中国购买非洲金矿：代价几何？

    今年夏天，南非的矿工暴力冲突事件成为了全球新闻头条，也凸显了在非洲采矿投资的险恶：这一事件造成44名矿工和一名警察死亡，随后南非全国出现了大范围的罢工和示威。

    暴力冲突后很多停工的南非工矿如今已重新开工，但非洲矿业界还有另一件相对不为人知的事件，它的影响可能也同样深远。

    今年8月，国有企业中国黄金集团公司宣布出价39亿美元，收购坦桑尼亚最大的金矿公司African Barrick Gold；该公司也是加拿大Barrick Gold Corp的全资子公司。如果交易获得坦桑尼亚以及African Barrick Gold的上市地伦敦监管机构批准，这将是中国首个境外金矿，将把中国黄金的总产能增加一倍。

    中国在非洲似乎有点石成金的魔力，通过向遍布整个非洲的石油、天然气和其他矿产项目投资，持续地将广袤的自然资源变成巨大的财富。中国矿业联合会的数据显示，去年中国在非洲采矿项目上的投资权益达到近160亿美元，较2010年增长了10倍。

    对Barrick的收购料无大碍，这将代表中国收购非洲自然资源的新动向，中国越来越有兴趣全盘收购西方公司的非洲资产。而加拿大Barrick公司拒绝就本文发表评论。

    剖析中国动机

    中国快速崛起成为非洲的重要投资者，引发了激烈的辩论，中国的投资性质是什么，动机是什么。批评人士认为，中国的投资策略是利己，而叫好者则称赞中国的成事能力，特别是在传统上西方合作伙伴总是碰壁，有时还输得很惨的领域。

    双方都有道理。西方旨在减少贫困的计划确有良好的初衷，但这些计划往往雷声大雨点小，对接受资金的非洲政府提出的行政要求过于苛刻。相比之下，中国政府的做法没那么官僚，但过度看重获取非洲自然资源，而不是减少非洲地区的贫困。

    中国在非洲的商业策略，与这个亚洲超级大国的政治经济目标紧密相连。根据《经济学家》(The Economist)公布的数据，国有企业资金占中国海外直接投资总额的4/5，促使中国和非洲的政府高官间形成了直接对话。

    不同于美国惯常的附带外交以及对非洲领导人的训示，中国在非洲投入了相当的财力和政治力量。例如，今年7月，中国国家主席胡锦涛在北京主持召开了第五届中非合作论坛，在会上他特别指出，去年中非贸易达到了1650亿美元，自2006年以来已增长两倍，中国已成为非洲大陆最大的贸易伙伴国。同时，胡锦涛还向在座的几十位非洲国家首脑和几百位中非政府高官们表达了将继续广泛推动中非关系，并保持最高层互动。

    中国人能给非洲人提供很多东西，包括帮助发展基础设施，用于自然资源开采等。他们也能在与非洲政府的协议中加入一些“甜头”，比如大型公共项目，像足球场和新的政府办公楼等。去年，中国人刚刚建好了非盟(African Union)位于亚的斯亚贝巴、全新的2亿美元总部大楼，这是来自中国人民的一份礼物。

    The ugly side of mining in Africa made global headlines this summer, with strikes and protests following violent clashes in South Africa, resulting in the death of 44 miners and a policeman.

    Many of the work stoppages that spread across South Africa following the violence have ended, but there is another story in African mining that has received comparatively little coverage, although the implications are just as significant.

    In August, the state-owned China National Gold Corporation announced a $3.9 billion bid to acquire African Barrick Gold, Tanzania's largest gold miner -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada's Barrick Gold Corp (ABX). If approved by regulators in Tanzania as well as in London, where African Barrick Gold is traded, it will become China's first gold mine outside its borders and will double China National Gold's total production capacity.

    China seems to have the Midas touch in Africa, steadily turning vast natural resource wealth into gold through investments in oil, gas, and mineral projects around the continent. Last year, Chinese interests invested nearly $16 billion in African mining projects -- a tenfold increase from 2010 -- according to the China Mining Association.

    The purchase of Barrick, which is expected to go through, would represent a new front in China's acquisition of Africa's natural resources, one where Chinese interests increasingly buy-out Western owned companies operating in African regions that are financial, public, and political liabilities. Barrick declined to provide comment for this article.

    Parsing China's motives

    China's emergence as a major player in Africa is fueling an intense debate over the nature of and motive behind its involvement. Critics argue China's strategy is driven by self-interest to the point of malevolence, while defenders hail its ability to achieve success where traditional partners from the West have consistently, and sometimes dramatically, failed.

    Both sides have a point. Western initiatives designed to alleviate poverty are well intentioned, but these programs are top heavy and the administrative requirements on African governments receiving the funds are unduly cumbersome. The Chinese government's approach, on the other hand, is much less bureaucratic, but opaque to the point of being secretive, which invites corrupt behavior by African leaders, and is overtly focused on securing access to African natural resources as opposed to elevating Africa's poor.

    China's commercial strategy in Africa is deeply tied to the Asian superpower's political and economic goals. According to data published by The Economist, Chinese state-owned companies have funded four-fifths of all Chinese foreign direct investment, which motivates the direct, high-level relationships between senior leaders in China and African governments.

    Compared to the typical drive-by diplomacy and lecturing of African leaders for which the U.S. is well known, China has put significant financial and political weight behind its efforts in Africa. In July of this year, for example, former President Hu Jintao hosted the Fifth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, where he highlighted the $165 billion in trade between China and Africa last year, a tripling since 2006, making China the continent's largest trading partner. Moreover, Hu Jintao sent a message to the dozens of African heads of state and hundreds of senior African and Chinese government officials in attendance that the commitment behind the Sino-African relationship is consistent, comprehensive, and forged at the highest levels.

    The Chinese are able to offer quite a bit to Africa, including help with infrastructure development for natural resource extraction. They are also able to add sweeteners to their deals with African governments, like grand public projects such as soccer stadiums and new government office buildings. Just last year, the Chinese government completed the African Union's brand new $200 million headquarters building in Addis Ababa, as a gift from the Chinese people.