Africans marvel, fret at China's hard workers

By William Maclean

ALGIERS (Reuters) - An influx of workers from China is receiving a mixed reception in Africa, where people both admire and resent the hard-working newcomers' pursuit of wealth.

Awe at the efficiency with which Chinese build roads, run shops and manage factories is matched by unease at a growing Chinese presence in Africa's fragile labor markets.

Delight at cheap shirts, toys and shoes sits aside concern at the undercutting of local retailers, Africans told Reuters correspondents around the continent.

The ambivalent response poses a potential risk to China's push to win hearts and minds in Africa, a priority for Beijing amid Western accusations that it is cutting corners on labor and human rights' safeguards in its African investment drive.

Keen to address foreign investment sensitivities, African finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Mauritania on Aug 1 pledged greater transparency in their dealings with China and other new investors pouring money into the continent.

They stressed the importance of developing local skills and industries beyond the extraction of raw materials.

However, most African leaders show no reservations in welcoming the billions of dollars spent by China to gain African oil and minerals for its growing economy.

Algerian bricklayer Djamel Laari marvels at China's growing links to his country, once shunned by foreign investors due to an impenetrable bureaucracy and past political violence.

But he wonders about the Chinese practice of flying planeloads of laborers into a war-weary, politically fragile society where seven out of 10 adults under 30 has no job.

"Many Algerians are not happy with this, because those companies bring Chinese workers with them. This doesn't help us cope with unemployment," Laari said.

Algerian officials say the country had 19,000 Chinese workers in 2007, mostly builders and craftsmen implementing parts of a $200 billion national economic development plan. Some Algerians believe the real number is several times that.

"YOU MIGHT AS WELL COMMIT SUICIDE"

Two-way trade rose to $3.8 billion in 2007 from less than a billion in 2002, driven by a rise in Chinese exports to Algeria, which has won an estimated $1 billion in Chinese investment.

In neighboring Morocco, respect among retailers for Chinese mercantile determination is tainted with dismay over a slump in profit margins due to Chinese price competition, and over the willingness of Chinese to work for low pay.

Azzeddine Lahlou, who runs a boutique in Casablanca's Derb Omar district, said: "Many traders here can no longer afford even to pay for their children's education."