China Meet African By Chance

Nonetheless, the activities of Chinese companies in Africa have raised eyebrows

. Experts say that, compared to western companies, Chinese multinationals are only beginning to understand corporate responsibility. Some believe greater engagement with institutions like the World Bank, the need for western capital (including stock-market filing requirements), as well as the reputational benefits of corporate responsibility, will all encourage Chinese companies to begin to take the area more seriously at least at home. More worry surrounds the companies behaviour abroad. On transparency, China has yet to sign up to international anti-bribery initiatives like the OECDs anti-bribery convention, and the EITI. Says Peter Rooke, director of the Asia department at Transparency International: As Chinese companies expand their investment into other countries, there is a need for better international standards.The weaknesses of Chinese corporate-responsibility standards are most evident in developing world where the majority of Chinese investment is now focused and are frequently oil-related. Most egregious is the relationship with the regime in Sudan where China has ignored US sanctions, the genocide in Darfur, and a full-scale divestment campaign from NGOs. Burma and Zimbabwe have also benefited from numerous Chinese loans.NGOs and other observers are also very concerned about Chinas international environmental impact. A report from the International Rivers Network and Friends of the Earth last year criticised Exim Bank, Chinas export credit agency, for funding projects such as the Yeywa Dam in Burma,Merowe Dam in Sudan, and the Nam Mang 3 Dam in Laos. It says Exim has failed to sign up to the environment guidelines adopted by many export-credit agencies from OECD countries, including Korea and Turkey. These guidelines, known as the common approaches, compel export-credit agencies to subject projects to environmental review, as well as relevant host country and international standards. In late 2004, Exim adopted environmental guidelines of its own; but NGOs point out that they are not available to the public, or to commercial banks that arrange funding on Exims behalf. The report notes that Exim also has no apparent policy on human rights, despite loaning to countries with poor human-rights records,such as Burma and Sudan. Meanwhile, concerns have been raised over the environmental impact of various Chinese-run mining operations in Africa, including copper mines in Zambia and Congo, and titanium sands projects in ecologically sensitive parts of Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar. Chinese miners have also come under fire in South Africa.Moreover, China is a major importer of illegal timber from forests in places like Burma, Indonesia, Cameroon, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. Last year, Global Witness said that Chinas imported timber most of it illegal was worth some US$350 million annually. Up to 70% of that ended up being re-exported abroad as furniture, plywood and other processed products, according to a report this year by Centre for International Forestry Research.Elizabeth Economy, director for Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and author of The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China"s Future, says there are two ways of understanding Chinas impact on the global environment. One, is what she calls the unintended consequences of Chinas rapid economic advance: its impact, for example, on ozone depletion and climate change, and its pollution of the Pacific Ocean.The second phenomenon, she says, is more recent and concerns its multinationals working abroad. If you can accept that Chinese companies engaged domestically are some of the most egregious in the world in terms of labour and safety standards and environmental standards, then there is very little reason to anticipate that what they are doing abroad is any better, she says.There are signs, however, that Chinese companies and the Chinese government are beginning to take concerns over corporate responsibility more seriously. For example, following Global Witnesss report on Burmese logging, the Yunnan Provincial Government closed its border to illegal imports from that country. In Peru, where CNPCs subsidiary SAPET has come under fire for impinging on the habitats of indigenous peoples in the Amazon, the company recently requested that the government remove an affected area from their oil concession. Such examples may be the first evidence that Chinese companies understand that to operate over the long-term they need to adjust to the concerns of local people.Economy says some government agencies is beginning to wake up to the potential for difficulties. She says: I think there is some concern within the Foreign Affairs ministry about how to keep track of Chinas growing presence abroad. I think the idea of corporate responsibility among Chinese companies is just beginning to take hold. But its going to take some time, because the companies havent felt these concerns domestically.As the professional manufacturer of complete sets of mining machinery, such as Rock cone crusherScrew classifierOre flotation equipment, Henan Hongxing is always doing the best in products and service.Shaking concentratorhttp://www.crusher-machine.com/33.html primary jaw crusherhttp://www.hxjqchina.com/product-list_11.html

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