China, which stunned western companies by expanding its footprint in Africa in the past decade to fuel its economic boom, is curtailing that construction investment as its economy cools off, according to figures released last month. Market observers now are debating whether the falloff could open new opportunities for western firms.

China government officials said last month that the country’s investment fell 40% to $1.2 billion in the first half of 2015, while the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA)—made up of G20 countries and multinational lenders—said in a Nov. 9 report that Chinese financial commitment to African infrastructure declined to $3.09 blllion in 2014 from $13.9 billion the year before.

ICA说：“大幅减少……可能表明中国投资的重新校准，但这也反映了“没有大规模的道路和铁路项目，这在前几年引起了重大财务承诺。”18luck官网

China Premier Li Keqiang had promised last year to push investments in Africa to as much as $100 billion by 2020. “Sometimes it is difficult to be precise when it comes to Chinese financing for Africa’s infrastructure projects because much of it is never in the public domain,” says Anil Bhandari, a Nairobi-based consultant and former World Bank advisor on Africa infrastructure. He attributes the drop in foreign direct investment to “the tightness in liquid cash, fall in foreign reserves and general slowdown in the economy.

班达里（Bhandari）说，下降“不影响已经签署的融资项目，而可能会导致大幅延迟或取18luck官网消新的项目。”ICA表示，大约有70亿美元的中国2013年投资在肯尼亚和埃塞俄比亚铁路项目。18luck官网

And last year, two of the largest Chinese financial investments were in transport projects: the $875 million expansion of the port of Abidjan in Ivory Coast and the $700- million construction of the Khartoum International Airport in Sudan.

A clearer picture was set to emerge at the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation in Johannesburg in early December, at which Chinese President Xi Jinping was to announce infrastructure investments to reassure nervous African leaders, says Robert L. Kuhn, a business consultant and commentator on China’s government-owned television.

There are different views on whether reduced investments from China will help western construction companies, who had earlier lost out to Chinese competitors on the price front.

“This does present a major opportunity for European and other western firms who will expand their operations in sub-Saharan Africa,” Graham Robinson, director of the London-based market forecasting firm Global Construction Perspectives, told ENR. “Rapid urbanization has thrown up demand for high-end construction. On the other hand, African governments are encouraging public-private partnership because they are short of funds. Western companies have advantage in these segments.”

以色列承包商的经理经常与非洲的中国公司竞争，但要求匿名，他说回调的迹象将对其前景产生积极影响。

But Deborah Brautigam, a professor of international political economy at John Hopkins University and director of its China-Africa Research Initiative, is not so sure about the competitive advantage for western firms. “It will be some time still before western construction companies can compete with Chinese firms; salaries of western expatriates are still far higher than Chinese expats,” she says. “If western companies try to hire locally, they [often] find that other firms and aid agencies have bid up salaries for talented African managers and engineers.” Bautigam says Chinese construction activity in Africa “is not declining,” with firms signing $13 billion in contracts in the first half of 2015.

然而，知情的消息来源说，中国由于严重损失以及欧洲和拉丁美洲的新兴机会而重新评估了其非洲投资战略。

损失包括西非埃博拉病毒危机期间项目成本的激增，在2011年苏丹分手后被迫18luck.cub放弃投资，以及当年从利比亚（Libya）昂贵的紧急撤离。

一些分析人士仍然认为，减少的投资将在非洲避免基础设施的同时袭击采矿和能源部门。

同时，中国上周证实，它正在与吉布提（Jibouti）在东非的亚丁海湾（Gulf）进行对话，为海军建立了一个“物流中心”，以与海盗用和协助联合国监督海洋的努力。消息人士称，新基地还将帮助中国船只，人员和公司更好地访问非洲的偏远地区，并获得更多的商业和项目合同。

但是美国海军说，中国正试图为情报收集创造一个基础，并增强其在该地区的军事影响力。