Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Translation Tuesday: Direct Flights Between China and Africa Spur the Development of Africa’s Tourism Industry


Translator: Zander Rounds
Published on: 11/17/2014

Author: N/A
Source: International Business Daily
Original text (in Chinese via China Daily portal): http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hqcj/xfly/2014-11-17/content_12727447.html

Direct Flights Between China and Africa Spur the Development of Africa’s Tourism Industry

By now, many Chinese industries have already entered the African market and gained positive momentum. Currently, China-Africa Cooperation is playing an increasingly important role in global economic development and Chinese-African investment and trade have already become an important part of Africa’s economic growth. Airlines in Egypt, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and several other countries have opened up regular direct flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou.

The rapid development of China-Africa trade and personnel exchange provides an immense space for bilateral civil aviation cooperation. Over the past few years, the number of people traveling between China and Africa has on average increased at a rate of 15% per year, reaching around 1.5 million total trips. China has already formally signed inter-governmental aviation transit agreements with 17 African countries including Ethiopia, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa and Nigeria.

“Presently, more than half of the tour groups that will travel to Africa before January of next year have already been collected.” Wang Le, from China Youth Travelers Online, described how from December to February, Africa’s climate is cozy – the average temperate is between around 10-20°C – really making it the golden period to sufficiently appreciate the local interests and charm. Africa’s tourist visas are distributed at a very high rate, so there is not need to worry about issues related to getting visa applications rejected and the processing time is probably between 7-10 days. Especially since the cost of traveling during the Spring Festival period fluctuates greatly, a lot of travelers are scrambling to go out and travel before the increase in prices of Spring Festival.

“Before, the large majority of South African tourism focused on group trips, but following with South African Airways’ establishment of a direct flight in 2012, more Chinese tourists can quickly and easily fly nonstop to South Africa. Travelers that understand English and appreciate more freedom are increasingly welcoming trips like this, booked independently through overseas market services.” According to Wang Le’s introduction, previously when traveling in between Johannesburg – considered to be the center of South Africa and its biggest city – travelers needed stop in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, etc. and change planes. As a result the journey would take at least 20 hours. Since the direct flight has been opened, the entire flight is approximately 15 hours without a stop in between, not only curtailing the flight time but also avoiding the anxiety and inconvenience of transferring. In addition, by traveling through the aviation hub of Johannesburg, travelers can conveniently transfer planes to continue on to more than 20 destinations on the African continent, as well as destinations in North and South America.

“This year, China’s tourist entry and exit trade deficit has already broken US$100 billion.” China Tourism Institute’s president Dai Bin stated that along with China’s economic development, the demand by consumers to “go out of the county’s gate” is increasingly intense. As World Tourism Organization’s statistics illustrate, China’s 1 million outbound tourist trips in 2013 established it as the world’s biggest origin for tourists. At the same time, China’s tourist spending abroad was $102 billion, surpassing America and Germany to become number one in the world. 10 years ago, China’s tourism spending abroad accounted for 1% of the global total. By 2023 this percentage will increase to 20%

The mysterious ancient Egyptian civilization, the mystical East African savannas—these places continually attract many of those fond of exploring and hunting for nature. Along with China’s economic growth, China’s outbound tourist market has already expanded beyond the original South East Asian destinations to a vast range of destinations including Australia, Singapore, Europe and Africa. Among these destinations, Africa, due to its distinctive cultural charm, elegant natural environment and steadily improving infrastructure, is becoming a popular Chinese tourist destination.

About People’s Daily Online (http://ibd.shangbao.net.cn/)
Published by China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the International Business Daily (IBD) focuses on China’s business and finance.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Translation Tuesday: Why Is China Always Accused on the Ivory Issue?


Translator: Joseph Webster and Laiyin Yuan
Published on: N/A

Author: N/A
Source: N/A
Original text (in Chinese): N/A


Members of the official Chinese delegation to Tanzania in 2013 used President Xi’s presidential plane and diplomatic pouches to illegally smuggle ivory from Tanzania to China, according to an explosive report from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a British NGO. The EIA “is an independent campaigning organization committed to bringing about change that protects the natural world from environmental crime and abuse.” The EIA’s report on the illegal elephant trade in Tanzania, called “Vanishing Point,” can be found here.

The following article is a translated response to the EIA report. It is not an official media response. As of this writing, it appears that the Chinese and English language editions of Xinhua, the Global Times, or China Daily have not published an article about the EIA report, despite – or perhaps because of – its potentially harmful influence on Africa-China relations and its unsettling implications about the Chinese leadership’s adherence to its own laws. 
--- Joseph Webster and Laiyin Yuan (Translators)

Why Is China Always Accused on the Ivory Issue?

Does the continuous China-bashing on the ivory issue provide any benefit for solving the poaching problem?

During the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, an article without credible evidence attracted great attention and mass reprinting from the Western media. The article is about a piece of news that was written 20 months ago with the sensational title “Chinese Presidential Delegation smuggles ivory.” This article has nothing to do with the ivory trade itself. This article is nothing but another Western media’s attempt to witch-hunt and sneer at China.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Translation Tuesday: China’s assistance to Africa is both “Brotherly Loyalty” and an international responsibility


Translator: Zander Rounds
Published on: 10/27/2014
Author: Zhou Fei
Source: Huanqiu.com
Original text (in Chinese): http://mil.huanqiu.com/observation/2014-10/5180243.html


Based on years of conversations with friends, classmates and outspoken taxi drivers in China, it is clear that international aid is a bit of a hard sell here. In following article, the author Zhou Fei directly addresses a common criticism of international assistance: namely, if we still have so many domestic problems, why should we be sending money to far away places? In response, Zhou draws on both realist and constructivist logic: China must provide assistance due to both realist calculations of self-interest (helping others in order to help us) and the normative imperatives of brotherly loyalty and international responsibility. (In my opinion, the mixing of these weakens his argumentation). As China’s role in the world evolves, it is important to track how it presents itself not just to the outside world (here is a link to a piece by the same author on a similar subject) but to a domestic audience.
--- Zander Rounds (Translator)

Helping ourselves by helping Africa

Over the past few months, China has urgently assisted African countries battle Ebola through a series of efforts, including shipping supplies, dispatched experts and building labs. In doing so, China has become the world’s “forerunner” in fighting the disease, winning a bunch of praise in Africa and internationally.

Domestically, some people do not quite understand China’s African assistance policies: “The Guangzhou Dengue fever is still wreaking havoc, why are we running far away to go help Africa?” While this type of thinking may seem reasonable, it in fact is incomplete. Limited Epidemics have no borders—during this round of the Ebola’s violent “terrorist attack”, any one country would have difficulty protecting itself. The appearance of those afflicted by the disease in America and Spain are a testament to this.

China, Zambia, and Sata: An overview



What does the unfortunate death of President Michael Sata, who passed away on Wednesday October 29 due to an undisclosed illness, mean for the China-Zambia relationship? Host Winslow Robertson asked Ms. Hannah Postel on the pod to help enlighten him. Ms. Postel, a graduate of Middlebury College who specializes in economic development, migration, and overseas Chinese communities, just returned to D.C. from her time as 2013-2014 Fulbright Scholar in Zambia and wants to share her reflections of President Sata.

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Translation Tuesday: “Sports and Peace: the Perspectives of China and Africa” Seminar Held at China Foreign Affairs University

By Laiyin Yuan

Translator: Laiyin Yuan
Published on: 11/01/2014
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Original text (in Chinese): http://news.xinhuanet.com/sports/2014-11/02/c_127168295.htm


From the Asian Games, the Olympics, to the Youth Olympic Games, China has been attracting global attention with grand sports events. Sports also allows for grand diplomatic relationships. Can the path for “Ping Pong Diplomacy”1 that once worked for re-establishing China-U.S. relations work again for a more profound China-Africa friendship? Recently, diplomats and scholars from both sides had a wide-ranging discussion regarding this topic.
---- Laiyin Yuan (Translator)


On November 1, the “Sports and Peace: the Perspectives of China and Africa” seminar was held at the Shahe campus of China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), with many African diplomats and the university leaders participating in the discussions.

Monday, November 3, 2014

Why you should go to Morocco with Liang Zhang

The Africa-China relationship is pretty smooth when you have the Export-Import Bank of China or the China Development Bank throwing billions of dollars in your direction. However, not everyone involved in the relationship is so lucky. In this episode, host Winslow Robertson speaks to an individual Chinese entrepreneur, Liang Zhang, who is a travel consultant, bringing small Chinese tour groups to Morocco to experience the country and its culture. We discuss how he got started, why he chose Morocco, and why everyone should visit the country. If you want to learn more about a different side of the China-Africa relationship, please listen!

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