He Wenping, director of the African Department of the West Asian and African Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote an article to explain China’s success in Africa.
He said, “While the Western countries pay attention to ‘software projects’ such as ‘ability development’ and so on, China emphasizes roads, bridges, and other such visible and tangible projects, the “hardware projects,” that benefit the local residents directly. So far, China has constructed more than 2,000 kilometers of rail lines, more than 3,000 kilometers of roads, over 100 schools, and over 60 hospitals. China has also reduced or cancelled 20 billion yuan worth of debt.”
“Due to financial constraints, Africa’s basic infrastructure development has a shortage of at least US$20 billion each year. These projects actually support China’s globally competitive construction enterprises which are implementing the ‘going overseas strategy.’” He said that each time she went to the capital of Ethiopia, the taxi driver would thank China for helping them to have such modern roads.
Source: Qiushi, August 29, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/gj/gjsspl/201108/t20110829_105813.htm