‘Rather than conduct a genuine comparative study, HRW sees what it wants to see and thus again fosters the entirely predictable result of feeding anti-Chinese sentiment in Zambia’

In responding to a

The latest report by Human Rights Watch about labour abuses in Chinese mining companies in Zambia is not only woefully inaccurate but also perpetuates Western racist stereotypes about China's 'neo-colonialist' expansion in Africa, according to Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong.

An international discourse of China-in-Africa has emerged, particularly in Western countries with dense links to Africa: The US, the UK and France. In this article, Barry Sautman and Yan Hairong assert that while China’s presence in Africa should be critically examined, interest in it in the West is skewed by elite perceptions of China as a rival for resources and influence in Africa and as a rising power, with the tone of the discourse far more negative than that accorded to the Western presence in Africa.