The Chinese Amigo: Implications for the development of Equatorial Guinea

China Quarterly

Volumn , Issue 199, 2009, Pages 667-685

  Esteban, Mario ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AUTHORITARIANISM; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; GEOPOLITICS; GOVERNANCE APPROACH; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; LEADERSHIP;

CHINA; EQUATORIAL GUINEA;

EID: 77249172745     PISSN: 03057410     EISSN: 14682648     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0305741009990154     Document Type: Article

References (91)

1. François Lafargue, "China's presence in Africa," China Perspectives, No. 61 (2005), p. 5.
2. Some examples of the "non-interference" policy in Sudan and Zimbawe can be found in Fironze Manji and Stephen Marks (eds.), African Perspective on China in Africa (Cape Town: Fahamu, 2007) pp. 73, 88-89.
3. Aili Piano and Arch Puddington (eds.), The Worst of the Worst: The World's Most Repressive Societies 2008 (New York: Freedom House, 2008), pp. 39-42;
4. Corruption Perception Index 2007, Transparency International, 26 September 2007.
5. Geoffrey Wood, "Business and politics in a criminal state: the case of Equatorial Guinea," African Affairs Security, Vol. 103, No. 413 (2004), p. 565.
6. Ken Silverstein, "Oil boom enriches African ruler," Los Angeles Times, 20 January 2003.
7. Central Intelligence Unit, World Factbook 2007.
8. United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2006. Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 285.
9. Jean-François Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (London: Longman, 1993), pp. 35-36.
10. On the gate-keeper state see Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1945. The Past of the Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
11. On the rentier state see Hazem Beblawi and Giacomo Luciani (eds.), The Rentier State (London: Croom Helm, 1987).
12. José M. Marín, "Guinea Ecuatorial: de la política económica a la política de hidrocarburos," Real Instituto Elcano Working Paper, No. 14 (2007), p. 21;
13. and Kerstin Canby et al., Forest Products Trade between China & Africa (Washington: Forest Trends and Global Timber, 2007), p. 10.
14. Energy Publisher, "Equatorial Guinea: energy profile," Energy Publisher, 3 October 2007, http://www. energypublisher.com/ article.asp?id=11370.
15. Pascal Airault, "Lune de miel Malabo-Pékin," Jeune Afrique, 13 November 2005.
16. "China inks oil contract with Equatorial Guinea," China News, 19 February 2006.
17. "Energetic CNPC has a global blueprint," Shanghai Daily, 24 January 2007;
18. and China National Petroleum Corporation, http://www.cnpc.com.cn/ eng/cnpcworldwide/africa/EquatorialGuinea/ (4 March 2007).
19. See Chris Alden and Martyn Davies, "A profile of the operation of Chinese multinationals in Africa," South African Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2006), p. 95;
20. and Stephanie Kleine and Andrew Small, "China's new dictatorship diplomacy," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 1 (2007/2008), p. 53.
21. Nigel Sizer and Dominiek Plouvier, Increased Investment and Trade by Transnational Logging Companies in ACP-countries: Implications for Sustainable Forest Management and Conservation (Brussels: WWF-Belgium, WRI, WWF-International, 2000), p. 54.
22. Forests Monitor, Sold Down the River: The Need to Control Transnational Forestry Corporations: A European Case Study (Cambridge: Forests Monitor, 2001), p. 44.
23. Canby et al, Forest Products Trade between China & Africa, p. 24.
24. Crawford Young, "The end of the post-colonial state in Africa? Reflections on changing African political dynamics," African Affairs, Vol. 103, No. 410 (2004), p. 41.
25. Fernando Abaga, La Ayuda Externa en el Desarrollo de Guinea Ecuatorial (Madrid: Los Libros de la Catarata, 1997).
26. Jȩdrzej George Frynas, "The oil boom in Equatorial Guinea," African Affairs, Vol. 103, No. 413 (2004), pp. 527-46.
27. Terence O'Hara, "Riggs Bank agrees to guilty plea and fine," Washington Post, 28 January 2005;
28. and Timothy L. O'Brien, "At Riggs Bank, a tangled path led to scandal," New York Times, 19 July 2004.
29. Armengol Ondon Ngema was at that time the security chief of Equatorial Guinea and has played a leading role in human rights violations in the country.
30. Ken Silverstein, "Oil firms' rich concessions to tainted African ruler probed," Los Angeles Times, 18 December 2004.
31. Ken Silverstein, "Riggs turns up again," Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2004.
32. "US says reopened embassy in Guinea mainly to serve expats," Agence France Presse, 28 October 2003.
33. "EEUU desbloquea fondos de Guinea Ecuatorial embargados tras el escándalo del Riggs Bank," Afrol News, 23 November 2005;
34. Alexander Smoltczyk, "Torture and poverty in Equatorial Guinea," Der Spiegel, 28 August 2006.
35. "El petróleo de Obiang," El País, 25 June 2006;
36. "Moratinos viaja a Guinea para lograr una mejor relación bilateral," El País, 23 October 2006;
37. "Teodoro Obiang llega a España para hacer negocios en medio de fuertes críticas," El Mundo, 14 November 2006;
38. Mario Esteban, "Vías de acción de España ante la penetración internacional en Guinea Ecuatorial," Memorando OPEX, No. 33 (2007).
39. Republic of Equatorial Guinea: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix, FMI, Country Report No. 06/237, June 2006.
40. Brendan McSherry, "The political economy of oil in Equatorial Guinea," African Studies Quarterly, Vol. 8, No. 3 (2006), pp. 23-45.
41. "La cooperación China," ASODEGUE, 22 August 2006, http://www.asodegue.org/agosto2206.htm (14 February 2007).
42. "El gobierno Ecuatoguineano ha inaugurado hoy la nueva sede de la televisión de Guinea Ecuatorial construida por la empresa China Dalian," Guinea Ecuatorial.com, 2 January 2007, http://espanol. guinea-equatorial.com/printfriendly.asp?docID=337 (14 February 2007).
43. Chuan Chen, Pi-Chu Chui et al., "An empirical analysis of Chinese construction firms' entry into Africa," The Chinese Research Institute of Construction Management 2007 International Symposium on Advacement of Construction Management and Real Estate, 8-13 August 2007, Sydney, p. 458. This is not to deny that Chinese state-owned construction firms are helped by their government in ways unavailable to their foreign competitors, such as acces to cheap capital through state-owned banks.
44. "La cooperación China."
45. Interview with Narciso Ntugu Abeso, Ambassador of Equaotiral Guinea in China, Beijing, 9 January 2008.
46. Those eight principles were first released by Zhou Enlai during a tour to ten African countries from 13 December 1963 to 5 February 1964; see "Premier Zhou Enlai's three tours of Asian and African countries," Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ eng/ziliao/3602/3604/t18001.htm (8 October 2008).
47. Lucy Corkin, Christopher Burke et al., China's Interest and Activity in Africa's Construction and Infrastructure Sectors (Stellenbosch: Centre for Chinese Studies, 2006), p. 69.
48. Cokenve, "Los extranjeros en Guinea crecen demasiado y controlan ya el país," Guinea Ecuatorial.net, 26 March 2007, http://www.guinea-ecuatorial.net/ms/main.asp?cd=ni5207 (5 May September 2007).
49. United Nations Development Program, Human Development Index 2007/2008, http://hdrstats.undp.org/ countries/country-fact-sheets/cty-fs- GNQ.html.
50. Lucy Corkin, "China's interest in Angola's construction and infrastructure sectors," in Dorothy-Grace Guerrero and Fironze Manji (eds.), China's New Role in Africa and the South (Cape Town: Fahamu, 2007), p. 162.
51. "El populoso barrio de Campo Yaundé de Malabo contará de aquí al año 2009 de modernísimos edificios para 400 viviendas sociales," Guinea Ecuatorial.com, 1 February 2007, http://espanol. guinea-equatorial.com/news.asp?docID=338 (20 September 2007).
52. "Comunicado tras la reunión del consejo nacional de CPDS," Convergencia Social para la Democracia, 29 June 2007, http://www.cpds-gq.org/comunicados2007/noticia070729.html#adjudicacion- viviendas (20 September 2007);
53. "Hojas informativas: Malabo 2," ASODEGUE, 8 June 2006, http://www. asodegue.org/junio0806.htm (20 September 2007).
54. "Guinea Ecuatorial los desalojos forzosos violan los Derechos Humanos," Amnesty International, 1 June 2007, http://web.amnesty. org/library/Index/ESLAFR240092007?open&of=ESL-2AF (20 September 2007);
55. and "Guinea Ecuatorial: 300 familias desalojadas y sin techo," Amnesty International, 23 August 2007, http://web.amnesty.org/library/ Index/ESLAFR240062006?open&of= ESL-2F2 (20 September 2007).
56. In this context, Chinese officials have described Western governments' reticence to engage in corrupt practices to promote their interests as "a weakness which can be exploited by China."
57. This was confirmed by different former recipients of the scholarship.
58. This was confirmed by an official of the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in Malabo in February 2008.
59. For a crude contraposition between an irresponsible China and a modelic West in Africa see Princeton N. Lyman, J. Stephen Morrison et al., More Than Humanistarism: A Strategic US Approach Toward Africa (New York: Council of Foreign Relations, 2006) http://www.cfr.org/publication/9302 (20 December 2007).
60. Nicholas Shaxson, Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil (London: Palgrave, 2007);
61. Edward Burke, "Obiang y los límites del realismo energético," Foreign Policy Edición Española, No. 28 (2008) http://www.fp-es.org/obiang-y-los-limites-del-realismo-energetico (11 August 2008).
62. Shaun Breslin and Ian Taylor, "Explaining the rise of 'human rights' in analysis of Sino-African relations," Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2008), pp. 53, 68-69.
63. "Obiang Nguema destaca que China coopera con África sin condiciones y sin exigir respeto a los Derechos Humanos," Libertad Digital, 5 November 2006.
64. François Soudan, "Le mystérieux M. Obiang," Jeune Afrique, 8 October 2006;
65. Pascal Airault, "Lune de miel Malabo-Pékin," Jeune Afrique, 13 November 2005.
66. Alexander Smoltczyk, "Torture and poverty in Equatorial Guinea," Der Spiegel, 28 August 2006.
67. "US reopens embassy in Equatorial Guinea," Afrol News, 16 October 2003.
68. Peru Egurbide, "El gobierno otorga un perfil bajo a la visita del presidente de Guinea," El País, 15 November 2006.
69. Luis Ayllon, "El «veto» del congreso a Obiang deriva en otro patinazo del gobierno en política exterior," ABC, 16 November 2006.
70. Miguel González, "Obiang suspende su visita a España tras no darle cita el Rey ni Zapatero," El Pais, 22 July 2008.
71. Ken Silverstein, "Oil firms' rich concessions to tainted African ruler probed," Washington Post, 18 December 2004.
72. O'Hara, "Riggs Bank agrees to guilty plea and fine."
73. Sunday Dare, "The curious bonds of oil diplomacy," Public Integrity, 6 November 2002. http://projects. publicintegrity.org/bow/report. aspx?aid=151 (5 August 2008).
74. The full text of this letter can be accessed in http://allafrica.com/ stories/200605190861.html.
75. Libertad Digital, 5 November 2006.
76. Jean-François Bayart, "Africa in the world: a history of extraversion," African Affairs, Vol. 99, No. 395 (2000), p. 259.
77. The best account of this failed coup can be found in Adam Roberts, The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa (London: Profile Books, 2006).
78. David Leigh et al, "Pentagon link to Guinea coup plot," The Guardian, 27 September 2004;
79. Will Ross, "Mann signs in in Equatorial Guinea coup trial," BBC News, 7 July 2008.
80. Fiona Govan, "Britain 'knew about Simon Mann coup plot'," Daily Telegraph, 17 June 2008;
81. Luis Ayllon, "Guinea acusa a España en la ONU de apoyar el golpe de Estado contra Obiang," ABC, 24 September 2004;
82. "Obiang: 'el espionaje español conocía el intento de golpe'," La Razón, 22 July 2004.
83. These figures are based on the estimations made by the Home Office of Equatorial Guinea and the Chinese embassy in Malabo. None of them has accurate data on the number of Chinese immigrants established in Equatorial Guinea, but both sources make similar approximations.
84. It must be also taken into account that this Chinese immigration wave has taken place within a broader immigration flow towards Equatorial Guinea, triggered by the discovery and exploitation of its hydrocarbon reserves.
85. There are no surveys to analyse the views of the Equatoguinean people on the Chinese presence in their country, so most of the evidence employed in this section is extracted from the interviews I conducted during field research in Equatorial Guinea and also in Spain.
86. All these deficiencies were confirmed by my visits to many of these clinics and interviews with their staff and customers.
87. This was revealed to me in January 2008 by one of the high ranking officials who attended the closed meeting where the minister made this statement.
88. Malabo, February 2008.
89. Bata, February, 2008.
90. Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong, "Friends and interests: China's distinctive links with Africa," in Guerrero and Manji, China's New Role in Africa and the South, pp. 106-08.
91. Malabo, February 2008.