It had good intentions, the idea was that they'd like capitalism so much (now that they're rich) that they'd give up on communism. Would have worked, but they let China get away with too much shit, and you know the saying "give an inch and they'll take a mile". They should have stopped trading decades ago until China towed the fucking line. You want to make islands in the sea? No trade for you. You steal our IP? No trade for you until you pay it all back with interest. You ship us poisonous childrens' toys? Turn back all Chinese cargo for that month.
But out glorious leaders love that sweet, sweet yuan in their private offshore accounts.
That's fine and good. I don't think China was supposed to have been the final stop on exporting manufacturing. I think Africa was the end goal for manufacturing, but they didn't get the triangle balanced (security, resources, workers). It would be much cheaper to make everything in Africa as you don't have to ship the resources someplace else first, just around the region for refining and manufacturing and then export it. No one has been able to solve the security problem though, that jacks the price up. I think that was the aim to having AI and robots as they'll make manufacturing in Africa cheaper.
In China and the West, security and resources are practically a non-issue. The biggest difference is in China the workers are far cheaper. As it is now, China is positioned and positioning itself to have that triangle solved - security will be their military (because they've either stolen or were gifted our IP), workers won't be a problem (2 billion Chinese? and they stopped the 1 child policy, if I recall correctly), and that just leaves the resources. They are going after that now by being an international loan shark, where they take ownership of the mineral rights as payment. China knows Africa is untapped and not fully exploited.
I hope for the sake of the free world that you are wrong. If the CCP was to maintain or grow its power through Africa, that would plunge the world into another dark age.
I wish I was wrong too...back in the 1990s I was concerned and vocal (as a high school kid) about China being the big bag wolf and was laughed at.
There's more but they get harder to find after a while. I think they repo'd an airport someplace, and control most of the mineral rights in South Africa.
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