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  • U.S., China owe half of world’s $235tr debts

    U.S., China owe half of world’s $235tr debts

    The International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday announced that the United States (U.S.A) and China account for half of the world’s total indebtedness of $235 trillion, with both countries owing $117.5 trillion.

    In its global debt update, titled: Global Debt Is Returning to its Rising Trend, the global monetary fund said in a space of one year from 2021, global debt position rose by $200 billion to $235 trillion, equivalent of 238 per cent of the world’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), as of 2022.

    According to the global financial institution, this is nine percentage points higher than in 2019.

    But the IMF laid the weight of the rising cause of global debt on developed nations, fingering China and U.S.A contributing $47.5 trillion and $70 trillion to the debt basket.

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    It said debt in low-income developing countries has risen “significantly in the last two decades,” adding: “The pace of their increases since the global financial crisis has created challenges and vulnerabilities.”

    In the global debt update anchored by three senior officials of the IMF – Vitor Gaspar, the Director of Fiscal Affairs Department; Marcos Poplawski-Ribeiro, Deputy Director; and Jiae Yoo, an economist – the IMF warned policymakers to be steadfast and “unwavering over the next few years in their commitment to preserving debt sustainability”.

    On modalities for addressing the debt challenges, the IMF advised governments to take urgent steps to reduce debt vulnerabilities and reverse long-term debt trends.

     It also said building a credible fiscal framework could guide the process and help the fiscal authority to balance spending needs with debt sustainability to address public sector debt vulnerabilities.

    For low-income developing  countries, the IMF said improving the capacity to collect additional tax revenues was key.

    It advised those with unsustainable debt to adopt a comprehensive approach that encompasses fiscal discipline as well as the debt restructuring option. 

    IMF added: “Importantly, reducing debt burdens will create fiscal space and allow new investments, helping foster economic growth in coming years. Reforms to labour and product markets that boost potential output at the national level would support that goal. International cooperation on taxation, including carbon taxation, could further alleviate pressures on public financing.”

  • China: Xinjiang terrorism challenge and the world

    By Ikenna Emewu

    Six incidents of terror attacks in Xinjiang between 1992 and 2014 were enough signs to alert China that crises were in the offing in the vast land north western tip of the country. Bombing first happened in 1992 in Urumqi, repeated in the same Xinjiang capital city in 1997 in a bus bombing incident. In 2010, another bombing wrecked the peace in Aksu. Twice in 2011, the bombers struck in Hotan and Kashgar and returned to Ürümqi in 2014.

    At the repeated incidents, it was already clear that what was happening in the region were more than coincidences rather some design. Because of the vast landmass of the region, China has borders with seven countries all around Xinjiang and some of them are very volatile states with regards to extremism and terrorism including Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, India and Russia. The predominant religion in the region is Islam which is also common in the nearby countries and therefore, skirmishes many times spill across borders into the region, thereby making Xinjiang a hotbed of terror incidents.

    “On January 5, 2009, East Turkestan movement, both from inside and outside of China, started an extremely violent riot in Ürümqi that shook up the whole world. The terrorists staged major attacks in big stores and public places. The attack killed 197, injured more than 1,700 and destroyed 331 stores and burnt down 1,325 vehicles, many other public places were also damaged over the attacks”, the world media reported widely then.

    After the 9/11 Al-Qaeda terror incident in the US, China joined international agencies in the fight against terror which yielded some dividends as the US and UN declared the volatile incidents in Xinjiang by mostly Uyghur separatist bodies as part of internationally recognized terrorism area and the masterminds as terror groups.

    But the challenge and how China handles it in the zone has over time attracted diverse comments and reactions from the world although depending on interests. While those against China sneer that the government of China is highhanded about the approach, some others applaud it for adopting a very pragmatic approach in handling terrorism which is one of the worst security dangers the world faces in diverse forms.

    In the Asia world, the Al-Qaeda, the Talibans and some other groups prevail while in Africa there are Boko Haram that terrorizes Nigeria and parts of Cameroon and Niger, and later the ISWA. The deaths from Boko Haram in Nigeria since 2009 are in excess of 12,000 while millions are displaced and have lost their homes and means of living. Another terror group, Al-Shabbab makes life unbearable in East Africa, especially Kenya and the northern border countries.

    So China pushing back the terrorism threats in the Xinjiang flanks becomes a big lesson for others on how effectively terrorism, especially at the cross border can be contained.

    It was little wonder that at the last UN General Assembly in New York, USA, at the Security Council level, issues arose about China and the Xinjiang terrorism challenge.

    Some Western countries, especially US raised doubts about China’s anti-terrorism approach in Xinjiang, a position the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi vehemently countered.

    As they argued that China’s de-radicalization was abuse of rights of some Uyghurs, Wang said a vehement no and corrected that the method has instead yielded huge dividends.

    “Wang spoke about the preventive counter-terrorism and de-radicalization measures that China has been taking in western Xinjiang during a ministerial-level debate in the UN Security Council on cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations in maintaining international peace and security.

    Such practices represent useful explorations in preventive counterterrorism and concrete steps in implementing the UN Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism,” he said.

    Through the de-radicalization approach that come in form of re-education of the extremists and cleaning their minds of violent and sanguine religious views and inclinations, the government of China, Iran and Pakistan have reported over time that tension in the region has been effectively contained.

    China says emphatically that the “government of Xinjiang has learned from other nations’ practices how to advance preventive counterterrorism and de-radicalization work in accordance with the law.”

    The Chinese FM also told the UNSC that “China has curbed the rampant and frequent terrorist activities in the region and safeguarded the basic rights of more than 25 million Xinjiang residents, including the right to subsistence and development.

    Significant economic growth has been achieved in the region with people’s religious freedoms respected, Wang added.

    The local economy has grown 80-fold since the establishment of the region around six decades ago.

    The number of religious sites and clerical personnel also increased greatly during this time, and on the average there is a mosque for every 530 Muslims in Xinjiang, he said.

    “A few Western countries, including the US, have been attacking and discrediting China’s just measures out of political motives with disregard to the facts. China firmly opposes this, and their slander will not gain any recognition from the international community.”

    The US representative, Jonathan Cohen, voiced concerns over the Xinjiang issues during the UN debate.

    The Chinese side rejected Cohen’s claims and urged the United States to stand with China in fighting terrorism in China.

    “There must be no double standards or selectiveness in the fight against terrorism, Wang told the 15-nation council, and all terrorist activities must be resolutely challenged irrespective of who is behind them, when and where they take place or why they are initiated.

    Counterterrorism measures shouldn’t be selective, nor should any party take advantage of terrorist forces to pursue geopolitical gains, he said. And terrorism shouldn’t be linked to any specific country, ethnicity or religion.”

    Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov aligned with China and cautioned that using terrorist entities for political purposes was particularly unacceptable.

    While the need is urgent to strengthen international efforts in combating terrorism, all cooperative efforts should be conducted without politicization, he said.

    With cross-border cooperation a main theme in the debate, Wang underscored China’s pledge to participate further in the international fight against terrorism.

    International cooperation is the priority of the UN counterterrorism strategy, said Antonio Guterres, UN secretary-general,” a China Daily report noted.

    The UN is strengthening its cooperation with regional organizations such as the three who were present at the debate – the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Guterres said.

    Wang also opposed the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric and advocated dialogue between civilizations. This was in line with China’s argument that US and others should not be out to fault China on terror war while they justify their own actions against international terrorism even in foreign countries.

    Beyond the rhetoric at the UN Security Council and taking sides which is normal in diplomatic discussions for personal interests, the world needs to study the Chinese approach in the Xinjiang threat.

    Nigeria for instance, has been a major casualty nation in the hands of terrorism and we need to also learn from China what makes their approach work and how the execution would be a sample to the world to tackle terrorism. The poor and struggling economy of Nigeria has been dealt a terrible blow in the past 10 years where resources that ought to be channelled to the development of the country are diverted to contain terrorism. Till today, the crisis hasn’t abated.

    Some other African countries like Mali, Algeria, Egypt and many more have lived under the endless threat of terrorism, and terrorism has in the past 30 years reduced Somalia to a totally failed state that exists only in name.

    Africa especially and the rest of the should open their eyes to the China example, while the UN should also engage better, rather than allowing individual political proclivities becloud the good lessons that might be there in the Xinjiang approach against global terrorism.

    This is also a call to China to closely monitor implementation of the process and ensure that the rights of law abiding individuals, especially the Uyghur ethnic citizens, are not infringed, while lives are protected and livelihood effectively sustained.

    • Emewu, a journalist and executive director, Afri-China Media Centre, wrote from Lagos.

  • China is leading next step in fighting malaria in Africa

    In 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said it was committed to eradicating malaria across the globe. By then, it was late to the game.

    That year, Chinese scientists working with a Chinese philanthropist and his company, New South, had already begun eradicating malaria from the small African nation of Comoros. Now they’re setting their sights on a more ambitious location: Kenya, the East African nation of nearly 50 million people.

    As Western donors garner headlines for funding expensive, experimental malaria interventions, Chinese researchers are undertaking a far more tested approach. Called mass drug administration, or MDA, it involves giving antimalarial pills to every man, woman, and child in a given area all at once. Rather than kill off the world’s mosquitoes, which spread the disease by drawing blood from infected people, the thinking goes, why not simply wipe out malaria among humans?

    If successful, the effort would ease the disease’s burden on Kenya’s health system and economy. But it would also showcase Chinese philanthropy in Africa, and may even help change the perception here that Chinese-made goods and medicine are of poor quality. Having recently surpassed the United States to become Africa’s leading trade partner, and with Chinese investment in Africa rising sixtyfold from $500 million to $32 billion in the last 15 years, Chinese cooperation in the continent’s science and public-health sectors may show the world that the country has far more to offer Africa than just roads, railways, and things.

    China has employed MDA, along with other methods to fight malaria, at home since at least 1981; last year, for the first time in what is likely millennia, it saw no new native cases of the disease. But MDA is controversial for reasons of both science and ethics. There are concerns that it could lead to increased drug resistance, which could see malaria rise to levels not seen in decades. Others believe it’s unethical to give antimalarials to people who may not even have the disease—or who don’t wish to take them—though such qualms are dismissed in Kenya and elsewhere. Similar dilemmas are challenging U.S. policy makers as they debate how to respond to the rising anti-vax movement.

    Chinese officials, researchers, and philanthropists seem unworried by these concerns—as are some Kenyan officials.

    Dr. Bernhards Ogutu, who has spent decades studying malaria for the Kenya Medical Research Institute, welcomes the Chinese. For too long, he told me, the world has been “basically firefighting”: waiting until people become sick with the disease, then treating them. He predicted that by using MDA and similar methods, in some parts of Kenya, “we can totally eradicate malaria in the next five years.”

    Malaria is a debilitating sickness that can make strong, healthy adults bedridden for weeks and is one of the three leading causes of death for children in sub-Saharan Africa. Symptoms include fever, chills, shaking, muscle aches, and severe fatigue.

    According to the World Health Organization, almost half the global population is at risk for malaria. Each year the disease afflicts 212 million people and kills 430,000 of them—nearly 1,200 deaths each day. Ninety percent of malaria cases and 92 percent of deaths occur in Africa.

    Song Jianping, deputy director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Guangzhou University, which receives funding for its MDA research from the Chinese government, says those numbers could be drastically lowered. “It is not like we don’t have the medicine. It’s not like we don’t have the methods. The hurdle is the wrong perception,” he says. Fighting malaria through prevention is not enough, Song adds. “If the whole [of] Africa can run MDA, in 10 years, there will be no malaria.”

    Eradicating the disease won’t be easy: Humans have only succeeded in wiping two diseases—smallpox and rinderpest—from the face of the Earth. “Mass drug administration—that’s a very controversial intervention,” says Desmond Chavasse, who for two decades has worked on malaria initiatives for the NGO Population Services International (PSI). But the appeal “is that the result is there for generations.”

    China isn’t new to the global fight against malaria. Chinese scientist Tu Youyou discovered the antimalarial compound artemisinin, in 1972, and figured out how to extract it from the Asian sweet wormwood plant, eventually earning her the Nobel Prize in 2015. For at least 2,000 years, wormwood was used to treat fevers and other symptoms consistent with what we now know to be malaria.

    Today, artemisinin is the most effective and widely used antimalarial compound in the world, with millions of doses of artemisinin combination therapies (ACTs) given out each year. Some of the Chinese scientists who helped develop ACTs are now shifting their attention to using MDA in Africa. New South, the Chinese company whose CEO, Zhu Layi, says he has personally spent $300 million on MDA research and experiments in Africa, and his company is in talks with Kenyan health officials to do an MDA test run among 10,000 people on the country’s Indian Ocean coast, near the port city of Mombasa, where malaria is endemic.

    But unlike those living in Comoros, many on the Kenyan mainland regularly travel or commute around the region, which poses a problem: People who are out of town when the drugs are administered might return carrying the parasite in their blood, reintroducing malaria to the area. There is also concern that the MDA approach could result in the malarial parasite building up resistance to the drugs used in the treatment. But, says Song: “If we can manage to give the correct dose, and do it fast, then we can kill the parasites before they develop resistance.”

    Already, resistance is threatening to undermine the gains made by the last great antimalarial technology: bed nets. In the 1990s, the advent of the insecticide-treated mosquito net led to a breakthrough that resulted in a steady decline of malaria around the world. The problem is that “we’ve already harvested most of the benefits you can expect to harvest” from nets, Chavasse says. Without new insecticides, drugs, and treatment methods, scientists say we’ll soon see an increase in malaria worldwide. Many donors and investors are hesitant to invest in approaches like MDA when older methods have worked in the past. “But the current way of doing this is just going to keep us sick,” Ogutu said.

    In Kenya, where 70 percent of the population is at risk for malaria, according to government data, the devastation of the disease goes beyond the sickness itself. “People who get malaria are not able to go to work. Your productivity goes down. If you’re a child, you will not be able to go to school,” says Rebecca Kiptui, of Kenya’s National Malaria Control Program. “If everybody falls sick, then the Kenyan economy would suffer.” Five years ago, 37 percent of all outpatient treatments given in Kenya were for malaria. Taken together, lost work hours and the cost of treating patients for malaria amount to $109 million a year, according to researchers who studied the economic effects of the disease in the region.

    Some worry New South, the Chinese company, may be trying to get a piece of the pie—that its MDA campaign may in fact be a ploy to increase sales of its own medicine. Among New South’s vast holdings is a pharmaceutical wing whose Chinese scientists in 2006 invented Artequick, an ACT that China’s Ministry of Health approved as the “drug of choice” for treating malaria in the country in 2009. The next year, Beijing listed Artequick as the preferred malaria drug for export to Africa. But Chavasse says “there is a fundamental conflict of interest for why a Chinese ACT manufacturer would be carrying out a research project on mass drug administration.The thought needs to be driven by malaria academics—not by drug companies.”

    But Ogutu dismissed the idea that Chinese endeavors must have some ulterior motive. “We live in a conspiracy—that there’s some hidden agenda,” he said. In New South’s case, those fears seem misplaced: Unlike antibiotics and more specialized drugs, there is little money to be made from malaria treatment, with artemisinin-based malaria meds selling for just pennies per pill.

    Rather, the company’s campaign to eradicate malaria forces us to reckon with the possibility that Chinese billionaires such as Zhu might be driven by the same altruistic intentions that drive their Western counterparts—philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates, who have spent more than $2 billion fighting malaria. If anything, New South’s secondary motivation isn’t only profit, but also pride. “We want to promote Chinese medicine to the globe,” Ethan Peng, who worked on New South’s MDA efforts in Nigeria, told me last month from his office in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city.

    Many in the West and in Africa are not enthused. Amid popular narratives about Chinese engagement in Africa is the assumption that Chinese-made products are faulty, cheap, subpar, or fake. Similar accusations have been directed at New South’s malaria-eradication campaign. A 2014 report by CBS News questioned the use of New South’s new drug, Artequick, even though it’s a combination of three drugs that are well studied, widely used to fight malaria globally, and deemed by researchers to be an effective treatment for malaria.

    The real debate may have less to do with science than it does with ideology: Is malaria elimination—or for that matter, health care in general—a societal affair, or an individual one?

    Several of my Chinese and Kenyan friends alike are astounded that some American parents refuse to vaccinate their children against measles out of a disproven fear of autism, and question why people even have that choice. The notion that individual liberties should be respected even when they refute science—to the point of creating a public-health emergency—seems ludicrous in societies where health is treated not as an individual right, but as a common good.

    Moreover, such criticism ignores the reality that, in many parts of Africa, solving problems through science has already become a collaborative affair. In November, the Chinese Academy of Sciences opened its first-ever research center in Africa, near Nairobi. Chinese and Kenyan scientists work together to create drought-resistant crops, increase rice yields, and develop new methods for trapping water in the ground to better grow maize.

    Chinese medicine has been a boon to Kenya: Pharmacies here carry Chinese-manufactured artemisinin alongside more globally recognized products from the Swiss pharma corporation Novartis, and since 2003 China has donated malaria and HIV drugs to Kenya’s government. Kiptui says she welcomes “any partner in malaria as long as they line up with our needs,” be they from “America or China or Thailand, or wherever.”

    “In public health,” Kiptui says, “you do the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.”

    “It takes some time for people to understand,” Peng told me. But “in Africa, more and more people are getting to recognize that Chinese medicine is very good.”

     

    • •This article was first published in The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com

     

     

  • IMF: U.S, China trade war threatens global growth

    Ongoing trade war between the United  States (U.S.) and China over tariff hike could slash global economic output by 0.5 per cent next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned yesterday. The warning is coming ahead the meeting of global finance leaders in Japan this weekend.

    IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a note for G20 finance ministers and central bank governors that taxing all trade between the two countries, as President Donald Trump has threatened, would cause some $455 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) to evaporate – a loss larger than G20 member South Africa’s economy.

    “These are self-inflicted wounds that must be avoided. How? By removing the recently implemented trade barriers and by avoiding further barriers in whatever form,” she said in the note.

    The IMF said U.S. tariffs and Chinese retaliatory measures put in place thus far, including a recent increase in U.S. tariffs to 25 per cent on a $200 billion list of Chinese imports, could cut 2020 growth by 0.3 per cent. More than half of that impact comes from negative effects on business confidence and financial market sentiment.

    “The fact is that protectionist measures are not only hurting growth and jobs, but they are also making tradable consumer goods less affordable – and disproportionately harming low-income households,” Lagarde said.

    The trade tensions had already contributed to the IMF cutting 0.4 percentage point from its 2019 growth forecast in April to 3.3 per cent.

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    Yesterday, the Fund said incoming data suggested that its expectations were on target for a modest pickup in growth in the second half of this year due to more accommodative monetary policy and economic stimulus measures in China.

    The IMF is predicting 3.6 percent global growth for next year, but said this outlook is vulnerable to trade tensions, uncertainty over Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU), uncertain recoveries in some stressed economies such as Argentina and Turkey.

    If growth falters, the IMF said that policymakers should act in a coordinated fashion including “decisive” actions to ease monetary policy and fiscal stimulus in countries that have available resources. These would be more effective if the policy response was “synchronised” across the globe and coupled with structural reforms aimed at improving economic efficiency, the IMF said.

    Lagarde also argued for stepped-up efforts to strengthen World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, especially on subsidies, intellectual property protections and trade in services. She cited IMF research showing that liberalising trade in services could add about $350 billion to global GDP in the long run.

  • US-China brawl drives down oil prices

    Oil prices tanked on Wednesday after China upped the ante in the trade war, hinting at stifling rare earth minerals exports to the United States (U.S.)—a move that rekindled concern about the global economy and had investors flee risk assets.

    WTI Crude plunged 3.08 per cent at $57.32, while Brent Crude lost 2.52 per cent to stay at $66.94.

    Crude oil followed yet another global sell-off after signals of an intensifying trade war came out of China.

    “Waging a trade war against China, the U.S. risks losing the supply of materials that are vital to sustaining its technological strength,” China’s Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

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    China is a dominant exporter of rare earths, and speculation had already started to swirl that the country could be using the rare earths trump card in the trade dispute.

    “By making unilateral moves to contain technological development of other countries, the United States seems to have overlooked one fact: the international supply chain is so intertwined that no economy could thrive on its own. If necessary, China has plenty of cards to play,” Xinhua said.

    The escalation of the trade dispute resulted in another big drop in oil prices on Wednesday as investors focused on the demand side of the oil market. The prospect of a protracted trade war between the world’s two largest economies has had investors and traders worried that global economic growth will slow down, dragging down global oil demand growth with it.

  • China congratulates S/Africa’s ANC on election victory

    China congratulated South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) on its sixth win in national elections, the foreign ministry reported on Monday.

    Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a news briefing adding that the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had sent a congratulatory letter to the National Executive Committee of the ANC.

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    “South Africa is a major developing country in Africa with important influence in regional and international affairs,’’ Geng said.

    “China highly values its ties with South Africa and is willing to work with the new South African government led by the ANC to deepen mutual political trust, strengthen pragmatic cooperation.

    “We are ready to push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to make bigger headway,’’ Geng said.

    NAN

  • China builds 158 Internet hospitals amid digital tide

    China’s medical authority said on Wednesday that 158 Internet hospitals had been built, to address congestion in large urban hospitals amid digital tide.

    Mao Qun’an, a director of the National Health Commission, said at the second Digital China Summit that 19 provinces, or over half of China’s provincial-level regions, had established provincial telemedicine platforms.

    The central government has also earmarked 99 million U.S. dollars in special funds to add tele-medical and other equipment in primary-level health institutions in impoverished counties.

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    The commission is now working to realise online services in second and tertiary hospitals, he said.

    China’s has a three-tier hospital grading system with the tertiary being the highest.

    Internet hospitals refer to those offering medical services, such as consultation and diagnosis, online.

    In particular, they are expected to help tackle the scarcity of medical equipment and practitioners in some parts of China.

    The three-day Digital China Summit, which concluded on May 1, highlights the latest information technologies that have swept through the country’s government, industries and society.

    NAN

  • Elumelu to IMF: provide alternatives to China loan

    Chairman of Heir Holdings, Tony Elumelu on Friday asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide other alternatives followings its warning to Nigeria to avoid China loans.

    Financial Counsellor and Director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, Mr. Tobias Adrian, during the launch of the Global Financial Stability Report for April on Wednesday at the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington D.C, United of America warned countries to make sure that when they borrow from abroad the terms are favorable.

    “In particular, we recommend that loans to countries should conform with Paris Club arrangements and that is not always the case of loans from China,” the IMF chief said.

    But Elumelu disagreed with IMF advice, saying nature abhors vacuum and so the IMF, World Bank and other development partners to provide alternatives that will create jobs.

    Elumelu, who was on a private visit to the State House, said: “My position is that nature abhors vacuum.

    “If you do not want Nigeria to take China loan, provide the alternative. Like I keep saying they should also support the development of entrepreneurs, they should look at ways to help us eradicate poverty in a manner that is sustainable.

    “For me, one of the surest ways to eradicate poverty is to ensure that our youths are gainfully employed through entrepreneurship.

    “Also to make sure that development agencies – IMF, World Bank and co help and support Nigeria to improve on her infrastructure, road transportation, access to electricity.

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    “These are things that will help us improve on security in Nigeria. These are things that will help us increase prosperity through employment which is the most important thing. So, the advice is good but nature abhors vacuum.”

    Advising on the Next Level, Elumelu said it was time to work.

    “On the economy and the next level, let us just continue in what we are doing, improve on them, increase capacity.

    “I operate in the power sector, we are the biggest generator of electricity in Nigeria through Transcorp power and I know first hand what efforts government is doing.

    “But we need to do more, we need to convert gas to power, we need to compliment what is going on already in agric space and as you know there is peace and prosperity in that sector but we need to add a little zeal to it to be able to attract investors.

    “I think the elections are over and we need to move forward as a team, as a country so that our people will be better for it.”

  • Anambra partners China to build cultural centre

    Governor Willie Obiano has tasked the  Chinese government to help facilitate the completion of some projects being handled by Chinese companies in the state, especially the international airport.

    He said due to the slow pace of work at the airport, the Anambra State government had undertaken the construction of one of the runways until the company is ready to commence work in full.

    The governor, who spoke while receiving the delegation of Chinese officials, led by China Ambassador to Nigeria Dr Zhou Pingjians, in Awka, stated that Anambra has many beautiful cultural sites, which his administration has painstakingly upgraded in the past one year in order to qualify either Owere Ezukala or Ogbunike Cave as UNESCO world heritage site.

    The visit was the fallout of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, Indigenous Artwork, Culture and Tourism existing cultural exchange programmes with the Chinese in the past one year.

    “We have cultural artefacts which represent different periods in our development like the Igbo-Ukwu culture, all these are interesting things to be explored in Anambra,” he said.

    The governor reiterated Anambra State government’s readiness to partner the Chinese to build a cultural exchange centre as conceived by the ministry, and a consulate office in the state, as well as speedy completion of the  airport.

    Anambra State Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, Indigenous Artwork, Culture and Tourism Mrs Sally Mbanefo thanked the Chinese ambassador for inviting Anambra Cultural Troupe as the only cultural troupe to perform in the Chinese New Year celebrations in Abuja last January.

    She disclosed that Anambra State and China have agreed to partner in building a cultural centre in Awka, noting that ‘our universities are already offering in Mandarin as a course.’

    According to Mbanefo, over 70 percent of the visa applications in Nigeria are from Anambra State, and so “we have agreed on the need to establish a consulate in Awka. We are also building an airport in Anambra State and we are collaborating with Chinese on this.”

    Read also: NEPAD trains 500 Anambra youths

    She assured the delegation that Anambra is the safest state in Nigeria while commending the Chinese government for offering to train Anambra State cultural troupe in calisthenics in China. She noted that the Chinese have earlier lavished Anambratroupe with gifts and have invited the troupe to Chinese New Year next year.

    China Ambassador to Nigeria Dr Zhou Pingjian said that the aim of the visit was to explore cooperation opportunities at sub-national level, noting that China-Nigeria relations has been cordial and very productive and as such should cut across board at all levels.

    He praised the vision of Anambra State government, stating that China is working in sync with the vision of Anambra State.

    “In China, the Congress has passed a law on foreign investment, which is in line with the vision of Anambra State. China is creating more enabling environment for foreign investors,” he said.

    He stressed that Nigeria and China have so much in common in terms of economic and population size that there is no limit to their cooperation.

    The Ambassador thanked Governor Obiano for sending the state cultural troupe to their New Year celebration while commending the troupe for the spectacular performance. He also assured the state of their readiness to help facilitate all projects being handled by the Chinese companies in the state.

  • ‘Why China can’t edge out US, European aircraft makers’

    It will take China more than 10 years to compete with the likes of United States-based Boeing and European aircraft maker Airbus, an aviation expert has said.

    Speaking in an online interview at the weekend, Chief Executive Officer, Dassault Systems, Bernard Charles, said it would take more time for China to meet up because of the complex nature of the aerospace industry.

    Besides, he said it requires sufficient investment by well-established companies to accumulate knowledge and technology to build reliable commercial aircraft.

    The expert said any country hoping to take over from Boeing and Airbus should be ready to devote more time and invest in technology.

    Charles said Boeing and Airbus dominate the aircraft manufacturing space along with some smaller players like Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier.

    He said: “I think it will take China one or two generations of aeroplanes to have a truly worldwide competitive product.”

    Dassault Systems sells software to plane makers that help them digitalise their businesses. The idea is that by embracing more technology into daily operations, those manufacturers can bring down the cost of the jets, use resources more efficiently and ramp up production to meet demand.