China Offers Troops For The UN's Mali Peacekeeping Mission

A PLA officer at a peacekeeping training centre. Photo: Reuters

China 'Offers Troops' To UN Mali Peacekeeping Mission -- BBC

China has offered soldiers to the new UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, UN officials say.

Talks are underway, and more than 500 Chinese peacekeepers and engineers could potentially take part in the mission, according to UN officials.

Mali's government was deposed in a coup in 2012, and Islamist rebels controlled the north of the country until French troops ousted them in January.

Around 6,000 African troops are currently in Mali providing security.

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More News On Reports That China Has Offered Troops To The UN's Mali Peacekeeping Mission

UN Says China Offers Peacekeepers for Mali -- Military.com/AP
China offers troops for UN Mali mission -- The Telegraph
China offers 500 troops for UN Mali force -- France24/AFP
China offers soldiers for Mali UN mission -- Global Times

China’s Growing Role As An Arms Supplier To Africa Is Welcomed By Africom

U.S. Africa Command Welcomes China’s Growing Role as Arms Supplier -- National Defense

America’s financial crisis, war fatigue and the public’s isolationist mood are certain to put a damper on U.S. military efforts to rebuild war-ravaged countries and prop up failing states. Today’s biggest spenders on foreign development assistance and stability operations — the United States, Europe and Japan — are all in the throes of economic downturn.

Nowhere would cutbacks in foreign military assistance be felt more acutely than in Africa, home of seven of the world’s top 10 “failed states."

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Update: Sizing Up Chinese Military Aid To Africa -- Aviation Week

My Comment: So ... China supporting the Sudanese regime, getting caught trying to sell arms to Gaddafi, and "looting" Africa's mineral wealth for weapons is welcomed by Africom. Hmmmm .... I do not call this a smart policy.

Why China Will Make A Difference In Africa

China's New Focus On Africa -- Time Magazine

If you want to see what's wrong with Africa, take a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The size of Western Europe, with almost no paved roads, Congo is the sucking vortex where Africa's heart should be. Independent Congo gave the world Mobutu Sese Seko, who for 32 years impoverished his people while traveling the world in a chartered Concorde. His death in 1997 ushered in a civil war that killed 5.4 million people and unleashed a hurricane of rape on tens of thousands more. Today AIDS and malaria are epidemic. Congo, then, is not a place you'd normally associate with a yuppie.

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My Comment: The phrase that caught my attention and explains why China is successful in Africa is the following ....

.... Enter China. Beijing doesn't do gifts; it does deals ....

Bingo .... the Time Magazine reporter has noticed the obvious.

In the years that I have been running this blog, I have always commented on how useless a good chunk of Western aid to regions like Africa has been. I have always said .... sarcastically but truthfully .... that if the West was to spend a trillion dollars a year for ten years in developing Africa's infrastructure .... if they were to return ten years later they would still see everything falling apart.

One only has to see what is happening in Haiti this year to see how free aid and gifts sometimes does not work. After the earthquake struck, billions in aid was promised. With such a commitment, there was no reason for anyone to do anything since outsiders were going to do it for them anyway .... hence nothing has been done .... and I predict that nothing will be done in the future.

And on the topic of aid to Afghanistan .... don't get me going there.

The Next Empire: China in Africa

The Next Empire -- Howard W. French, The Atlantic

All across Africa, new tracks are being laid, highways built,ports deepened, commercial contracts signed—all on an unprecedented scale, and led by China, whose appetite for commodities seems insatiable. Do China’s grand designs promise the transformation,at last, of a star-crossed continent? Or merely its exploitation? The author travels deep into the heart of Africa, searching for answers.

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My Comment: Plus ca change ... plus c'est le meme chose. The more things change, the more that they stay the same .... the exception is that instead of a British face, we now have a Chinese one.