President Xi Jinping of China has earned official recognition as the Communist Party’s leader. An honor bestowed last to Mao Zedong and his successor Hua Guofeng. This means that the leader has garnered the utmost respect of all members within the party.
Xi Jinping can therefore put his recently unveiled Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) into action. The initiative is a $US1 trillion plan to revolutionize manufacturing and construction in the country. The government hopes to create more opportunities for trade through the plan as well.
The initiative will include the economic zones of more than 60 countries, which will generate 40 percent of China’s GDP going forward. It will undeniably be an opportunity for engineers to profit from the infrastructural projects China has around the globe.
This comes after China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) announced that all construction projects for new coal power plants have been cancelled. Instead, the NEA is investing $361 billion into expanding renewable energy technologies in an effort to reduce the crippling smog levels in many cities in China. The number of coal power stations that will be halted, according to Reuters, is “over 100”.
It has been estimated that the move from coal to renewable power will reportedly generate 13 million jobs in the renewable energy sector in China.
Universities in China plan to support Xi Jinping with the renewed establishment of the Communist Party’s dominance over government in China. The institutions will reportedly create research institutes that will strive to improve China as a whole. Xi Jinping studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University himself.
Experts say that China and India’s economic
growth will produce 40% of STEM
(Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) graduates worldwide, by 2030.
Image: Nova Cidade de Kilamba
Engineering influence
China has become world renowned for its influence in engineering industries across the globe. The country spends billions in creating infrastructure for allied nations. China has construction deals that total US$73 billion in Africa alone.
In 2014, the Nova Cidade de Kilamba was built in Luanda, the capital of Angola, built by the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC). (The housing development, however, stood largely empty for some years after its construction was completed.)
The group works in Financial Services, Real Estate & Civil Infrastructure, Engineering Contracting, Energy & Resources, Manufacturing, and IT.
Angola forewent any deals with Western governments, choosing to rebuild their country - after a brutal civil war that lasted from 1975 to 2002 - with the help of Chinese companies.
The New York Times reports that Angola exported an estimated US$600 billion in oil alone, from 2002 to 2015. The governments of Brazil and Portugal shared in the construction boom that followed the end of the civil war.
Further afield, in the Southern African country of Lesotho, Chinese embassy political counselors recently handed over the reins to water supply projects built through the China-Lesotho People-to-People Friendship Action Fund.
At the event, the embassy deputy ambassador Mr. Song Changqing said that the fund would lead to “socialism with Chinese characteristics”, which would enter the country into a “new era” with China at the forefront of “building a community of shared future for mankind.”
Image: Kenya’s New Railway
Source: Newsweek
Similarly, Kenya has opened their borders to Chinese engineering. The country has just opened their largest infrastructure project of the last fifty years; a 298-mile long railway stretching from Nairobi to Mombasa funded and built by Chinese investors.
The project cost US$3.8 billion, but is part of a bigger project that will improve railway networks across East Africa.
This provides a little insight into Chinese engineering activity in Africa and the world; something that is unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
Works Cited
Hand-over Ceremony of Water Supply Projects Held by China-Lesotho People-to-People Friendship Action Fund in Thaba-Tseka, www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/zwjg_665342/zwbd_665378/t1503949.shtml.
Meng, Meng, et al. “China to Plow $361 Billion into Renewable Fuel by 2020.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 5 Jan. 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-china-energy-renewables-idUSKBN14P06P.
Onishi, Norimitsu. “Angola’s Corrupt Building Boom: ‘Like Opening a Window and Throwing Out Money.’” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 June 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/06/24/world/africa/angola-luanda-jose-eduardo-dos-santos.html.
