真给我弄笑了，小黄人领导还能被下属揍了，黄皮行

I was a consultant on a project for a US mining company about 6 years ago, specifically focused on trying to fix management processes at their mine in Congo (where OP’s CRSG video and Empire of Dust is from). After about a year on the project the US company got an offer they couldn't refuse from a Chinese mining company, and so I had to help with valuation and asset transfer as they handed over the keys to the Chinese buyer. It was pretty awful.

The entire thing was really sad, and the US company as well as the expats who were managing the site (originally from US, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Namibia) were pretty heart broken. The main reason that everyone was upset is because they'd seen first hand what happens when China takes over these operations and it's not a good situation. When Chinese companies get involved in Africa the corrupt African government officials get rich and everyone else suffers. Every. Time. This is particularly true in Congo.

It's really important to understand that China does not adhere to any sort of Foreign Corruption laws (US has FCPA), so there are no restrictions on what these Chinese mining companies (or the CCP themselves) can give to the African governments as bribes. Speaking specifically about the Congolese government, their corruption knows absolutely no bounds and all of the extortion attempts and asks for under the table bribes that a US company is forced to say no due to FCPA is welcomed with open arms by Chinese companies.

For example, the Congolese government would just decide on a random Wednesday that they wanted $1M just because, and the US client I was working on would have to say "Ummmm nope, not giving you a dime, but we'll build another school near the mine if you want? That way the mine workers kids will have nicer facilities and we'll get better workers because of it. We'll take care of everything and if you want we'll even hire some local builders to help build it. Sound good?" and the Congolese government would say ".......fine, but you have to pay taxes for your trucks to use the roads (aka dirt) to bring in the building materials for the school". By contrast, the Chinese mining company will say "We'll give you $750k cash and the additional $250k if we can use the local police to discipline the workers at the mine site if they get out of line or don't show up for work on time. Can you make that happen?" and some random Congolese government official says "no problem my friend, as long as you pay me today it's a deal". Congolese official pockets $900k and gives the corrupt local police chief $100k to basically protect the Chinese workers running the mine. A month or two down the road the Congolese government would decide they wanted another $1M and the process would start over again, with the Chinese company getting more protection and favors at the cost of the locals and workers. I've got countless stories like this.

It’s also really important to understand that the entire mindset of the governments in Sub-Saharan African countries is extremely short term. There’s almost never any consideration for tomorrow, much less a month down the road and something long term is just a waste of time in their minds. This way of thinking trickles down to the people as well and makes working on large, long term improvement projects in Africa extremely challenging because the logic and decision making you see in first world countries simply doesn’t exist (and you really can’t blame them either). In terms of Congo/DRC specifically, this really isn’t their fault because the history there is super turbulent/painful and change has been constant. There has always been some foreign power or outside entity showing up and trying to take as much as they can, so the people have pretty much become numb to things framed as “opportunity”. The Congolese government knows what you want is in their backyard, and you might not be here tomorrow, so they’ll shake you down today even if it means screwing up long term improvement projects you agreed on just last week. For the local Congolese people, they don’t know how long you’re going to be here or how long they’ll even be around for, so they’ll take $10 today and blow it on things they don’t need even if you’re offering them $100 tomorrow. Every. Single. Time.

The US company knew this was going to happen but couldn't turn down the offer. I actually witnessed people (both expat and Congolese) crying when the sale was announced because they knew the workers would suffer. Racism in both directions is also a huge issue, as well as the cultural differences that make working together challenging as it is. I heard that within 18 months of the transfer most of the workers had quit. The Chinese company had moved almost all the workers out of the new housing the US company had built and were using it as a bargaining chip for "good performance". The local French & English speaking teachers at the mine-funded school had been replaced by Chinese teachers and most of the kids stopped going.

I could go on and on and I have stories for days, but the key takeaway is that the situation at Chinese-owned mine sites in Africa (particularly Congo) is pretty awful. The African governments pockets fill up with bribe payments while the locals suffer. I wont act like anyones hands are clean, and in my personal opinion nobody should really be over there at all, but US vs Chinese involvement is night and day.

[-] houchiku | 4 points | Jun 13 2021 04:17:00

拆腻子把自己那套官商勾结推广出去，这下文化输出了

[-] [deleted] | 2 points | Jun 13 2021 05:46:10

兔兔:我们基建狂魔帮了非洲，不感恩戴德怎么还恨我们呢？

[-] Boushiyouchiyou | 4 points | Jun 12 2021 12:01:29

这下怂了

[-] 721sdsb | 4 points | Jun 12 2021 16:34:21

这下人民起来反抗帝国主义了

[-] s1as | 3 points | Jun 12 2021 09:50:00

有意思

[-] YueNanJiZhe | 3 points | Jun 12 2021 10:43:43

拿着枪呢？