Sea Change China, India & Africa in a New Century

Martin Walker, interviewed on MhZ's program Dialog, talked about his theory:

Chimea is a region you have probably never heard of. It is composed of China, India the Middle East and Africa. The Indian Ocean is its central trade route. Powered by the dynamic economic growth of China and India, “Chimea,” may become a leading trading bloc by mid-century. It is already making startling contributions to the development of Africa through trade and business deals. Martin Walker explains the potential impact of “Chimea” on the world economy.

As India and China take over more and more of the world's manufacturing, Africa's underexploited natural resources are going to be shipped to Asia. Walker, I think correctly, suggests that this will be an important emerging nexus of globalization in the 21st century.

He also suggests that the Chinese will be exporting their development model which combines coercive state power with a largely free market economy, and that this will be attractive to African oligarchs, who will want to retain power but get richer.

I was especially taken with his comment that the Bush administration has taken its eye off this critically important development that will have important political and economic implications for decades, because the administration is trying to figure out how to deal with the quagmire in Iraq and the Middle East (my words, not his).