Fighting the Race to the Bottom: Regulating Chinese Investment in Zambian Mines

Abstract

Following the widespread privatisation of the Zambian copper mining sector in the 1990s, several state-owned companies from China began to invest in the country. While these companies have created jobs, built valuable infrastructure, and paid taxes to the government, China’s increasing presence in Zambia has also given rise to a number of concerns. Some Chinese mining companies have been accused of maintaining lax safety standards, paying low wages to local employees, and of physically abusing their workers. Critics allege that this has triggered a ‘race to the bottom’ in labour standards. Still, such a perspective runs the risk of being over simplistic, as it largely overlooks the agency of local actors. Show more