MONEY, MARKETS and HYDROPOWER: Chinese Dam Construction in Africa
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MONEY, MARKETS and HYDROPOWER: Chinese dam construction in Africa Xiao Han (ORCID: 0000-0001-5129-3788) Thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy March 2018 School of Geography Faculty of Science The University of Melbourne Abstract This thesis aims to clarify the formation of goals, practices and consequences of Chinese outward investment, through the lens of the Chinese government’s and corporations’ engagement in African dam construction. To achieve this aim, three research questions are addressed: 1 how do Chinese actors form their goals in investing in African dam construction? 2 how are the Chinese practices in Africa related to these goals? and 3 what are the consequences of the Chinese practices? Considering China’s (re-)emergence in the neoliberal world, this thesis probes Chinese overseas investment with an eye to their spending of money, energy and time; and posits the Chinese government and corporations as both central to address the research aim. Starting from a genealogy of the shaping of the Chinese dam construction industry, this thesis applies a technopolitical approach to disentangling the historical, technical, political, social and environmental complexity associated with dams and proceeds with a life cycle analysis of a specific project in Africa, which is financed and built by Chinese actors – the Bui dam construction in Ghana. Informed by qualitative data collected from open sources and fieldwork mainly in Beijing, Accra and Bui, the thesis finds that investing in African dam construction, the Chinese government and corporations have divergent priorities but interlocking goals, but the formations of the goals of Chinese actors affect each other; and that although their practices are mainly informed by their goals, the Chinese activities overseas are affected and challenged by the interplay with external technocratic and political influences which sometimes lead to uncertain consequences. Therefore, the Chinese overseas investment is an artefact of the world’s geographically uneven process of neoliberalization, which at the project level reflects not merely a matter of “China” or the “Chinese”, but of the sophisticated interweaving of relations and interactions between the Chinese, international and the recipient country actors, evolving in a path-dependent way. i Declaration This is to certify that i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the degree of PhD, ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, iii) the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Xiao Han October, 2017 ii Acknowledgements Finishing the thesis by the end of the fourth year of living in Melbourne, I am heavily indebted to economic geographer and Professor Emeritus Michael Webber, who guided me here, for accepting and being the principal supervisor of an international student who, apart from personal interest in geography, had studied engineering and management science in the past; for foresightedly illuminating my research proposal; for substantially funding my expensive but necessary fieldwork from Australia to China and Ghana; for persistently encouraging and financially supporting me to attend academic conferences (luckily I presented in IAG 2014 in Melbourne, A-Asia Conference 2015 in Accra, IGU 2016 in Beijing and AAG 2017 in Boston); and for carefully advising my writing and patiently helping editing this thesis. Meanwhile, I must express heartfelt thanks to all those people I talked to during the fieldwork: without your time, consent and insight, I would never be able to reach the current understanding. I appreciate earnestly the insiders of the Chinese dam construction industry and financial institutions, either based in China or Ghana, for opening the door and sharing your knowledge and experience in relation to my concerns (in particular some of you for ensuring my safe visit to/at the site); my Ghanaian participants for enriching and confirming many of the details I learnt; and all the Chinese, Ghanaian and a lot of other English speaking scholars I knew before and met during the PhD, for countless topic-related conversations, practical suggestions and introductions to new contacts during the fieldwork, as well as comments and questions after my presentations. Sometimes I am such a late adopter, but I must thank greatly Francis and Osei for picking me up from the Kotoka Airport on my first arrival and introducing your Ghanaian customs to me (I like fufu!); and very grateful to Cheng for accompanying me to the blood test – on my return to Accra after a remote site visit, I unfortunately had a high fever and was so worried about getting malaria. I would thank also Dana my self-disciplined neighbour in ISH2 for discussions during breakfast; Ane the Norwegian cutie for birthday chocolate; as well as Linda, Wendy and other international and Ghanaian students I met in Legon, for the many chats and beers. Memories are valuable. I must also appreciate the many geographers in Melbourne, who were always kind and respectable. Loads of thanks to my co-supervisor Professor Mark Wang for the always cautious suggestions and constantly keeping my progress on track; and external supervisor Dr Brooke Wilmsen for our straightforward discussions, specifically the one after IGU; and also to Professors Ruth Fincher and Simon Batterbury for your concerns and constructive suggestions (those tips before my iii fieldwork in particular). I must also thank Jo and Tina for solving daily puzzles in the geography building and arranging refreshments. Many thanks go to the PhD students at Bouverie St and also old friends in China, who shared smiles, and with some of whom I shared tears (though occasionally): Sarah, Kevin, Nuosha, Tao, Kun, Qianjin, Svenja, Elissa, Angeliki, Nahui, Haslina, Thea, Kate, Xin and Wenqi... Special thanks to Jichuan for your companionship in the final year, for the tasty steamed fish and driving me along some of Australia’s East Coast in particular, though I could hardly overcome carsickness. I am sincerely grateful to the China Scholarship Council - University of Melbourne PhD Scholarship, which enabled this research project with a 48-month sponsorship. Thanks a lot to the Faculty of Science for awarding me the Michael Webber Doctoral Prize in Geography 2015 and professors in geography for the recognition of my work; as well as from the former Melbourne School of Land and Environment the travel scholarship for additional funding that supported my field trips. I also received an IAG Travel Grant for the participation in IGU 2016 in Beijing. Lastly, but not least, thank you Mom and Dad for your everyday encouragement and care; at this moment, especially for sponsoring me a chance to study in Oxford in the summer of 2012, which opened my mind to seeking an opportunity to learn the world from another point of view. R2.47, 221 Bouverie St October 10, 2017 iv Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... i Declaration .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ viii List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... ix List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER ONE Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research context and main gaps in knowledge............................................................. 2 1.3 Research aim and questions .......................................................................................... 5 1.4 Key contributions and the case study ............................................................................ 6 1.5 Organization of the thesis ............................................................................................. 8 1.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER TWO Literature Review ........................................................................................... 12 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 12 2.2 Neoliberal (dis)order and China’s re-emergence ........................................................ 13 2.3 Featuring China’s transformation from opening up to investing overseas ................. 16 2.4 China’s investment in Africa ...................................................................................... 21 2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................