« Science in the South | Main | FedEx's Solar System »

Chinese Science Aid to Africa

We've noted before China's offers to assist African development through scientific aid. SciDev.Net this week has yet another example, from a meeting between the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the UN's secretary-general Kofi Annan. All well and good, but this would be of only passing interest except for the comment from an unnamed Chinese official:

"China will send experts to train local technicians in African countries, and will also host training classes and sponsor African experts to learn in China about agriculture, water power and renewable energies". (Emphasis mine.)

China is clearly making renewable energy technologies a big part of its thrust to be a global power. Africa and other poor areas are terrific test-beds for Chinese renewable R&D, as system which would not be competitive in western markets can still find eager users. As Chinese renewable technologies get better, expect to see their target audience move from African aid to global consumers.

TrackBack

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Chinese Science Aid to Africa:

» i've been wondering who would step up from Malice Aforethought
I keep wondering, where is all the alternative energy research and development? I'm far from an expert on the subject, but I can't help feeling that the West is not pursuing the subject with appropriate vigour. When I visited Kuwait in 2002, it struck ... [Read More]

Comments (1)

It's great that China is claiming to be interested in renewable resources in Africa, but you might want to cross check that with their recent behavior in Sudan.

They make no bones about the fact that what they are interested in is oil, no holds barred.

About

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on October 18, 2004 7:56 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Science in the South.

The next post in this blog is FedEx's Solar System.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

Powered by
Movable Type 3.34