Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T17:59:34.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Planting Rice on the Roof of the UN Building: Analysing Taiwan's “Chinese” Techniques in Africa, 1961–present*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2009

Philip Liu Hsiao-pong
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article studies the development of the Republic of China's (Taiwan) agricultural aid projects to Africa from the 1960s to the present. Beginning with the Vanguard Project in 1961, Taiwan has sought to exchange its intensive rice cultivation techniques for international political recognition. The article looks at a variety of successful and failed assistance endeavours and analyses the motivation and processes behind this development assistance in the context of diverse African farming environments. Instead of insisting on its intensive farming culture, Taiwan has developed a sustainable aid mentality and now uses a hybrid approach that utilizes its cultivation expertise to complement the farming endowments of aid recipients.

Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 198 , June 2009 , pp. 381 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Yu, George T., “Africa in Chinese foreign policy,” Asian Survey, Vol. 28, No. 8 (1988), pp. 849–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Yu, George T., “Peking versus Taipei in the world arena: Chinese competition in Africa,” Asian Survey, Vol. 3, No. 9 (1963), p. 447CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 See, for example, Larkin, Bruce, China and Africa, 1949–1970 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971)Google Scholar, and Copper, John F., China's Foreign Aid: An Instrument of Peking's Foreign Policy (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1976)Google Scholar.

4 For example, Clifton Hiebsch and Stephen K. O'Hair consider Chinese training effective for African rice output: see in their work “Major domesticated food crops” in McMillan, Della E. and Hansen, Art (eds.), Food in Sub-Saharan Africa (Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1986) p. 189Google Scholar. Robert F. Dernberger and Françoise Le Gall consider Chinese skills untransferable: see in their work “Is Chinese model transferable?” in Dernberger, Robert F. (ed.), China's Development Experience in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980), p. 330CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 See in Brautigam, Deborah, “South-south technology transfer: the case of China's Kpatawee rice project in Liberia,” World Development, Vol. 21, No. 12 (1993), pp. 1989–2001CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and her book Chinese Aid and African Development: Exporting Green Revolution (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998).

6 See for example, Jianjun, Zhou and Qian, Wang “Xin xinshi xia dui Feizhou nongye yuanzhu de tantao” (“Studying agricultural aid to Africa under new situation”), Guoji jinji hezuo (International Economic Co-operation), No. 3 (1997), pp. 9–11Google Scholar; Ting-en, Lu, “Guanyu shenru kaizan Zhongfei nongye touzi yu hezuo de jidian kanfa” (“Opinions on further developing Sino-African agricultural investment and co-operation”), Xiya Feizhou (West Asia and Africa), Vol. 1 (2003), pp. 9–13Google Scholar; Yanjuan, Chen and Yan, Deng, “Zhong-Fei hezuo kechixuxin yanjiu” (“Studying the sustainability of Sino-African agricultural co-operation”), Shijie nongye (World Agricultural), No. 1 (2008), pp. 63–65Google Scholar.

7 Wenju, Yun, “Cong guoji yuanzhu de fazhan kan Zhongguo dui-Fei nongye yuanzhu” (“Reviewing Chinese agricultural aid to Africa from the perspectives of international assistance,” Xiya Feizhou, Vol. 2 (2000), p. 17Google Scholar.

8 See Wenju, Yun, “Ershiyi shiji de Zhong-Fei hezuo” (“Sino-African agricultural co-operation in the 21st century”), Xiya Feizhou, Vol. 5 (2000), pp. 38–42Google Scholar; and Wang Chenyan, “DuiFei nongye yuanzhu xin xinshi de tansuo” (“Exploring new framework for agricultural aid to Africa”), Guoji jinji hezuo, No. 4 (2008).

9 See Rowe, David Nelson, Free Afro Asia: Cooperation between the Republic of China and African Countries (New York: American Afro-Asian Educational Exchange, 1963)Google Scholar; and Gurtove, Melvin, “Recent development on Formosa,” The China Quarterly, No. 31 (1967), pp. 69–79Google Scholar. Some may see Taiwan's agricultural assistance a form of dollar diplomacy: see Taylor, Ian, “Taiwan's foreign policy and Africa: the limitations of dollar diplomacy,” Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 11, No. 30 (2002), pp. 125–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 The US financial assistance to the Vanguard Project started from US$400,000 in 1961, and reached US$2 million annually from the mid-1960s onwards. American funding ended in 1971. See Wang, Wenlong, Waijiao xiaxiang nongye chuyang (Diplomacy Reaches the Countryside; Agriculture Goes Abroad) (Taipei: National Cheng-chi University, 2004)Google Scholar, and Liu, Philip Hsiaopong, “Reassuring friendship with fund,” in Identity, Culture and Politics: an Afro-Asian Dialogue (Dakar: CODESRIA), Vol. 8, Nos. 1&2 (2007), pp. 19–44Google Scholar.

11 See Baker, Kathleen M and Edmonds, Richard Louis, “Transfer of Taiwanese ideas and technology to The Gambia, West Africa: a viable approach to rural development?” The Geographical Journal, Vol. 170, No. 3 (2004), pp. 189–211CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

12 Clute, Robert E, “The role of agriculture in African development,” African Studies Review, Vol. 25, No. 4 (1982), pp. 1–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 See John M. Staatz and Niama Nango Dembele, “Agriculture for development in Sub-Saharan Africa” in the World Bank's World Development Report 2008.

14 Herbst, Jeffrey, States and Power in Africa (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), p. 1Google Scholar.

15 West Africa even contributed to America's rice cultivation. See Carney, Judith, Black Rice: the African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001)Google Scholar, and Linares, Olga F., “African rice (oryza glaberrima): history and future potential,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 99, No. 25 (2002), pp. 16360–61CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed.

16 Morgan, W.B., “Food imports of West Africa,” Economic Geography, Vol. 39, No. 4 (1963), p. 353CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 Owusu, Maxwell, “Agriculture and rural development since 1935,” in Mazrui, Ali (ed.), Africa since 1935 (UNESCO, 1999), p. 317Google Scholar.

18 Chinese workers were recruited to work in German, British, Portuguese, Belgian and French colonies on continental Africa as well as its major islands like Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion. Most contract labour ended after the 19th century. In the 18th century, there were only about 6,000 Chinese working in Africa. See Li, Ansan, Feizhou Huaren Huaqiao shi (A History of Chinese Overseas in Africa) (Beijing: Zhongguo Huaqiao chubanshe, 2000), pp. 82–125Google Scholar.

19 Waijiaobu zhoubao (ROC Foreign Ministry Weekly, hereafter MOFA Weekly), No. 635 (20 June 1963), p. 1.

20 See in “Zhong-Lai jihe zhengce baodao” (“Policy towards Sino-Liberia technical co-operation”), from November 1962 to December 1967, African Files (AF) 231.32/0002, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (MOFA).

21 MOFA Weekly, No. 771 (1 February 1966), p. 1.

22 The Gambia News Bulletin, 5 November 1966, National Records Service, the Gambia.

23 William Clifford, “These are the saints” in The Rotarian, November 1968, p. 26.

24 Djurfeldt, Goran, Holmen, Hans, Jirstrom, Magnus and Larsson, Rolf, “African food crisis – the relevance of Asian experiences,” in Djurfeldt, Goran et al. (eds.), The African Food Crisis: Lessons from the Asian Green Revolution (Oxfordshire: CABI Publishing, 2006), p. 3Google Scholar.

25 Telegram, ROC Embassy in Sierra Leone to Taipei, 13 November 1964, in “Zhong-Shi nongji hezuo zhengce” (“Sino-Sierra Leone agricultural co-operation policy”), from 1 December 1963 to 31 October 1965, AF: 231.32/0001, MOFA.

26 Working Record, ROC Agricultural Mission to Liberia (date unknown), in “Zhong-Li jishu hezuoan” (“The project of Sino-Libya technical co-operation”), from February 1962 to October 1962, AF: 231.3/0003, MOFA.

27 Ibid.

28 Cost Efficiency Investigation Report on Agricultural Missions in Africa, 1 August 1970, in “Zhong-Fei jishu hezuo gueizhang” (“Sino-Africa technical co-operation regulations”), from June 1964 to March 1971, Vol. 2, AF: 231.2/590, MOFA.

29 Woguo yu Feizhou guojia jishu hezuo zhi zhixin yu chenxiao (ROC Technical Co-operation with the African States: Execution and Achievement) (Taipei: Department of African Affairs, MOFA, 1975), p. 267.

30 Telegram, ROC Embassy in Niger to Taipei, 31 January 1966, in “Meiguowuyuan fuFei kaocha wo jihe qinxin” (“US State Department investigates our technical co-operation in Africa”), from December 1965 to May 1967, AF:231.35/0006, MOFA.

31 ROC Technical Co-operation with the African States, p. 245.

32 Ibid. p. 339.

33 Letter, Committee on Sino-Africa Cooperation to MOFA, 19 November 1968, in “Nongji hezuo zonghexin zhengce” (“Comprehensive policies of agricultural co-operation”), from January 1961 to December 1969, Vol. 1, AF: 583/AI74, MOFA.

34 Brautigam, Chinese Aid and African Development, p. 2.

35 Ibid.

36 Report, Technical Cooperation with Africa (date unclear), in “Xianfengan yibanyewu” (“General affairs of Vanguard Project”), from February 1968 to May 1968, AF (file number unknown), MOFA.

37 Telegram, from ROC Embassy in Sierra Leone to Taipei, 21 February 1966, in “US State Department investigates our technical co-operation in Africa.”

38 Newsweek, 3 February 1969, p. 44.

39 ROC Technical Co-operation with the African States, p. 59.

40 Chieh, Huang Chun, Zhongguo nongcun fuxin lianhe weiyuanhui fangwenjilu (Oral History of Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction) (Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 1992), p. 2Google Scholar.

41 ROC Technical Co-operation with the African States, pp. 107–15.

42 Wenlong Wang, Diplomacy Reaches the Countryside, p. 75.

43 Letter, ROC Economic Ministry to H.K. Yang, 15 May 1964, in “Zhong-Li jishu hezuoan” (“The project of Sino-Libya technical co-operation”), from October 1963 to May 1964, AF: 231.3/0004, MOFA.

44 ROC Embassy in Libya to Taipei, 14 November 1963, in ibid.

45 Letter, ROC Ambassador to Libya Chen Zhiping to H.K. Yang, 14 October 1962, in ibid.

46 Ma, Lianfang, “Wo zhuLi nonggengdui yu Sahala dashamuo” (“ROC agricultural mission to Libya and the Sahara Desert”), Zhuanji wenxue (Biographical Literature), Vol. 39, No. 1 (1981), p. 74Google Scholar.

47 Report from Libyan Team Leader Hsia Yuren (date unknown), in “Xianfengan” (“Vanguard Project”), from 2 February 1962 to 28 June 1962, AF (file number unknown), MOFA.

48 Lianfang Ma, “ROC agricultural mission to Libya and the Sahara Desert,” p. 74.

49 See Bates, Robert H., Markets and States in Tropical Africa: The Political Basis of Agricultural Policies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981)Google Scholar.

50 Report, Technical Cooperation with Africa (date unclear), in “General affairs of Vanguard Project.”

51 Conference notes, Director General of Department of African Affairs, MOFA, and Liberian Deputy Minister of Agriculture, 4 June 1970, in “Zhong-Lai jihe zhengce baodao” (“Policy toward Sino-Liberia technical co-operation”), from November 1962 to December 1967, AF: 231.32/0002, MOFA.

52 ROC Technical Co-operation with the African States, p. 256.

53 See de Sardan, J.P. Olivier, “A moral economy of corruption in Africa,” Journal of Modern African Studies, No. 37 (1999), pp. 25–52CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

54 Wenlong Wang, Diplomacy Reaches the Countryside, pp. 161–63.

55 Brautigam, Chinese Aid and African Development, p. 180.

56 ROC Technical Co-operation with the African States, pp. 264–66.

57 Geng, Xiouye, Feizhou jianwenlu (Seeing Africa) (Taipei: Dahua wanbao, 1968), pp. 106–07Google Scholar.

58 Jiang, Shuoping, Feizhou shiwunian yu lutu jianwen (15 Years in Africa) (Taipei: Liang Jing, 1983), p. 75Google Scholar.

59 Shang, Yueheng, Feizhou xin mianmao (Africa's New Image) (Hong Kong: Xinwen tiandi, 1970), p. 235Google Scholar.

60 Taipei's aid to Kinshasa ended in 1972 when Mobutu recognized Beijing.

61 President Philibert Tsiranana was overthrown in 1972 and the new regime soon terminated Madagascar's relationship with Taiwan.

62 Jiaqi, Huang, “Kuachu xiyibu” (“Make the first step”), Guohe huishun (ICDF Communication), Vol. 13 (2002), p. 25Google Scholar.

63 Tong-hsiung, Tung, “Lüse yanxian” (“Green banquet”), Guohe huishun, Vol. 12 (2001), pp. 32–36Google Scholar.

64 For more details about the analysis of this garden, see Baker and Edmonds, “Transfer of Taiwanese ideas and technology to The Gambia, West Africa.”

65 Wenju, Yun, “Cong yuanzhu dao hezuo kaifa – zhanwang ershiyi shiji de Zhong-Fei nongye hezuo” (“From assistance to co-operative development – the prospect of agricultural co-operation between China and Africa in the 21st century”), in Zhongguo yu Feizhou (China and Africa) (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2000), pp. 302–10Google Scholar.

66 Brautigam, Chinese Aid and African Development, p. 202.