Friday, October 16, 2009

Quote in IPS on Guinea-China

I am quoted today in the IPS story "Deal with Guinea Raises Questions About Chinese Role":
As far as deals with the U.S. government are concerned, it is frustrating for some in Washington to see the no-strings-attached deals being made with Beijing. The Guinea deals, however, as private agreements with a corporation, may not present a particularly special or troubling situation. "I don't really see it as a major concern for the U.S.," said David Shinn, a former ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso currently working on a book on Chinese-African relations. "If the Chinese are the only ones that are going to go in and do these deals, then so be it." The major issue with the deal, as Shinn sees it, is its role in "helping to prop up a Guinean government that is being subjected to a lot of criticism in the world right now."