China Will Help Africa in its Industrialization – by Frances Garnett

A report written by the United Nations stated recently that if Africa is going to become industrialized more, it needs to get a "commodity-based strategy", so that their economy relies on more secondary economic activities to add value to the raw natural resources they sell, instead of the primary ones they are involved in now. Africa is in dire need of industrialization to reduce poverty and improve their economic conditions, but also to provide jobs to the growing numbers of unemployed youth. The thing is that at their current rate, Africa cannot provide those jobs alone, and needs help from other countries, like China. China has undergone a huge amount of industrialization in recent times and can be a role model for African countries who want to same amount of growth in their economies. People in Africa are already calling on China to invest more and establish job-creating factories, and it's already greatly involved and teaching lessons to countries. Not only could this benefit African nations, but China as well. To maintain their amazing growth, China needs to relocate some of its manufacturing industries to other countries with large populations, which makes Africa a top choice. A shoe company has already been transferred to Ethiopia, giving jobs to 2,500 people and increasing. Also, being closer to the materials for manufacturing will make productions and transportation costs decrease.

I am so happy an opportunity to improve lives for people in less developed countries has come up, but I am a bit worried about this industrialization coming from manufacturing factories and other things like that. China's current economy is currently full of factories that often have cheap labour and pollute the environment, and I don't think that should be an example for other countries. Having tons of more factories and manufacturing plants in the world could use up so much coal, oil and/or electricity, most likely quickly advancing global climate change. Also, the natural resources Africa has may be exploited and become 'extinct', and factories contain chemicals and health hazards that could badly affect the people working there, and finally there's also a chance they'll be taken advantage of and be payed very little. On the other hand, like the article said, this can really give African countries the economic boost they need to help their people. Because this article was produced by a Chinese newspaper, it no doubt will show China's involvement in a good light, as most countries have a natural bias to do that. The main ideas that the article is trying to convey are that China's involvement in necessary to African industrialization, and that this will benefit China's economic growth as well as Africa's. This article is important because it shows us what a country must go through in today's world to see economic growth and raise living standards, even if it's not the ideal option. But, it also is relevant because we can choose our perspective and can help us look at different countries and come up with solutions to help growth in others.

Source: http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2013-09/06/content_16949447.htm