Africa's resources & the rise of a new Cold War

[MrDibble]

@ralph124c

Today, it remains a farming and mining based economy.

That’s actually not true. Mining is 3% of GDP, Farming 2.6%, whereas Manufacturing is 15% and the Service sector is also strong (Tourism being equal to the Mining and Agriculture sectors as a GDP%, telecomms being even larger. Financial markets are also a large and growing sector.) let’s not forget such things as SAB-Miller.

[Le_Jacquelope]

@Der_Trihs

Well, that’s the real question; in the end, will they get a better deal? Or will the Chinese just end up being the next round of colonialist exploiters? I would certainly hope for the former, but history makes me worry it will be the latter; the providers of resources seldom end up getting the good end of the deal.

China is only there to take resources. They are also known for selling arms to dictators. The United States does, too, far moreso than China. But China is not in this for anything but the exploitation of Africa.

[ctnguy]

@MrDibble

That’s actually not true. Mining is 3% of GDP, Farming 2.6%, whereas Manufacturing is 15% and the Service sector is also strong (Tourism being equal to the Mining and Agriculture sectors as a GDP%, telecomms being even larger. Financial markets are also a large and growing sector.) let’s not forget such things as SAB-Miller.

I was going to post almost this exact thing. Anyway, here’s a cite for that. For the year 2010 it’s actually agriculture 2.3% and mining 5.3% whereas manufacturing is 15% and financial/business services 21.2% (see page 2 of the document).