Doing Business Internationally

In the bad old days of imperialist colonialism, advanced, wealthy and powerful countries of the world had a habit of converging upon those far more plentiful countries of the world mired in poverty, struggling to advance beyond the dark ages and often enough in the thrall of domestic tyrants oppressing the greater impoverished and put-upon majority.  An additional layer of oppression was created when colonial powers 'convinced' the rulers of those backward Third World states that they were too powerful to dislodge from their agenda of exploitation.

Those were the bad old days indeed.  And those countries of the world who were historically exploited make it a habit of never forgetting those bad old days.  Some of them, particularly within Africa are still tribal-ridden, aggressive war-mongering states whose populations remain at the mercy of their own oppressors who use the history of colonialism to whip their people into a frenzy of hate and who denounce their old colonialist masters at every opportunity within the corridors of the UN, demanding, endless, ongoing reparations.

Who can blame them?  Although it does become tedious.  Particularly when they do not themselves present as a picture of best practices in the fine art of responsible, corruption-free governing.  And then there is China.  Competing on the world stage for dominance in every sphere of influence and the mastery of economic advancement, China is breathing hard down the perspiring necks of the treasury-drained number one power.

And China, like its imperialist predecessors (the very word 'imperialist' has the Politboro in Beijing breathing the fire of denunciation deprecating those 18th and 19th Century European countries that laid waste to the treasures and natural resources they were so busy acquiring in their rush to become ever more powerful) has been busy - colonizing.  Kind of.  Of course, it isn't exactly the same thing, oh of course not.

But China is powerfully hungry for all the resources that the world has in geographies that are sovereign to other countries.  And China has expanded its outreach hugely in the last generation; from obtaining oil through arrangements with Sudan, itself an vicious exploiter of its own population, to 'renting' out arable land in Africa, and investing heavily in resources abroad, sending in their own state-owned resource management teams to shore up signed agreements.

In Africa the native population knows all about agriculture; it's what they do, on their meagre lots, it's how they survive.  But China has no wish to employ Africans whose farming skills are inferior to those of their own, and China brings in its own farm workers who apply those skills in the best modern methods of eking out as much from the fertile soil as modern methods can produce.  To ship it all back to China.

China has invested big time in Canada, too.  Not only in the Alberta oilsands, but in coal mining in British Columbia as well.  Tumbler Ridge, B.C. is a coal mining town, and the area is familiar with modern mining techniques; Canada is no laggard in mineral extraction methods.  Yet strangely enough Chinese-owned entities inclusive of the government, in interviewing prospective workers for their new mines have been unable to find 'qualified' Canadian workers.

They need, they explain, to government agencies, their own workers upon whom they can rely, skilled unlike the Canadian miners in the techniques they wish to apply.  The Murray River coal project is expected to yield up to three billion tonnes of coal, and may employ up to 600 workers on a permanent, 30-year basis.  For which "experienced underground workers" are required. 

Of the first 97 Canadians interviewed by the Chinese none made the grade.  Therefore fulfilling the Canadian government's insistence that Canadians first be given the opportunity to apply for positions before those of foreign origin are finally brought in.  Local unions are not thrilled with the situation, complaining that they see through China's game; employing uncomplaining Chinese at low wages in poor working conditions.

Scuttlebut has it that the Chinese recruiters demand $12,500 from prospective workers for whom they will ensure a position at Tumbler Ridge.  On investigation the province's Employment Standards Branch found no evidence of such malfeasance.  Trade, investment and co-operation between countries hoping to work fruitfully together is a potentially good arrangement for all concerned.

One can only hope that one of the partners is not too trusting, not too eager to, as that old saying goes 'give away the shop' to the other which has proven on the world scene, to be self-absorbed, self-committed and self-concerned to the end-point of sheer rapaciousness.