One Chinese was killed and two others were injured in labor clashes at the Chinese-owned Collum Coal Mine in Sinazongwe, Zambia's Southern Province, on August 4, 2012. This should be an alarm to all [Chinese] enterprises investing in Africa and make them reflect on the way they do business there, said Cheng Tao, Director of the Center for African Studies of China Foundation for International Studies, in a commentary he wrote for the Global Times.  Huang Shejiao, China's former Ambassador to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, expressed similar views in an interview with ChinAfrica. Excerpts of their opinions follow:

Currently, more than 2,000 Chinese enterprises have registered their operations in African countries. Most of these Chinese enterprises are law-abiding and profitable. They have created job opportunities for local people and contributed greatly to help increase local revenues and  improve local people's livelihood. It is just because of these that they have been able to stay there for a long time.

At the same time, however, labor disputes, like the one at Collum Coal Mine in Zambia, become more frequent as the number of Chinese enterprises starting business in Africa increases. These disputes have been newly-emerged issue facing China since 2000 when its economic growth grabbed the world attention.

In the mind of the Western countries, China should be always weak. When China emerges as an economic power in such a short time, they worry that China might be a threat, especially when Sino-African cooperation becomes deeper and broader. Some Western media exaggerated cases where local workers got low payment at smaller Chinese-owned businesses, with poor working conditions. 

These stories caused Africans to question why workers in Western countries could get a salary of $2,000 per month, while the Chinese were only paying them several hundred. They believed it was unfair and became dissatisfied with Chinese enterprises. In view of this discontent, the Chinese managers should have communicated better with their African employees to clear up such misconceptions.

In addition, with China's fast development, African people have higher expectations of China. They believe that as China is now the second largest economy in the world and begins to offer help to Europe, it should give them more aid. If it failed to do so, they would think China is no longer as generous as it was before. Therefore, Chinese enterprises should make Africans aware that all enterprises are profit-oriented and only win-win cooperation is sustainable.

One other situation many Chinese investors have not adapted to is the change in cooperation partners. China-Africa cooperation used to maintain at government-to-government level. Currently, however, non-governmental organizations are playing a greater role. In Africa, opposition parties, NGOs and trade unions are becoming more active. Some Chinese investors in Africa still value their relationship with local governments more than relationships with local society and their employees. Many Chinese managers don't feel like communicating with their African workers. One reason is because they don't think there is a need as they believe in "just doing as you are told as I'm your boss." Another reason is that they don't speak local languages, even though many have been there for years. This refrains them from getting familiar with local cultures, customs and religions, which in turn leads to misunderstandings, contradictions and even conflicts.

Besides, some Chinese enterprises are not conversant with local laws and regulations and African people's way of thinking. Some also ignore the differences in cultures, customs and religions. For example, it is common for Chinese to work overtime, but Africans think it is a violation of their human rights even if they get paid for extra overtime. They cannot get used to Chinese companies' strict management style or the fast-paced and stressful working method.

Admittedly, there are some inappropriate behaviors by the Chinese as the quality of those Chinese enterprises doing business in Africa varies considerably. Some blindly pursue instant profits and pay insufficient attention to working conditions and welfare, spoiling the overall image of Chinese enterprises.

Besides this, there are many Chinese enterprises doing well in Africa and are welcomed by locals, such as Huawei and ZTE. They are making great efforts to anchor themselves to the local community. They have helped with local capacity-building by recruiting more local workers, and training and promoting more local staff to management positions.

Compared with European investors, Chinese are more competitive as their investments are attached to no political conditions and are based on equality and mutual benefits. Hopefully, Chinese enterprises will focus more on long-term interests rather than short-term gains, localize their business to be integrated with local communities, and give more back to local society. At the same time, the government should encourage Chinese enterprises in Africa to pay more attention to their conduct, behaving well and changing their ways of doing business. After all, regional conflicts will damage the overall image of Chinese enterprises.