China’s Ambassador to Uganda Wants to Show a Different Side of Chinese Labor Relations in Africa

China’s recently-arrived ambassador to Uganda, Zhang Lizhong, travelled to the central city of Kapeeka on Sunday to visit factories in the Liaoshen Industrial Park in what appears to be an effort, in part, to convey an alternative narrative to the one that’s become popular online in recent months about the maltreatment of local workers by Chinese managers.

The ambassador’s reference to “import substitution” is another interesting point that he raised in his Tweet given the enormous trade deficit the country currently runs with China. Uganda currently runs a billion-dollar trade deficit with China and exported just $39.1 million worth of goods to China last year.

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by Eric Olander

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