China Gradually Executing Plan to Encircle the United States

China has been quietly taking steps to encircle the United States by arming  western hemisphere states, seeking closer military, economic, and diplomatic  ties to U.S. neighbors, and sailing warships into U.S. maritime zones.

The strategy is a Chinese version of what Beijing has charged is a U.S.  strategy designed to encircle and “contain” China. It is also directed at  countering the Obama administration’s new strategy called the pivot to Asia. The  pivot calls for closer economic, diplomatic, and military ties to Asian states  that are increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment throughout that  region.

By Bill Gertz
The Washington Times and The Washington Free Beacon

“The Chinese are deftly parrying our ‘Pivot to the Pacific’ with their own  elegant countermoves,” said John Tkacik, a former State Department Asia  hand.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to question President Barack Obama  about the U.S. pivot during  the summit meeting set to begin Friday afternoon in California. Chinese  state-run media have denounced the new U.S. policy as an effort to “contain”  China and limit its growing power.

The Chinese strategy is highlighted by Xi’s current visit to Trinidad, Costa  Rica, and Mexico where he announced major loans of hundreds of millions of  dollars that analysts say is part of buying influence  in the hemisphere.

U.S. officials say the visit to the region has several objectives, including  seeking to bolster Chinese arms sales to the region amid efforts by Russian arms  dealers to steal market share.

States including Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Mexico recently purchased Chinese  arms but are said to be unhappy with the arms’ low quality. For example, Chinese  YLC radar sold to Ecuador in 2009 did not work properly and sales of Chinese  tanks to Peru also ran into quality problems. Both states are now looking to buy  Russian weaponry, a U.S. official said.

Venezuela, a key oil-producing U.S. adversary, announced Thursday that China  agreed to a $4 billion loan for oil development.

And in Mexico this week, Xi announced China is extending a $1 billion line  of credit for oil  development and pledged another $1 billion trade deal.

A joint Mexico-China statement said Mexico pledged not to interfere in  China’s affairs on Taiwan and Tibet, a reference to the previous government of  Mexican President Felipe Calderon who in 2011 invited exiled Tibetan leader the Dalia  Lama, a move that angered Beijing.

U.S. officials say there are concerns that the pro-Beijing shift by the  current government of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who visited China in  April, will be exploited by China for such political goals, and could be used to  generate support for China’s claims to Japan’s Senkaku Islands.

U.S. officials said there are growing fears that some  type of military confrontation could break out between China and Japan over  the disputed islands that are said to contain large underwater gas and oil  reserves.

North of the U.S. border, Canada this week concluded a military cooperation  agreement with China during the visit to Beijing by Canadian Defense Minister  Peter G. Mackay. The agreement calls for closer cooperation between the two  militaries, including bilateral military exchanges.

Chinese ambassador to Canada Zhang Junsai said China is deepening ties to  Canada for infrastructure development, in Calgary last month. Chinese state-run  companies have spent $30 billion for Canadian oil sands and natural gas, he  said.

At a security conference in  Singapore last month, the commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific, Adm.  Samuel Locklear, confirmed the earlier disclosure by a Chinese military officer  that China’s military has been conducting naval incursions into the 200-mile  U.S. Economic Exclusion Zone around U.S. territory.

The locations of the incursions were not given but they likely included  submarine or warship visits to the western Pacific island of Guam, a key U.S.  military base.

A Chinese military official initially stated at the conference that the  incursions were part of a People’s Liberation Army Navy effort at  “reciprocating” for frequent U.S. Navy transits through China’s 200-mile EEZs  along the coasts. The zones are technically international waters and China has  claimed U.S. transits are “illegal” under international law.

It is not clear why China is conducting naval operations it considers illegal  for its maritime boundaries inside U.S. EEZs.

“They are, and we encourage their ability to do that,” Locklear said, without  explaining why the activity was encouraged or where the Chinese vessels had  transited.

Larry Wortzel, a former military intelligence official and specialist on China, said the Chinese military has  sent intelligence collection ships into Guam’s economic zone and also the zone  around the Hawaiian islands.

“The EEZ transits may indicate that in the future they could revise their  position on the Law of the Sea  and military activities,” Wortzel said.

Wortzel said he does not see China’s efforts in South and Central America as  a counter to the U.S. Asia pivot.

Chinese arms sales, military exchanges, investment and developmenet has been  underway for a decade, he said.

The Financial Times, which first disclosed the Chinese EEZ  forays, quoted one Chinese military source as saying, “we are considering this  as a practice, and we have tried it out, but we clearly don’t have the capacity  to do this all the time like the U.S. does here.”

On Chinese inroads in the western hemisphere, Rick Fisher, a China military  affairs analyst, said China is moving strategically on Latin America, working  methodically as part of a decades-long effort to build economic and  political clout there.

“It has cultivated far better military relations with the openly  anti-American regimes in the region and could become a sort of  political-economic godfather to ensure the survival of the Castro dictatorship  system in Cuba,” said Fisher, with the International Assessment and Strategy  Center.

Intelligence cooperation with Cuba is “substantial,” Fisher says, and will  expand sharply in the region through the activities of its state-run  telecommunications firms such as Huawei Technologies and ZTE  in the region.

China currently is “promoting almost all of its non-nuclear weapons in that  region,” Fisher said.

“It has promoted the Chengdu J-10 4th generation fighter in Venezuela and  Argentina, and even Peru may be considering the J-10 for its future fighter  program,” he said.

China’s J-10

A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

At a recent arms expo in Peru, China was selling a 22,000-ton helicopter  amphibious assault ship and an export version of its relatively advanced  Yuan-class attack submarine.

In Venezuela, China is helping the Caracas government circumvent U.S. arms  embargoes by helping repair Venezuela’s U.S.-made gas turbine engines on  frigates, he said.

China’s Yuan Class Submarine

“Another company was marketing several short range ballistic missiles—with no  apparent consideration about how it might promote a regional missile arms race,”  Fisher said. “The basic U.S. policy is to ‘welcome’ China’s growing influence in  Latin America but it is now time for Washington to use both positive and  negative pressures to limit China’s strategic military reach into this  hemisphere.”

Tkacik said China is quietly evolving on the global stage and implanting  itself across the map with major overseas Chinese communities.

“And if they [Chinese nationals] get in trouble, as they did in Libya in  2011, China’s navy and air forces can coordinate to support them,” he said.  “This support of émigré Chinese communities around the world has become an overt  dictum of China’s new security policy.”

China also has set up commercial bases in key chokepoints around the  Caribbean, through its Chinese-run port facilities in Panama, Bahamas, Trinidad,  and Venezuela over the past decade.

Tkacik said those facilities are partly aimed at drawing American attention  and easing U.S. geopolitical pressure in Asia.

China also is investing heavily in Africa, the Middle East, and Indian Ocean  region.

“At bottom, however, China’s strategic targets are closer to home: East Asia,  Southeast Asia and the Pacific,” Tkacik said. “That’s why Washington’s Pivot to  the Pacific unsettles Beijing so.  It threatens to check Beijing’s rising  new influence in the Asia-Pacific.

Tkacik said Chinese naval patrols in U.S. economic zones have been carried  out for years through Chinese ocean fishing fleets.

“It doesn’t need to send out military vessels to Guam or Hawaii or the  Aleutians except to ‘tweak’ the U.S.,” he said.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news
/2013/jun/7/china-encircles-us-arming-western-h
emisphere-state/?page=3#ixzz2Vd9CZgWN

President Hu Jintao shares a toast with Cuban counterpart Raul Castro at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 6, 2012. (China Daily/Xu Jingxing)

Chinese President Xi Jinping (2nd L) and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto (2nd R) are present at a conference attended by Chinese and Mexican entrepreneurs in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, June 5, 2013. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

Related:

What Angers Vietnamese The Most: The Government’s Shady Collusion with Foreign Aggressors

Chinese human trafficking to Ghana to work in illegal gold mines

Emerging evidence indicates that some Chinese are engaged in trafficking their compatriots into Ghana to force them to work in illegal gold mining camps to pay for their fare to Ghana.

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Among their modus operandi is that the traffickers apply for work permit for the Chinese entering the country, often describing them as construction workers in non-existent real estate companies and others as tourists.

The patrons then seize the passports of their arriving compatriots and move them to the mining camps, mostly in the Western Region, to work as labourers.

A  number of Chinese arrested by the police for engaging in galamsey

Sources at the Minerals Commission told the Daily Graphic that since the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and the Ministry of the Interior were also responsible for recommending visitors for work/resident permits to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the Chinese patrons had started using that as a channel to traffic their compatriots into the country.

According to the sources, anytime some of the trafficked Chinese were arrested in the camps, accusing fingers were pointed at the commission, although staff of the commission were not permitted to enter those illegal mines.

It said at the moment one Chinese firm had been granted permit in the Northern Region as a mine support service provider.

Daily Graphic investigations have also shown that trafficked Chinese are mainly concentrated in camps located in the Amenfi East, West and Central, as well as the Prestea, Enchi and Mpohor, districts of the Western Region.

The investigations also established that some of the Chinese take advantage of the country’s porous borders to traffic their compatriots through unapproved routes on the west and the east.

They then connive with local people and sneak through in the night to the camps.

The Western Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Kofi Boakye, told the Daily Graphic that some illegal Chinese miners who were recently arrested and screened had permits that did not allow them to work in the mines.

He said some had no entry visas at all, while others came under the pretext of providing one service or another in the mining sector but ended up mounting huge machines in forest reserves to do serious mining.

When contacted, the Head of Public Relations at the GIS, Mr Francis Palmdeti, said the passports of some Chinese were often not found on them anytime they were arrested, reports Emmanuel Bonney.

He said it was in the course of investigations that “you have someone coming with their passports”.

He said it could be that the passports were held by those who had brought their compatriots into the country until the new arrivals performed the task for which they had been brought in.

Mr Palmdeti said the GIS had started looking at the issue of human trafficking, adding that “although it has not been established, we cannot rule that out”.

Checks at the GIPC, however, landed the Daily Graphic in a cul-de-sac, as Mr Tom Quarshie, the Public Relations Officer, asked this reporter to write to the chief executive officer of the centre for an official response on the matter.

Story: Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu, Sekondi

A galamsey is a local artisanal gold miner in Ghana, West Africa; such workers are known as orpailleurs in neighboring francophone nations. Galamseys are people who do gold mining independent of mining companies, digging small workings (pits, tunnels and sluices) by hand.

http://graphic.com.gh/General-News/chinese-
traffick-compatriots-to-ghana-to-work-as-miners.html

In 2007, journalists uncovered slavery in China’s brick making industry:

China: “Police and villagers” knew about the slaves

Slavery and human trafficking in China 2007 and 2011:

China: Hundreds Of Slaves Freed; Human Trafficking Uncovered

Chinese Miners in Africa Harassed, Arrested, Detained

The arrest of 124 suspected Chinese illegal miners in Accra, Ghana, is getting front-page coverage in China’s newspapers.

Ghanaian authorities introduced a ban in April on Chinese engaging in illegal gold mining in the central region of Ashanti, as well as in western and eastern regions, to stop environmental damage.

The BBC

Chinese embassy officials confirmed to Beijing Times, Southern Metropolis Daily and other media outlets that most of the detained Chinese were mining illegally without visa, work and residency permits. No casualties or gunshot wounds among the detainees were reported.

However, Chinese workers in Ghana tell Global Times that the military had robbed and destroyed some Chinese mines and shot at Chinese miners hiding in the jungle during recent crackdowns.

Related:

Chinese traffic compatriots to Ghana to work in illegal gold mines

Southern Metropolis Daily says most of the detained workers flocked to the “Ghana gold rush” from the impoverished county of Shanglin in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

“The police will encourage or incite local villagers to engage in looting against Chinese, which has resulted in many fellow county compatriots being robbed and subject to physical abuse by locals. Some of their passports and documents have been destroyed and some lost during the arrests,” Su Zhenyu, secretary general of the Chinese Mining Association in Ghana, tells Beijing Youth Daily.

Mr Su complained that many Chinese want to leave, but authorities are demanding that they each pay a $10,000 fine first.

One Shanglin gold mining operator tells The Beijing News that he hid in the mountains for three days surviving on cocoa and bananas and that his mine was looted.

“We bought shotguns to defend ourselves… The current situation is getting worse. We don’t get any protection or support from the government. We now want to go back to China, because we fear we may get robbed or killed,” another gold prospector tells South China Morning Post.

Anti-dumping probe

In other international news, state media are warning the European Union of further reprisals after Beijing began an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe into wines imported from the EU yesterday.

The investigation comes a day after the EU announced temporary anti-dumping levies on imports of Chinese solar panels, cells and wafers following a nine-month investigation.

China Daily quotes the Ministry of Commerce as saying that the investigation of the EU wine industry is not a “retaliatory measure”.

However, its commentary says the probe into wine imports “could be followed by more moves if the EU continues to ignore China’s interests”.

“China has many cards to play, including significant European bonds and investment in EU countries,” Global Times says.

It adds, however, that the EU’s tariffs also serve as a “wake-up call” for China’s solar panel producers to end “unhealthy competition” from undercutting rivals.

During President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Mexico, Global Times says the two countries “upgraded” their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, strengthening it with the signing of agreements to ease trade imbalances and product rivalry in international markets.

The most interesting aspect of the deals signed is Mexico finally agreeing to export crude oil to China to ease its trade deficit, Beijing Times adds.

China Central Television and other state media have taken note that Michelle Obama will not hold a “first ladies” debut meeting with Mr Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, in California where he is scheduled to hold informal talks with US President Barack Obama.

‘Roughing up citizens’

In domestic news, Oriental Morning Post, China Youth Daily and many other newspapers are dismayed at recent cases of police not taking action to stop urban management (chengguan) officers roughing up citizens.

Last month, traffic police did not turn up to help a student who was beaten up by chengguan in Huaibei, Anhui, for filming “brutal law enforcement” by officers.

In Yan’an, Shaanxi, police did not intervene to stop chengguan beating up the owner of a bicycle shop and stomping on his head while trying to confiscate bikes that they said were blocking the pavement.

Several chengguan were sacked and punished yesterday after an online video of the incident sparked public outrage, The Beijing News reports.

Global Times says “brutal law enforcement” must be condemned and prosecuted, but says all urban management inspectors should not be made “scapegoats” for the rogue behaviour of a few officers.

After at least 120 workers died in a fire at a poultry slaughterhouse in Dehui, Jilin, on Monday, local police have tightened security in case social unrest breaks out during the burial of some of the dead, South China Morning Post reports.

The Beijing News says 17 people are still unaccounted for.

BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

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Chinese gold miners arrested this week in a raid in Ghana have been accused of raping and abusing locals.

The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported that the Chinese been accused of raping and abusing locals.

http://www.scmp.com/

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1254703/chinese-gold-miners-abused-and-raped-ghanaians-says-online-report

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Link to video: The price of gold: Chinese mining in Ghana

Ghanaian authorities have arrested 124 Chinese citizens for illegal gold mining in the resource-rich west African country, highlighting the social and environmental challenges posed by China’s growing presence on the continent.

Local police arrested the suspected illegal miners in the country’s capital, Accra, China‘s state newswire Xinhua reported on Thursday, citing Francis Palmdeti, the head of the Ghana immigration service. Many of them are likely to face deportation.

Ghana, the continent’s second-largest gold producer, has forbidden foreigners from working in its small-scale mines since the 1980s. Locals have criticised Chinese miners for taking local jobs, polluting lakes and rivers, and wielding weapons such as AK-47 rifles to ward off robbers.

“In certain areas, people don’t even get clean drinking water, and in some areas you can see that most of the forest cover has been destroyed,” Brigadier General Daniel Mishio, chairman of Ghana’s national security commission for lands and natural resources, told the Guardian in April. “This poses a very big danger to our future.”

Yu Jie, the spokesperson for China’s embassy in Ghana, cautioned Chinese citizens in the country to “strictly abide by the related laws and regulations”, Xinhua reported. Yu urged Ghana to exercise “strong discipline” in enforcing its laws. Beijing has sent diplomats to visit the detainees.

Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, formed a political committee to crack down on illegal mining last month.

More than 50,000 Chinese gold miners have been to Ghana since 2005, according to the South China Morning Post. Two-thirds of them come from Shanglin, an impoverished county in southern Guangxi province where news of the gold rush spread by word of mouth.

“There are about 180 households in our village and more than 100 young men are in Ghana,” the 24-year-old Shanglin villager Wen Daijin told the newspaper. “Many borrow money from local banks and relatives to go there. In my township, only men with physical problems don’t have plans to go to Ghana.”

Wen continued: “You need at least one excavator to dig sand and rocks, some trucks and two high-powered sand-pumping machines to dredge for alluvial gold. The pumps are a special design, produced in our hometown.” Some Shanglin residents have returned home because of the recent crackdown, the newspaper reported.

Related:

Chinese traffic compatriots to Ghana to work in illegal gold mines

From China in 2007 and 2011:

China: Hundreds Of Slaves Freed; Human Trafficking Uncovered

Abe Offers $32 Billion to Africa as Japan Seeks Resources Access

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged 3.2 trillion yen ($32 billion) to Africa today as his government seeks to catch up with China in pursuing resources, markets and influence on the continent.

Abe announced the five-year commitment of public and private support in a speech today at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Officials from about 50 nations are attending the meeting, held every five years, which is the biggest African development event outside the continent since it began in 1993.

By Isabel Reynolds & Takashi Hirokawa
Bloomberg

Tanzania’s president Jakaya Kikwete, left, is welcomed by Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe during a meeting at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo on May 30, 2013.  Franck Robichon/AFP/Getty Images

Africa’s economic growth is luring Japanese exporters, while the government wants to tap the natural gas and oil there after the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to the closing of Japan’s nuclear plants. Chinese firms fueled $138.6 billion in China-Africa trade in 2011, nearly five times Japan’s commerce with the continent, according to the Foreign Ministry, citing International Monetary Fund data.

“China has become a far greater presence than Japan in Africa — it’s overwhelming,” said Kazuyoshi Aoki, a professor at Nihon University in Tokyo who specializes in African matters. “The difference lies in the level of determination. There’s a different perception of Africa’s importance.”

In his speech, Abe outlined policies to encourage investment by Japanese companies and support advances in health, education and agriculture. Today’s pledge compares with publicly funded assistance of about $9.2 billion from 2008-2012.

China Pledges

Abe hasn’t visited Africa since taking office in December, in contrast with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who stopped in Tanzania, the Congo Republic and South Africa in March as part of his first trip abroad less than a month into office.

While in Africa, Xi reiterated a pledge for $20 billion in loans over the next two years. China also paid for and built the African Union’s $200 million headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that opened last year.

Most of Japan’s current purchases from Africa consist of metals and fuels, including 10 percent of last year’s liquefied natural gas imports, according to Ministry of Finance data compiled by Bloomberg. Japan exports mostly vehicles and machinery, according to the Japan External Trade Organization.

Japan is now also seeking rare earth minerals, and agreed with South Africa on May 16 to extend joint exploration for the elements used in high-tech manufacturing as Japan seeks to escape its reliance on imports from China.

Renewed Focus

The conference renews focus on Africa as a business partner and not just an aid recipient. For the first time, corporations will be invited to an official session, Masaji Matsuyama, a parliamentary senior vice-minister for foreign affairs who holds responsibility for Africa, said in an interview.

Abe will hold individual meetings with about 40 African leaders, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is attending, alongside the presidents of Uganda and Zambia.

“The number one request from African nations is promotion of trade and investment,” Matsuyama said. He said the government’s role will be to smooth the way by investing in infrastructure and sealing accords to protect private investments from the risk of sudden nationalization.

Japan reached an investment agreement with Mozambique that will be announced soon, he added.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in Tokyo last month Japanese leaders turned their attention inward during the economic downturn, missing opportunities for overseas investment while China became more aggressive abroad.

‘Overall’ Perspective

“You have not been able to develop an overall national Japanese perspective of what is in Japan’s interests and make a decision,” Lee said. “The Chinese were able to do that.”

As an example, he said Japan is yet to sign an investment accord with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 13 years after announcing a plan to do so.

Asked about a rivalry between China and Japan in Africa, South Africa’s Ambassador to Tokyo said more top-level visits were needed to build relationships. Mohau Pheko told a press conference in Tokyo on May 21 that her suggestions about such trips had met with a negative response from the Japanese government.

“China does service the relationship,” Mohau Pheko said on May 21. “Many top level visits. Japan is invisible,” she added. “But you want my minerals at the same time. Terrible thing.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at  ireynolds1@bloomberg.net; Takashi Hirokawa in Tokyo at  thirokawa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rosalind Mathieson at  rmathieson3@bloomberg.net

Japan Eyes China’s Growing African Influence

By  Stephen Hayes
May 31, 2013

Stephen Hayes is president and CEO of the  Corporate Council on Africa.

China and Japan have seldom been allies on anything, and World War II  certainly didn’t help the relationship. Neither did the battles in the previous century and the two  Sino-Japanese wars leading up to World War II. Japan’s barbarity in China, at  times, rivaled the German’s worst in Europe and Russia.

 

It has not been forgotten by the Chinese, even if nearly all the   participants in the war have passed away and both countries are now in a   pragmatic mode of seeing the world. Human beings forgive easier than  history does. History has a long-term  memory. The individual generally  tries to forget the abuses of the past in  order to get through the next  day. Life is too short to always look back, but  the definition of  history is entirely formed through the rear-view mirror.  The course of  policies of Ships of State are  divined by history. Course adjustments  are wielded by individuals, the options  of change are limited by the  past. History endures. Individuals die.

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And so it is now, with history in mind, that Japan worries about the   growing Chinese colossus across the Sea of Japan or the China Sea,  depending  upon from which coast you look into the same waters. Japan is  especially concerned about China’s  growing dominance in Africa.

[See a collection of political cartoons on Chinese hacking.]

As we entered the new millennium, China’s trade volume with Africa  was  about $6.55 billion. A little more than a decade later, it has  grown more than  30-fold, to more than $200 billion annually. More than  two thousand Chinese companies now operate in Africa, compared  to 600  from Japan. (While no one seems to have the exact figures, an official   at the U.S. Department of Commerce estimated that about 900 U.S.  companies are  doing business with Africa.)

Japan feels it can ill-afford to be cut off from the resources of   Africa, now more necessary to its future since the nuclear power plant  disaster  and the earthquake that devastated East Japan. China’s  increasing dominance of  those resources is a perceived concern to  Japan’s future.

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Japan has become so concerned that it formed a public-private council   to address the matter. It is made up of the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs, the  Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and twenty private  companies, including  the so-called “Big Six” trading companies. The  Council was formed ostensibly to  promote the fifth Tokyo International  Conference on African Development.

[See a collection of political cartoons on the economy.]

However, the recommendations of the Council presented to Japan’s  Prime  Minister Shinzo Abe on May 21 specifically addressed the  perceived threat from  China, urging all that “Africa be seen as a vital  trading and investment  partner.” The report urged Japan to  train  Africans for employment with Japanese companies and to use official   development assistance in a more strategic manner, including support of   vocational training. While these recommendations are noteworthy, they  are also  a less-than-subtle poke at China’s practice of bringing its  own work force to  complete projects and provide labor.

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More than forty Heads of State from Africa will attend the Tokyo   conference, and each one will meet with Abe.  This almost matches the  record number of African Heads of State who met  with Chinese leadership  three years ago in Beijing at a China-Africa Conference  on  Cooperation. Japan has not put  conditions on the behavior of the  nations involved before deciding to meet with  a Head of State. Like  China, Japan has  taken a more pragmatic approach to the future than has  the Obama administration,  which tends to reward behavior of nations  with a meeting with the president,  and punishes by denying such a  meeting.

Perhaps another partnership that is needed is stronger Japan-U.S.   cooperation on Africa, especially through their respective private   sectors. Both countries need to be  engaged more actively economically  in Africa for the benefit their own  economies.

[Read the U.S. News Debate: Given The Current Deficit Crisis, Should Foreign Aid Be Cut?]

In the U.S., though we tout a recovery, job growth has not  accompanied  the returning growth, and there remains a growing gap  between the rich and the  poor and a shrinking middle class. In Japan,  the threat of another energy  crisis and accompanying economic collapse  is as close as the next major  earthquake.  The last one is estimated to   have reduced Japanese power capabilities by 15 percent. The  destruction of the  nuclear power plant also put Japan back on course  for fossil fuels as its major  source of energy. Iran is a major  supplier of oil to Japan and that has also been  reduced through  embargoes. Africa becomes increasingly critical for fuel and  also for  the expansion of the Japanese economy. Africa is also now the largest  emerging market in the world. Neither the  United States nor Japan can  afford to lose significant ground to China.

American companies, to develop new markets in Africa, need financing.  U.S.  banks have been extremely slow to support loans to businesses  investing in  Africa, seeing returns as high-risk. Japan has also been  risk-averse and has  preferred to follow others, especially the United  States, into new  markets. 

However, the growth of China’s investments in Africa has given Japan   new impetus. It is no longer waiting on  others. There is an opportunity  now for the United States and Japan to more  actively cooperate on  Africa. Japan can  offer financing to U.S. companies, and U.S.  companies, by partnering with  Japanese companies, can offer more secure  partnerships and less risk. The  combination of the two could become a  powerful vehicle for their respective  economic interests, and offer  African nations greater alternatives to China’s  investment strategy. We  shall see.

China biggest rival as Japan seeks to tap African resources

Mine of information: Officials from the government and private sector gather at the Japan Sustainable Mining, Investment & Technology business forum focusing on African resources on May 16 in Tokyo’s Minato Ward. | KYODO

By Eric Johnston
Japan Times

OSAKA – When the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami led to three core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, an atomic calamity that effectively put the nation’s remaining 50 reactors out of action, Japan was suddenly faced with an energy crisis unseen since the oil shocks of the early 1970s.Dependent on imports for the vast majority of its energy needs, the country had to return to burning fossil fuels, and scramble to find new sources of coal, oil and natural gas.From Alaska to Texas to Australia to Indonesia, Japanese government officials, trading companies and utilities fanned out, putting more effort in developing relationships they already had while also searching for new energy markets.

One of the more geographically remote locations was Africa, where Japan and China, and to a growing extent South Korea and India, are in fierce competition to win contracts for energy and mineral rights on the continent.

Africa’s allure is easy to understand. Libya ranks ninth in world oil reserves, Nigeria 10th and Angola 16th. For natural gas reserves, Nigeria ranks eighth, Algeria ninth and Egypt 15th.

In addition, Africa holds 95.5 percent of the world’s platinum reserves, 58.3 percent of all diamonds, 49.2 percent of all cobalt, 45.8 percent of the chromium supply and 27.1 percent of the world’s manganese.

Securing access to liquefied natural gas from Africa is now a diplomatic priority for Tokyo.

Last year, Japan imported 87.3 million tons of LNG, with 10 percent of that — about 8.78 million tons — virtually all coming from four African nations: Nigeria (4.78 million tons), Equatorial Guinea (2.79 million tons), Egypt (1.03 million tons) and Algeria (160,000 tons). In particular, Nigerian LNG is prized by Japanese utilities for its high quality.

The importance of Africa’s resources to Japan’s energy and industrial policies has been recognized by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government. It announced a new initiative earlier this month to provide ¥200 billion in financial assistance over the next five years to Japanese firms investing in African rare-earth mineral mining, and oil and natural gas development. The new initiative also includes training in resource development for 1,000 people.

“This meeting (where the agreement was signed) was the first of its kind to discuss a structural relationship for natural resource development that is win-win for both Japan and Africa, and the natural resource ministers of Africa and Japan plan to continue meeting once every two years,” trade minister Toshimitsu Motegi said.

In addition, Japanese energy firms are also looking at Mozambique’s oil and natural gas potential.

The Japan Oil, Gas, and Metals Corp. (JOGMC) announced a couple of weeks ago that it would provide equity financing to a Mozambique firm that will search for hydrocarbon deposits in two offshore areas where other natural gas discoveries have already been made.

Another JOGMC-led project, a joint venture with a Canadian firm, is currently exploring Mount Mulanje in southern Malawi for rare-earth elements.

That exploration had proved controversial, as members of a nearby community, fearing environmental damage, had filed an injunction to halt the move, which is being carried out by Mitsui Mineral Development and Engineering Co. But on May 3, Malawi’s high court overturned the injunction, and said exploratory drilling could go forward.

Given that China has control of over 90 percent of the current global market in rare-earth metals, which are used in modern electronics, finding new sources of the minerals in places like Malawi is of growing importance not only to Japan but other nations frightened of China’s potential to cut off exports. More importantly, though, is China’s growing appetite for African hydrocarbon resources, which is increasingly pitting it against other nations, including Japan.

The Japan-China rivalry in Africa is visible in Zimbabwe, where Tokyo and Beijing are struggling to secure contracts to mine the country’s extensive coal deposits. Last year, Zimbabwe’s government signed an initial contract with Japan to eventually deliver 15 million tons of coal annually. But China is also interested in Zimbabwean coal, and has announced development plans of its own.

To win influence in Africa, and help secure mineral and natural resource rights, Japan has long used the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, which was established in 1993, while China goes through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which was established in 2000.

In some African countries with rich mineral resources like South Africa, Japan is especially influential. South Africa’s third-largest trading partner is Japan. Over 100 Japanese companies have a presence there. And the government is not just interested in importing South Africa’s resources but also in exporting one of Japan’s most internationally famous technologies: bullet trains.

“Japan recently funded a study on a (high-speed rail system to) connect Johannesburg and Durban in less than three hours. The Japan International Cooperation Agency is conducting a study on the South African railway industry, which will identify possibilities for cooperation between Japanese and local companies,” Yutaka Yoshizawa, Japan’s ambassador to South Africa, wrote in the recent essay “Why Japan Matters for Africa.”

“South Africa is rich in gold, chromium, platinum, manganese, uranium, copper and shale gas. And we’re dancing in diamonds, so to speak,” Mohau Pheko, South African ambassador to Japan, said at a recent press conference. “So we don’t see a competition between China and Japan. The African continent is wide with opportunities and it is up to countries interested in participating to take advantage of them.”

But any Japanese investment in South Africa’s mines needs to ensure that both sides benefit.

“Financing for the multipurpose infrastructure development must not be a burden of one stakeholder at the expense of the other. It requires clear goals and objectives to be outlined, infrastructure requirements delineated and costed and for partners in development to agree on a creative win-win formula for financing,” South African Minister of Natural Resources Susan Shabangu said at the meeting where Japan announced the new ¥200 billion financial assistance plan.

Meanwhile, in East Africa additional discoveries of oil and natural gas fields in recent years have seen Tokyo and Beijing announce new aid projects for countries in the region. Last year, Japan said it would provide a $340.6 million loan to Kenya in order to build a highway bypass in Mombasa, the country’s second-largest city.

Just a day after that announcement, China said it would extend a $100 million grant to Kenya to install closed-circuit TV cameras in major urban areas, as a way to monitor “terrorist” activities.

But despite forums like TICAD and renewed pledges by Tokyo of more aid to Africa as well as growing awareness in Japan of the importance of engaging African communities in aid projects — a lesson China has not completely learned — Beijing has several advantages. First is its deep historical and political ties with Africa, which in turn means deeper trade ties.

The International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and Chinese government statistics show that the nation’s trade with Africa was worth $138.6 billion in 2011, while Japanese trade was worth just about $27.8 billion. Chinese investment has flowed into oil and natural gas projects in over half a dozen nations in eastern and western Africa.

All this means that, in a variety of international settings, especially United Nations gatherings, China can often count on a large block of African support — and votes — in a way Japan cannot.

With its policy of non-intervention in domestic affairs, China’s “business is business, and politics is politics” approach to African diplomacy allows it to secure natural resource deals in countries with dictatorships in ways that are illegal in Japan and many Western democracies.

With the United States agreeing this month to allow exports to Japan of 4.4 million tons of LNG annually for 20 years beginning in 2017, despite the lack of a free-trade accord that is normally a requirement, the pressure on Tokyo to scramble to secure ever-greater supplies from places like Africa appears to have eased somewhat.

But given the continent’s mineral and energy wealth, it seems unlikely Japan’s quest for an ideal energy mix will bypass Africa, thus the Tokyo-Beijing rivalry for energy contracts will only grow moving forward.

Kenya: China’s Leading Actress Visits Kenya to Save Elephants

China’s leading actress Li Bingbing is visiting Kenya to highlight the illegal ivory trade that is fueling a rise in the killing of elephants in East Africa and across the continent.

Li Bingbing is visiting Kenya

A Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in China, Li Bingbing is among the most recognized faces. In November 2009, Li won the Best Leading Actress Award at the Chinese equivalent to Oscar Academy Awards, 46th Golden Horse Film Awards, for her role in the espionage spy thriller “The Message.”

Li’s rise in popularity in Hollywood productions, including her role as Ada Wong in 2012′s “Resident Evil: Retribution,” shows her star power goes beyond her Chinese fans. With more than 20 million followers on the Chinese social media network Sina Weibo and 18,000 Facebook followers, Kenya-based NGO Save the Elephants and UNEP hope that Li’s official visit will highlight the cost and impact of the demand for ivory on elephants in Africa, and resonate with those in China and beyond.

Demand for illegal ivory remains highest in the rapidly growing economies of Asia, particularly China. Large-scale seizures of ivory destined for Asia have more than doubled since 2009. In January 2013 Hong Kong authorities made their third big seizure of illegal ivory in three months, confiscating more than a tonne of elephant tusks worth $1.4 million.

The number of elephants illegally killed in Africa has doubled over the last decade, according to a recent UNEP study.

Elephants parade during a street parade held as part of the 4th coffee festival in Vietnam’s central highland town of Buon Ma Thuot, province of Dak Lak on March 9, 2013. Vietnam with its coffee production reaching some 1,6 million tons in 2012 became a world leading coffee producer and 80 percent of the country’s coffee production comes from the central highland of Tay Nguyen. The festival is held every two years in Buon Ma Thuot,  regarded as Vietnam’s capital of coffee.  AFP PHOTO/HOANG DINH Nam  AFP

This picture taken on April 3, 2013 shows rangers and local residents looking at the body of a newly killed female elephant in a forest in Minh Hoa district, in the central Vietnam province of   Quang Binh. According to local media, the skin, tail, two tusks and two ears of the elephant had been removed from its body. Photo: AFP

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American jihadist live-tweets attack in Somalia and shows picture of his bloody neck

• Alabama native Omar Hammami said he was  attacked in a tea shop
• Posted pictures showing blood on his neck  and a dark blood-stained t-shirt
• Hammami blamed Al-Qaida-linked group  al-Shabab for the attack

By  Sam Adams

An American jihadi in Somalia has been shot  in the neck as he sat in a tea shop in a supposed failed assassination attempt -  and promptly tweeted a picture of his bloody neck wound.

Omar Hammami - a native of Alabama who is now  on the FBI’s most-wanted list – claims he was the target of al Qaeda-linked  group al Shabab – which he joined in 2006.

He fell out with the group last year and  since then claims there have been numerous attempts made on his  life.

He posted four pictures, one of which shows  his face with blood on his neck and a dark blood-stained t-shirt and said:  ‘Just been shot in neck by shabab assassin. Not  critical yet.’

Attack: Omar Hammami, an American jihadi in Somalia,  posted this picture of himself on Twitter showing injuries he said he sustained  in an assassination attempt

Hammami in 2011 with deputy leader of al Shabab Sheik  Mukhtar Abu Mansur Robow under a banner which reads ‘Allah is Great’

Hammami is one of the two most notorious  Americans in overseas jihadi  groups after moving from Alabama to Somalia around  2006.

FROM GIFTED STUDENT TO ONE OF  THE MOST NOTORIOUS AMERICANS IN OVERSEAS JIHADI GROUPS

There are scant details about what made  Hammami go from being a gifted student, president of his Sophomore class who  dated the most sought-after girl in school, to a key figure in one of the  world’s most ruthless Islamist insurgencies.

He was brought up as a southern Baptist who  went to Bible camp and sang ‘Away in a Manger’ at Christmas time.

His mother was a typical Southern Belle with  a distinct Alabama accent and taught at an elementary school.

His father came to America from Syria and  became an engineer though was said to keep a strict household.

Hammami’s upbringing was immersed in American  culture yet still remained culturally Muslim, shoes were left at the door,  Koranic inscriptions decorated the walls, pork was forbidden.

As a teenager, his passions fluctuated  between Shakespeare and Kurt Cobain, soccer and Nintendo. He had dreams of being  a surgeon.

Friends in his class said he was a natural  leader and compared him to the main character in Ferris Bueller’s Day  Off.

It was a trip to Damascus the summer before  his sophomore year would make a lasting impression on him. When he came back, he  said he was torn between Christianity and Islam.

He fought alongside the group for years while  gaining fame for posting YouTube videos of jihadi rap songs.

But he fell out with al Shabab and has  engaged in a public fight with the group over the last year. Since then,  Hammami has been a thorn in the side of  al Shabab after accusing the  group’s leaders of living extravagant lifestyles  with the taxes fighters collect from Somali residents.

He first  expressed fear for his life in an  extraordinary web video in March 2012  that publicized his rift with al Shabab.  He said he received another  death threat earlier this year that was not carried  out.

Hammami  tweeted late yesterday. On Friday he  wrote that the leader of al Shabab  was sending in forces from multiple  directions. ‘We are few but we might get back up. abu zubayr has gone mad. he’s  starting a civil war,’  Hammami posted.

Another Hammami grievance is that the  Somali militant leaders sideline foreign militants inside al Shabab and  are  concerned only about fighting in Somalia, not globally.

Hammami’s comment today about a civil war  could refer to violence between those  two groups.

Al Shabab criticized Hammami publicly in a  December Internet statement,  saying his video releases are the result of  personal grievances that  stem from a ‘narcissistic pursuit of fame’.

The statement said al Shabab was morally  obligated to stamp out his ‘obstinacy’.

The U.S. named Hammami on its Most  Wanted  terrorist list in March and is offering a $5 million reward for  information  leading to his capture. Al Shabab fighters are not eligible  for the reward.

Along with Adam Gadahn in Pakistan – a former  Osama bin Laden spokesman – Hammami is one of the two most notorious Americans  in jihad groups.

Also known as Abu Mansour al-Amriki or ‘the  American’, Hammami has been releasing rap songs in English on the internet since  2009 even though music is forbidden in Al-Qaeda’s strict interpretation of  Islam.

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He  grew up in Daphne, Alabama, a community  of 20,000 outside  Mobile. He is the son of a Christian mother and a Syrian-born  Muslim  father.

Wanted: Hammami fell out  with militant group al-Shabab after accusing its leaders of leading a decadent  lifestyle

Militants: Hammami was once a member of militant group  Al-Shabab (pictured) which has been blamed for a terrorist attacks in  Somalia

Hammami regularly chats on Twitter with a  group of American terrorism  experts, conversations that are so colloquial and  so infused with  American slang that many in the counter-terror field have  formed a type of  digital bond with Hammami.

After Hammami publicized the assassination  attempt, one of his Twitter  followers, a counter-terrorism expert from Canada,  wrote that Hammami  had nine lives.

Hammami responded with an apparent reference  to the  movie The Blues Brothers. ‘I’m on a mission from God.’ Minus the blues  music,’ Hammami wrote.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-
2315359/American-jihadist-Omar-Hammami-live-twe
ets-hes-just-shot-Somalia.html#ixzz2RbK1k6zk

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Related:

Former-US Citizen, Omar Hammami, Now a Somali Jihadi Tweets Bloody Picture of “Assassination Attempt” by Shabab Assassin

Former-US Citizen, Omar Hammami, Now a Somali Jihadi Tweets Bloody Picture of “Assassination Attempt” by Shabab Assassin

The most-wanted American jihadi in Somalia has tweeted bloody photos of himself after an apparent failed assassination attempt.

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Omar Hammami Photo: AP

By James Brooks

The Telegraph

Omar Hammami, a former member of militant Islamic group al-Shabab, posted photos of his bloodied face and neck after having allegedly been shot by an assassin whilst sitting in a tea shop in Somalia.

After falling out with the religious group, Hammami has publicised several death threats made against him, announcing last Friday that al-Shabab’s leader was sending forces to kill him.

“Just been shot in neck by Shabab assassin, not critical yet,” the 29-year-old posted, amongst a series of frantic tweets.

“Sitting in tea place then 3 shots behind to left, pistol I think, they ran,” he later added.

Hammami later revealed that the bullets had just missed his arteries and windpipe and that he was being treated with antiseptic and gauze.

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The wanted man posted four pictures on the social networking site, one of which showing his bloodied face and neck and another showing his bloodstained blue shirt.

A former-US citizen, Hammami moved to Somalia from Alabama in 2006, quickly joining the group, which has strong links with al-Qaeda.

This is not the first time Twitter has been used by Somali militants. In January, Twitter suspended an al-Shabab account after it was used to post death threats against Kenyan hostages, which were deemed to break the terms of its service.

Thought to have been created by Hammami himself, the al-Shabab account has been used in the past to post claims of enemy kills and spread its views of events in Somalia and east Africa.

“I’m in favour of allowing them to continue (using Twitter), but I don’t think it should be unfettered,” terrorism analyst JM Berger told the Guardian.

“They clearly crossed the line threatening to kill someone, it’s in Twitter’s interest not to allow that kind of thing,” he said.

Hammami, who according to reports was given the nickname ‘The American’ by his Somali comrades, has used both YouTube and Twitter to publicise his falling
out with al-Shabab.

Born in Daphne, just outside of Mobile, the wanted man has featured in numerous terror videos actively taunting his home country.

The US put Hammami on its ‘Most Wanted’ terrorist list in March, earlier this year, placing a $5 million bounty on his head.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad Visits Uranium-Rich Niger

NIAMEY, Niger     (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the uranium-rich West African nation of Niger on Tuesday, although officials discounted that the mineral was the reason for his visit.

Niger’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamed Bazoum downplayed international speculation that Iran had come in search of uranium, saying: “I don’t think that’s the goal of this visit.”

Niger obeys international regulations on selling uranium, said Bazoum, who added that it would not be legal to provide uranium to Iran.

The Iranian leader arrived Monday in Niger’s capital, where he was greeted by President Mahamadou Issoufou.

The two-day stop in Niger is the second on Ahmadinejad’s trip to West Africa. He already has visited Benin and is due to visit Ghana before returning home.

The West has imposed several rounds of punishing sanctions on Iran, which Iran says has crippled its economy.

Western powers are hoping to force Iran to scale back its uranium enrichment program, suspecting it might aim to produce nuclear weapons.

Iran has refused, insisting its program is for peaceful purposes, and says it has a right to enrich under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Ahmadinejad has said that the country does not need to buy uranium in Africa, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Last week, Iran announced two nuclear-related projects to expand capabilities to extract and process uranium

Iran already has uranium mines and the ability to turn the raw ore into a material called yellowcake, which is the first step in the enrichment chain.

But the new facilities – expansion in the country’s largest uranium mine and processing facility – give Tehran greater access and control in making the raw materials for enrichment to nuclear fuel and, potentially, for warhead-grade material.