Hundreds protest in Uganda capital against Chinese traders

[Fledgingwings]

I see some indian friends enjoying the thread

 

[Indiran Chandiran]

I see some indian friends enjoying the thread

That's coz while you were enjoying the cultural revolution , our compatriots in Uganda underwent what the Chinese are undergoing now with worse consequences .For more info , kindly Google search .

 

[Sliver]

Ugandan government is supposed to ensure fair competition. Ant-dumping laws weren't created for nothing you know

as i said. unemployment is a political issue. and political issues can be used against the present govt.

 

[EgyptianAmerican]

Hundreds protest in Uganda capital against Chinese traders
By RODNEY MUHUMUZA
Apr. 19, 2017 8:40 AM EDT




KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Years of growing animosity at Chinese traders turned into a protest by hundreds in Uganda's capital on Wednesday against what local businesses called unfair competition, while the mayor warned against the tensions turning into xenophobic attacks.

Hundreds of Ugandan traders protested in Kampala, some carrying placards urging Chinese traders to leave. Many Ugandans accuse Chinese traders of moving to this East African country as serious investors but then setting up businesses in small trade. Many Ugandan merchants want the Chinese restricted to large business ventures.

Kampala Mayor Erias Lukwago, who supported the protest, said the government must protect local traders to prevent the protests from escalating into attacks against foreign traders.

"We are likely to have xenophobia here. That's where we are heading, unless they come up with measures to protect indigenous traders," the mayor said.

Inexpensive Chinese goods have long been popular in Africa, and in the last decade Chinese merchants have started eliminating the middleman and setting up retail outlets of their own, much to local merchants' chagrin.

Calls to the Chinese embassy rang unanswered.

Ugandan police spokesman Asan Kasingye called Wednesday's street protest illegal and "should not be accepted by law-abiding people," because it targeted a specific group of foreigners. Chinese merchants operating with valid papers will be protected, Kasingye said.

Ugandan immigration officials routinely deport groups of Chinese found operating without valid work permits. Many others operate legally across the country.

Perspective foreign investors in Uganda must provide evidence of $100,000 in planned investment and obtain the necessary trade licenses, according to official guidelines.

In 2011, riots in Kampala largely targeted foreign merchants, echoing the 1972 expulsion of the country's Indian middle class by dictator Idi Amin.

MY TAKE: Pakistan is next in line.....

Source: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f1fa...rotest-uganda-capital-against-chinese-traders

The Chinese should come to Egypt. We have really bad un-employment and could use some more business. If you are wondering also Egypt isn't xenophobic to Chinese, just sub-Saharan Africans.

 

[Mugwop]

Pakistan had friendly relations with China for a long time.

 

[oprih]

It just a protest anyway, I hope the Ugandan government continue protecting the Chinese traders who contribute positively to their economy. As for indians, I remember them getting kicked out of Uganda, must be because they are nothing good for the country.

 

[Republiek_van_Piesang]

It just a protest anyway, I hope the Ugandan government continue protecting the Chinese traders who contribute positively to their economy. As for indians, I remember them getting kicked out of Uganda, must be because they are nothing good for the country.

The Asians of Uganda (back in the 60's) were victim of their own success and the political scapegoat of the Idi Amin's regimé. To suggest that they're "nothing good for the country" is demeaning to their plight and the impact of their plight. The Poms brought hundreds of thousands of Asians from their Empire (mainly from the Indian sub-continent but some from Malaya and China as well) firstly as cheap labourer and then as a loyal "middlemen" between the British central administration and the various ethnic groups in Uganda. While I won't deny that a substantial portion of the economy was disproportionately held by ethnic Asians and there were racial tensions between the Blacks and Asians especially in the capitol, their subsequent plight (1x24 hour notice to pack all of their belongings before they'll be deported in the last stage) has resulted in the hollowing of the Ugandan economy and the decaying infrastructure that was left bereft of the skilled technicians and artisans in such a sudden notice.

*edit; my first post in this site .

Chinese traders in Africa (or at least in Southern Africa) usually comes in 3 form;

a) The big shot from the companies with telecommunication, banking and automotive product as their commodities.
b) Wholesale middlemen between China and the country that brought tons of Chinese made goods in large container and distributes them to the shops in the country.
c) The "China shops" which is a corner store/sweatshop built and operated by Chinese immigrants and usually purchase their goods from b). They tend to diversify for now (at least in South Africa) by taking more and more local products compared to when they were built as I remember, but still these shops mostly employs Chinese immigrants and some locals for the purpose of communication.

Discontent such as in this case usually emanates from the c) case of traders, as they could sell the commodities cheaper than the native traders and some of them are not hesitant to cut the corner if needed too.

 

[Roybot]

It just a protest anyway, I hope the Ugandan government continue protecting the Chinese traders who contribute positively to their economy. As for indians, I remember them getting kicked out of Uganda, must be because they are nothing good for the country.

Yeah the Ugandan government better nip this in the bud, before God forbid this anger turns into another Indonesia for the chinese business owners.

 

[Republiek_van_Piesang]

Yeah the Ugandan government better nip this in the bud, before God forbid this anger turns into another Indonesia for the chinese business owners.

I assume you were referring to the 1998 chaos? The Chinese business owners were Chinese-Indonesians (with Indonesian nationality) so the Chinese governments were not obliged to protect them per sé in '98. The overwhelming majority of Chinese workers in Africa (aside from South Africa, Mauritius, and Namibia) are not interested to swap their nationality to their host country, so if indeed the worst comes then the Chinese government will be forced to protect their citizens in their host countries.

The issue that ethnic Chinese in South East Asia and ethnic Asians in Eastern and Southern Africa face in the society do overlap in some manners, and as the influence of China and India continues to rise it would be interesting to see how it would impact the generations of these ethnic families, even though most of them has never seen their perceived "motherland", but for good and bad it continues to influence the perception of the overseas Asians in society (like me ).

 

[Zibago]

MY TAKE: Pakistan is next in line.....

Ham ko malum hay janat ki hakikat lekin
dil khush rakhney ko ghalib yeh khayal acha hay
http://nation.com.pk/national/01-Aug-2016/increased-trend-of-chinese-people-visiting-pakistan-report

 

[bananarepublic]

The last time they did this they deported all the people of subcontinent ethnicity as a result their economy collapsed
to all the indians most of the people who were deported due to these same reasons were mostly indians.