Michael Snyder of TheMostImportantNews.com exposed China’s ambitions in Africa.

Africa has historically been a target for Islamic and European colonizers.

Now, China wants to assume this role as a colonizer, but with a different twist. Instead of conquering Africa using military force, it plans on using economic arrangements instead.

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As of today, there are more than 10,000 Chinese-owned firms with operations in Africa. Snyder asserts that every “major road, bridge, railway and skyscraper is being built by the Chinese.”

In order to acquire such infrastructure, many African nations have had to go into significant debt, leaving China in an advantageous position.

Although there is some validity to China exploiting this relation for economic gain, Forbes pointed out that China’s moves in Africa are about turning Africa “into another Chinese continent.”

According to certain estimates, about two million Chinese citizens are already living in Africa.

China has taken its famous “special economic zones” and transplanted them to Africa. One of these zones has been placed right next to Lagos, Nigeria. These cities act as investor friendly economic jurisdictions based on the model that was employed in the Chinese city of Shenzhen in the 1980s.

Snyder noted that “In these ‘special economic zones’, you will find Chinese factories staffed with Chinese managers that are supervising Chinese workers that are using Chinese equipment to make their products.”

China is also Africa’s largest trading partner, with Sino-African trade rounding out at $200 billion per year. McKinsey reports that over 10,000 Chinese-owned firms are present in the African continent and the value of Chinese business in the continent since 2005 is valued at more than $2 trillion. $300 billion in investment is currently on the table.

Although China has pivoted since its Maoist days, it is using soft power in a way that projects its power on an expansionary basis.

The U.S. will need to get out of its quagmires in the Middle East and re-focus its foreign policy by containing China through as many diplomatic means as possible.

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