Chinese Foreign Minister criticises Obama for Africa comments

By Joshua Amaugo August 11, 2015 11:43

Chinese Foreign Minister criticises Obama for Africa comments

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently criticized President Barrack Obama’s earlier statement about corruption in Africa stating the continent does not need policing from the West.

Wang spoke in Liberia while expressing dismay at the way Obama spoke to African leaders last month and said, “Africans wanted foreign countries to help them have enough food, jobs and houses, as China was doing.”

Obama paid a courtesy visit to Kenya some weeks ago, proceeding to Ethiopia where he held a series of meeting and talks with African leaders at the African union summit, vigorously condemned African leaders accusing them of corruption.

Obama said “Nothing will unlock Africa’s economic potential more than ending the cancer of corruption.

    “We can all readily agree that corruption is a scourge, but there is little factual basis to the idea that Africa is substantially more corrupt than many other parts of the world.

    “Moreover, plenty of countries that are widely viewed as deeply corrupt have been historically strong economic performers, ranging from many of the so-called Asian tigers, such as South Korea and Japan, to more recent examples such as China, India, or Brazil.”

Obama speaking rhetorically further condemned African leaders, accusing them of being responsible for Africa’s numerous problems.

    “I don’t understand why people want to stay so long, especially when they have got a lot of money.

    “Sometimes you will hear leaders say ‘I’m the only person who can hold this nation together.’ If that’s true, then that leader has failed to truly build their nation.”

Wang noted that judging African leaders should not be a basis for such a high profile meeting, but instead African people should be the ones to decide if their leaders were corrupt or not.

Asides, other analysts who had commented on the same issue said Obama’s claim that corruption is the biggest impediment to Africa’s development lacks little to no evidence.

They argued that “what of the many corrupt features of the international economic system, supported by the United States and other wealthy countries, such as laws that allow their corporations to register in tax havens like the Bahamas, form multiple shell companies, and drastically understate the value of their operations in poor countries?

    “What of the ways that big international banks who thrive with illicit income streaming from African leaders and their foreign partners, who help them, shield those fortunes?

They concluded by saying that Obama’s rhetoric statement amounted, instead, to a distraction.

    “He seemed almost to be suggesting that if Africans would only fix everything up and make their own countries tidy, more or less eliminating corruption in the process, that they would then be fortunate enough to attract American interest and investment.

    “The logic behind this assumption is deeply flawed.

    “Return on investment in Africa is already among the highest in the world, meaning that risk and hardship are handsomely rewarded.

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