{"id":439878,"date":"2011-06-12T15:17:56","date_gmt":"2011-06-12T15:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/"},"modified":"2011-06-12T15:17:56","modified_gmt":"2011-06-12T15:17:56","slug":"clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/","title":{"rendered":"Clinton Condemns ‘New Colonialism’ in Africa, Questions China’s Role"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n

United States Department of State<\/a> (Washington,\u00a0DC)<\/p>\n

11 June 2011<\/p>\n

\n

interview<\/p>\n

An interview with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Lusaka, by e.tv Africa 360 host Chris Maroleng:<\/em><\/p>\n

MR. MAROLENG: Welcome to this special edition of Africa 360, the current affairs show at the forefront of news from your continent. I’m Chris Maroleng and we’re bringing you this special debate with the Secretary of State from the United States, Madam Hillary Clinton.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, it’s been said that the African Growth and Opportunity Act is premised on the notion that good governance will lead to increased foreign direct investment into the African continent. One of the things that we’ll be discussing with Madam Secretary and my guests who come from the media community here in Zambia, who’ll I’ll introduce just now, is whether the African Growth and Opportunity Act has brought increased foreign direct investment into Africa.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once again, we are most privileged to have you, Madam Secretary. Well, to my immediate left is Pennipher Sikainda, who is a journalist based here in Zambia. And further on is Frank Mutubila, who is also a journalist also based on Zambia.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So let’s get into it, Madam Secretary of State. Would you agree with the notion that, in actual fact, the African Growth and Opportunity Act has long been overdue a re-look in terms of the principles relating to good governance and democracy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Chris, first, thank you. Thank you for hosting this along with Pennipher and Frank, and giving me an opportunity to talk to your very broad audience here in Zambia and across Africa.<\/p>\n

I think there are two aspects to the question that you asked. When my husband signed the African Growth and Opportunities Act back in 2000, there were a lot of people who said this will never work, there is just not the environment in which it can take hold. But in fact, in 10 years, we have seen the trade between the United States and Africa quadruple, and that doesn’t include oil. Put oil to one side because, of course, the oil trade is significant.<\/p>\n

But within the $4 billion now of trade, there are many different businesses with products and services that are being sold into the American market. At the same time, what we said at the very successful forum hosted here in Lusaka is that we want to take a hard look at what we can do better, not only from the U.S. perceptive – we are ready to do that – but also from the African perspective. There are still barriers to trade, investment, especially foreign direct investment. Some of them are external that we have to pay attention to, and some of them are internal – better infrastructure, making sure that corruption doesn’t stifle businesses, looking to see that there’s more trade within Sub-Saharan Africa. Because what is surprising, even shocking, is that the countries within Sub-Saharan Africa do less trade with each other than any other region in the world.<\/p>\n

So I think our work is cut out for both of us. So I would give the first 10 years a positive grade, but I want it to go even further.<\/p>\n

MR. MAROLENG: Well, Madam Secretary of State, one of the things that is interesting about the whole concept of AGOA is this question of good governance and democratization, and here I’d like to bring in Frank, who has some ideas around the question of this concept of good governance and democratization.<\/strong><\/p>\n

MR. MUTUBILA: (Inaudible) the sentiments I’d like to start with (inaudible) when we look at governance are the stringent regulations that are applied (inaudible) good that come or get into America are finding a way into Europe. What is your take on this? And when you look at (inaudible) it’s something that is very difficult to understand, to be appreciated (inaudible). What exactly is (inaudible)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Frank, that’s an excellent and very comprehensive question. But good governance for us is democratically elected leaders who are held accountable to their people first and foremost, and who put their own people’s welfare first. We think that democracy is the best way to good governance over the long run, and we have a lot of evidence of that. We think free, fair, transparent elections are the way you get to good governance.<\/p>\n

But leaders have to understand that in the 21st century people know a lot more than they did even 15, 25 years ago, and so they expect more. So good governance ultimately is whether or not people believe they are governed well. And there are some societies that have different forms of government, but we would look and say people’s needs are being met, their aspirations are being recognized. There are some which claim to be democracies that are not doing anything to help their people.<\/p>\n

So at the end of the day, can we measure the success of a government by looking at indicators as to seeing how many jobs are created, is the economy growing, are children being well educated for the 21st century, are health care needs being met – the kinds of issues that you can actually put on a chart.<\/p>\n

And then more subtly perhaps, are people getting along with each other? Are they cooperating? Are they working across tribal, ethnic, religious divides for the betterment of all? So those are some of the definitions that go into good governance.<\/p>\n

MR. MAROLENG: Madam Secretary, one of the things around the African Growth and Opportunity Act is that it’s also based on the notion that conditionality around good governance will lead to foreign direct investment. But we’ve seen other players in the African continent, particularly within the economic sector, who don’t come in with these sort of conditions that you have attached to aid and trade. What’s your view on this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, our view is that over the long run, investments in Africa should be sustainable and for the benefit of the African people. It is easy – and we saw that during colonial times – it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders, and leave. And when you leave, you don’t leave much behind for the people who are there. You don’t improve the standard of living. You don’t create a ladder of opportunity.<\/p>\n

We don’t want to see a new colonialism in Africa. We want, when people come to Africa and make investments, we want them to do well, but we also want them to do good. We don’t want them to undermine good governance. We don’t want them to basically deal with just the top elites and, frankly, too often pay for their concessions or their opportunities to invest.<\/p>\n

Now, I live in the real world and I know that there are many different ways of investing. But my message to government leaders, and certainly this was my message to President Banda and the government here in Zambia, is that the United States is investing in the people of Zambia, not just the elites, and we are investing for the long run. So we just turned over this facility that we’re in, the Paediatric Centre of Excellence. We just turned it over to the Government of Zambia. We’ve spent many tens of millions of dollars working with the people of Zambia to combat HIV\/AIDS. Are we doing that to make money? No. But we’re doing it because we want to see a healthy, prospering Zambian people, which we do ultimately think is in American interests. So you see, it’s – we have a slightly more long-term view, if you will.<\/p>\n

MR. MAROLENG: Pennipher, one of the things that we have seen particularly here in Zambia has been the growing influence of China in terms of foreign direct investment and trade. We’ve heard the Secretary of State saying that what the American Government is looking to is a more sustainable form of investment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In your view, do you believe that the participation of China in Zambia has been one that can be described as sustainable in other parts of the African continent?<\/strong><\/p>\n

MS. SIKAINDA: Well, Chris, you see Chinese trade with Africa remains a contentious issue and we all continue to ask the question whether it is actually benefiting the continent. But Madam Secretary, I’d like to get it from you. Do you think Africa (inaudible) actually a fair trade, and not just China but even the U.S., on a platform that has its benefits (inaudible)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SECRETARY CLINTON: Pennipher, I do think so. And I think we are beginning to see more of that. Just in the last day, I have met Zambian business people who have been helped by American technical assistance to do business plans, to learn how to market into the American market. And our trade ambassador, Ambassador Ron Kirk, announced at the AGOA conference that we will be spending $120 million over four years in Sub-Saharan Africa to help more companies get their products ready for the American market.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nMore News on allAfrica.com<\/strong><\/legend>\n<\/fieldset>\n

AllAfrica – All the Time<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Read More:
\nClinton Condemns ‘New Colonialism’ in Africa, Questions China’s Role<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States Department of State (Washington,\u00a0DC) 11 June 2011 interview An interview with U.S. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":439879,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-439878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment"},"yoast_head":"\nClinton Condemns 'New Colonialism' in Africa, Questions China's Role - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Clinton Condemns 'New Colonialism' in Africa, Questions China's Role - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"United States Department of State (Washington,\u00a0DC) 11 June 2011 interview An interview with U.S.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Clinton Condemns ‘New Colonialism’ in Africa, Questions China’s Role\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-12T15:17:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/\"},\"wordCount\":1570,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Entertainment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/\",\"name\":\"Clinton Condemns 'New Colonialism' in Africa, Questions China's Role - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-06-12T15:17:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Clinton Condemns 'New Colonialism' in Africa, Questions China's Role - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Clinton Condemns 'New Colonialism' in Africa, Questions China's Role - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"United States Department of State (Washington,\u00a0DC) 11 June 2011 interview An interview with U.S.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Clinton Condemns ‘New Colonialism’ in Africa, Questions China’s Role","datePublished":"2011-06-12T15:17:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/"},"wordCount":1570,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Entertainment"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/","name":"Clinton Condemns 'New Colonialism' in Africa, Questions China's Role - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2011-06-12T15:17:56+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/06\/12\/clinton-condemns-new-colonialism-in-africa-questions-chinas-role\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}