萨克斯和联合国认为中国是非洲发展的榜样

UN sees China as model for African development
08.16.2006, 01:00 AM

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - China's rapid economic growth should serve as a model for African development, said a UN official at a seminar in Beijing late yesterday.

'Africa is a very hungry continent. But the crisis is solvable, and Chinese technology and investment as well as putting to use its recent historical experience would make a big difference,' said Jeffrey Sachs, special advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, during the China-Africa Partnership seminar.

Sachs said China was best able to understand how Africa's rural poor -- 80 pct of whom live in extreme poverty -- could be given better lives, as China has experience in bringing economic revitalization to thousands of disparate villages across a vast territory

Sachs pointed to agro-tech as a good starting point to put the 'China model' to work.

'Chinese expertise in irrigation and rice cultivation alone could help triple agricultural output in food-deficit Africa,' he said.

He also said China's success in nearly eradicating malaria from its territory, in large part due to the development of various traditional Chinese medicines, could help stem the disease in Africa.

Once these health catastrophes are addressed, Africa can begin to climb up the economic ladder by emulating China's economic success, Sachs said.

'Africa's coastal cities should look to the Chinese example and develop exports for economic growth. Food and agro-processing would be good places to start,' he said.

He also pointed to China's controversial population control methods as part of the reason for the country's consistently high GDP growth rates, and said Africa desperately needed to take similar action.

'Fertility rates in Africa are way too high, and the population in many countries has nearly doubled each generation over the past several years. But China has succeeded in its population control,' he said.

He suggested Chinese businesses and investors work together to bring rejuvenation to the continent using many of the techniques China used to build its economy -- as well as the current drive to develop the country's poorer hinterlands.

Two way trade between China and Africa's 54 countries has increased nearly 20-fold since 1999, from just two bln usd in 1999 to 39.7 bln last year, the UN said.

As for China's allegedly turning a blind eye to human rights abuses by its major African trading partners, as well as complaints that China was dumping its wares to the detriment of local industry, Sachs said that economic paradigm shifts always brought tension.

'China's growth in business with the continent is growing rapidly, so whenever two sides suddenly increase economic contacts, there are bound to be misunderstandings,' he said.