SR
The logical fallacies within western guilt over Africa is very humorous at times.

Originally posted by SR
If the eel fish was a bad example of the situation i will put it as a child who cries for sweets the parent gives it sweets so the child learns everytime it wants sweets it must cry.