Dr. John Njenga Karugia from Africa gave a lecture to the students of Department of International Relations on the afternoon of the 24th October. The lecture broadened students’ horizon on China-Africa relations and encouraged their interests on African studies. Prof. Zhang Chuanjie hosted the lecture, and Professor Tang Xiaoyang contributed comments.
Dr. Karugia mainly discussed the influence of China in Tanzania and Kenya. He researched a lot of domestic issues in Africa such as Chinese enclaves and how they survive in the large capital cities. He discussed the frustrations of native African workers but also of those who have benefited under the Chinese partnership. He highlighted that the media has misconstrued China's role and that while there has been issues, such as cheap quality goods, on the whole the relationship is far better than the media like to portray. He acknowledges that while the West enforces aid on to Africa, China was the only nation to listen to the needs of the leaders. In the end, he was passionate about future cooperation and that while many still feel disgruntled that it may be too easy to blame the Chinese when perhaps corrupt government officials should also shoulder some of the responsibility for the failings in the relationship.
