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Angola's Chinese

Chinese workers in Angola
Crossing Continents
Thursday, 06 December 2007
At 1102 GMT on BBC Radio 4

Angola has rapidly transformed itself from a war-torn country to a big player in the oil business. Recently it became China's largest supplier of oil as well as China's biggest African trading partner.

Since 2004 the energy hungry China has provided billions of dollars of credit and shipped in tens of thousands of workers to rebuild the former Portuguese colony's shattered infrastructure.

But not everyone in Angola is happy about this burgeoning trade relationship.

Why are so many Chinese doing unskilled jobs there when Angola suffers from chronic unemployment? Why does the capital need a new airport and five star hotels when most people live in grinding poverty?

Lucy Ash hears from critics who claim that Chinese money has helped worsen Angola's notorious corruption.

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents will be broadcast on Thursday, 06 December 2007 at 1102 GMT. It will be repeated on Monday, 10 December 2007 at 2030 GMT

Reporter and Producer: Lucy Ash

Crossing Continents


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