In exchange for lots of oil, the Chinese government built a city containing 750(!) 8-story apartment buildings in Angola. The problem is, at $120,000 to $200,000 per unit, there are no middle class buyers. And that's because Angola does not have a middle class.
@Alan: I don't think the Chinese give a shit. They got the oil already and their excess labor gets jobs. Many of the Chinese laborers in Africa stay there after their jobs are over and become traders, thus enriching China even more.
It just goes to show that soft power is more effective (and less deadly) than a half dozen nuclear powered aircraft carriers and squadrons of B-52s.
How does such a blunder even happen? Was there literally no forethought?
ReplyDelete@Alan: I don't think the Chinese give a shit. They got the oil already and their excess labor gets jobs. Many of the Chinese laborers in Africa stay there after their jobs are over and become traders, thus enriching China even more.
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show that soft power is more effective (and less deadly) than a half dozen nuclear powered aircraft carriers and squadrons of B-52s.