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A2 Relations solve disease
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A2 Relations solve diseaseUS-China cooperation on disease can’t solve- different ideological goals and China looks like a hypocriteMiller 14. The U.S.-China Perception Monitor website aims to mitigate tensions between the U.S. and China by creating innovative channels for building trust, facilitating collaboration between the two countries in critical areas around the world, and raising mutual awareness of common interests. [“Is There Room for U.S.-China Cooperation on the Ebola Crisis? (Part I)” US-China Perception Monitor US-China Young Scholars Forum Travis M. Miller October 13th, 2014 URL: http://www.uscnpm.org/blog/2014/10/13/is-there-room-for-u-s-china-cooperation-on-the-ebola-crisis-part-one/] While both China and the U.S. share an interest in containing the spread of infectious disease in Africa, their intentions for doing so may perhaps remain ideologically at odds. Such circumstances are hardly unique within this complex relationship, and with U.S.-China relations come decades of misperceptions and distrust of intentions. However, the scope of potential reasons on behalf of both states for desiring a cessation to the outbreak of Ebola and other deadly disease in Africa still each arrive at a conclusion that involves humanitarian action in some capacity. The presence of Chinese investment on the continent of Africa is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Last year marked a fifth consecutive year that China remained Africa’s largest trade partner, and foreign direct investment from China to Africa was measured at US$15 billion in 2012. As trade and investment by the Chinese in Africa continues to increase immensely on an annual basis, such interdependency has established a need in fostering a stable environment for economic growth to persist. Funding and construction of infrastructure (China pledged US$20 billion for such activities alone in 2013) has created a two-fold benefit for the Chinese by both creating opportunities to earn government contracts from African states while also strengthening the means by which Chinese resource industries based out of the African continent can transport materials. Some in the West, such as the European Parliament, have rushed to declare these practices as neo-colonialist, but the opposite end of the spectrum would cite an interest by the Chinese in forging stronger relations with unique and untapped foreign markets for the exportation of goods. As Deborah Brautagam notes in The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa, China’s approach is not solely focused on resource extraction but on developing business in the region. This process of the spread of capitalism is remarkably reminiscent of the Western economic ideologies advocated for hundreds of years; it is simply being conducted in exclusion of non-Western nations. While infrastructure is crucial for industry to prosper, just as necessary are safe living conditions in which companies and workers are willing to brave thousands of miles to relocate to. With estimates of over one million Chinese currently living across the African continent, the push to attract greater business initiatives will require migrants to believe that they will prosper relatively uninhibited overseas. The Ebola crisis in West Africa has affected the ability of Chinese companies to conduct business in the region. A Chinese diplomat was quoted as claiming that while the nearly 1,500 Chinese workers in Liberia face little risk of exposure to Ebola, the disease has negatively impacted the operations of many Chinese businesses. Xue Xiaoming, vice-chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, stated that many potential Chinese companies looking to invest in what has become Africa’s largest economy have put existing plans on hold in response to international airlines suspending flights to Ebola-affected countries. This economic interest may have stirred up humanitarian aid by China in combating Ebola in West Africa. The relief efforts mark a rare action on their behalf when referring to overall global Chinese humanitarian aid. While China has quickly developed into the world’s second largest economy, the state ranked 29th in 2012 in international monetary humanitarian aid, remaining in stark contrast from its Western economic equivalents in terms of assistance. The continent of Africa represents a historical anomaly in traditional Chinese humanitarian efforts. For China, the state has dispatched over 20,000 medical practitioners to Africa dating back to Mao Zedong’s regime. Chinese workers worldwide administered over 240 million medical treatments in 71 countries, 45 of which located in Africa. These efforts were curbed under Deng Xiaoping when the state turned its efforts towards intensive economic development, perhaps a signal that the previous decades of work was not simply mercantilist policy but the result of humanitarian inspiration. From the American perspective, the amount China has donated still reflects only a fraction of U.S. humanitarian monetary assistance. Even in West Africa, the U.S. (ranked 1st in 2012 in humanitarian assistance donations) allocated US$100 million to aid in the Ebola crisis through U.S.A.I.D. (United States Agency for International Development) as of September 2014, with congress assessing whether to send an additional amount in the form of C.D.C. personnel and equipment that would bring the overall total of U.S. aid to US$250 million. This is despite not possessing the same breadth of business interests as China in the region (only trading at a rate of nearly half that of China within the continent). However, the organizational purposes of U.S.A.I.D., “to end extreme poverty and to promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity”, reflect the myriad of intentions behind humanitarian aid donations backed by the U.S. government. Indeed, criticism has been levied against the American government from multiple angles, accusing the U.S. of overseeing the distribution of aid only to favorable regime-types or attaching political structural adjustment requirements in order to become a recipient. Still, regardless of motivations, both states have seemingly formed a stake in aiding the West African nations. Download 357.18 Kb. Share with your friends:
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