Cameroon: China Invades Country With Cheap, Fragile Goods
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The Post (Buea)
28 August 2008
Posted to the web 28 August 2008
Quinta Njoh
They arrived in trickles - a Chinaman, hawking cloth, needles, threads, selling cakes, eggs, shoes, cheap showy jewellery - bangles, trinkets, artificial flowers, electronic gadgets and the like.
That was as far back as 2000. Cameroonians were a little surprised, but they went about their businesses as usual until the Chinese became rather too many and began frying doughnuts!
The Chinese influx - both goods and humans - seemed to have taken off after Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visited Cameroon in 2002.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China website reported then that Zhu met with his Cameroonian counterpart, Peter Mafany Musonge.
Zhu had said that "efforts of the two countries had in the field of cooperation have registered positive progress"; adding that "bilateral trade has made relatively big progress... that as Chinese goods are inexpensive but good in quality and fits the consuming level of the Cameroonian people, Cameroon is expected to import more goods from China so as to achieve greater progress with striking positive balance in bilateral trade."
To Musonge, this was "selfless assistance by the Chinese government over the past years and hopes to expand such friendly cooperation in all areas."Afterwards, Chinese goods flowed into Cameroon causing excitement amongst the locals because they were cheap and available. The cooperation and bilateral trade, however, turned out to be a multilateral affair.
A certain Pierre Essama Essomba, President of Media Council of Cameroon, in an interview in the China People's Daily Online of September 27, 2006, titled "China Not Practising Neo-colonialism In Africa" had sung the praises for Sino-Cameroonian "bilateral" relationship.
Said he: "China's cooperation and investment in Africa cannot be labelled as "neo-colonialism" because, unlike what European colonists did before, China-Africa cooperation has brought real benefit to African people..."
According to Essama Essomba, "we African people welcome Chinese goods because they are both affordable and reliable. We hope more small and medium-sized Chinese enterprises come to invest in Cameroon so that more people can be benefited...that such cooperation will not only bring the investment, but also technical expertise so that African people can learn to rely on themselves eventually."
True, even the man on the street agrees that Chinese goods are affordable. But now they know that Chinese goods are not reliable. Not by a long shot. They know that the Chinese have invested in Cameroon through cheap and fragile manufactured products, and that they (Cameroonians) have not learnt any technical expertise in exchange nor can they rely on themselves.
In this vein, both critics and Cameroonians think that China is dumping cheap manufactured products in Cameroon, thereby killing the local industries, if any exist.Now, nearly four-fifth of household appliances - needles, utensils, crockery, electronics, plastics, pens, etc - are "Made in China." They are found everywhere. They are cheap and they break as easily as fresh eggs.
Chinese Doughnuts
Cameroonians suffered a rude awakening when the Chinese began frying and selling doughnuts.The Post newspaper reported in July, 2005, that inhabitants of Bamenda were "taken unawares as Chinese traders flooded the streets with what they call "beigne Chinois" (doughnuts).
According to the report, the Chinese traders moved around town on tricycles selling doughnuts.The Chinese had practically killed the local doughnut business, sending many Cameroonian old women who had been making a miserly living out of it into the gutters. Eventually, they found it difficult to take care of their families.
The Chinese petty traders did not only frustrate the doughnut sellers, they also threatened plantain roasters, sellers of beans, corn and potatoes. Holidaymakers alike toiled day and night under harsh sun and rain against the Chinese hawkers, with no profit. All the while, the Chinese seemed to be trading tax-free.
The government was blamed for suffocating Cameroonians with taxes while allowing the Chinese to trade free of charge. Many wondered what Cameroonian youths were doing in China.
While Cameroonians at home were grappling with Chinese goods and their sellers, those in the Diaspora had similar sentiments. They too, believed that Chinese presence in Cameroon had made life easier for most people despite the fact that their products were unreliable. They were, however, not amused by the fact that the Chinese were doing business in Cameroon tax-free, while Cameroonian businesses were closing down.
Cheap, But Fragile
Relevant Links
It is a popular generalisation that Chinese products are cheap but fragile; that Cameroon is now a dumping ground for them and that the products are killing local industry.Although these products are objects of criticism, most people are still blinded and lured by their "cheap" and "catchy" appearances. They seem to have no choice.
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Read comments. Write your own.
You have given a good explanation for the reliability of chinese goods in cameroon.But I will to say for short that consumers are not forced to buy.Choice still has a part to play with demand too.Whats a hell with cheap good.We know very well that cheap things end up being more expensive sometimes.Let individual decide what to buy based on the how much money they have and can freely spend.Its up to the Cameroonian consumer to decide whether to buy a cheap pair of shoe monthly , dress neatly, eat well, pay house rent, or to not to pay… [Read Full Text]
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China is the factory of the world. Actually, the problem with "made in China" is that some of them are shoddy goods. "Made in China" are comparatively affordable though quality is generally the problem. They are the same goods we use here in China and we do face the same problem here with quality but the difference is that mal-functioning goods are easily replaceable since they are produced here but when those same goods go abroad, replaceability might be very difficult because retailers might not have had replacement arrangements with their suppliers. Another big problem African markets face with "made… [Read Full Text]