The elements of power, p.50
The Elements of Power, page 50
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there were up to: Andrew Erickson and Gregory Collins, “Electric Bikes Are China’s Real Electric Vehicle Story,” China SignPost, November 7, 2011, chinasignpost.com/2011/11/07/electric-bikes-are-chinas-real-electric-vehicle-story/.
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e-bikes cost commuters: Erickson and Collins, “Electric Bikes Are China’s Real Electric Vehicle Story.”
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“For each mile traveled”: J. D. Goodman, “An Electric Boost for Bicyclists,” New York Times, January 31, 2010.
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“electric two-wheelers are so”: Akshat Rathi, “To Master Electric-Car Manufacturing, China Started with Bikes,” Quartz, December 14, 2018, qz.com/1495191/to-master-electric-car-manufacturing-china-started-with-bikes.
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had called “crossing the river”: The phrase is often attributed to Deng Xiaoping, but it in fact has its roots in a Chinese folk saying, “Crossing the river by feeling the stones—take a steady step, then take another step,” that was adopted by the Chinese revolutionary leader Chen Yun. “摸着石头过河”的” [The Origin of “Crossing the River by Feeling the Stones”], 人民网 [People’s Daily Online], April 12, 2018, cpc.people.com.cn/n1/2018/0412/c69113-29921565.html.
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Elon Musk may have scoffed: “Back in 2011 Tesla CEO Musk Mocked Chinese Competitor BYD,” video, Bloomberg, December 27, 2023, bloomberg.com/news/videos/2023-12-27/in-2011-tesla-ceo-musk-mocked-chinese-competitor-byd-video.
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Chapter 28: China’s Answer to Dr. Zee
“small upstart Chinese automaker”: Matt Hardigree, “Detroit Auto Show: World Exclusive Surreal, Illegal Test Drive of Chinese Hybrid Through Cobo Arena,” Jalopnik, January 15, 2008, jalopnik.com/detroit-auto-show-world-exclusive-surreal-illegal-tes-344806.
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BYD had grown: BYD Company Limited, Green Tech for Tomorrow, Annual Report 2008 (BYD Inc., 2009), 4.
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“green tech for tomorrow”: BYD Company Limited, Green Tech for Tomorrow, Annual Report 2008, 1.
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“Dr. Chuanfu is China’s”: Hardigree, “Detroit Auto Show.”
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Increased subsidies of: Elizabeth Economy, “China’s Round Two on Electric Cars: Will It Work?,” Council on Foreign Relations, April 17, 2014, cfr.org/blog/chinas-round-two-electric-cars-will-it-work.
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triple the annual: “Statistical Communiqué of the People’s Republic of China on the 2009 National Economic and Social Development,” National Bureau of Statistics of China, January 26, 2010, stats.gov.cn/english/NewsEvents/201002/t20100226_26295.html [inactive].
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government went even further: “车购税优惠政策延长 预计减免总额达5200亿元——精准施策助新能源汽车扩量提质” [The Extension of the Preferential Policy on Vehicle Purchase Tax Is Expected to Reduce and Exempt a Total Of 520 Billion Yuan—Precise Measures to Help New Energy Vehicles Expand And Improve Quality], China Government Network, June 25, 2023 https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/202306/content_6888094.htm#:~:text=%E8%B4%A2%E6%94%BF%E9%83%A8%E3%80%81%E7%A8%8E%E5%8A%A1%E6%80%BB%E5%B1%80%E3%80%81%E5%B7%A5%E4%B8%9A,%E5%8F%91%E5%B1%95%E7%9A%84%E9%87%8D%E8%A6%81%E6%94%BF%E7%AD%96%E5%B7%A5%E5%85%B7%E3%80%82.
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China produced only: “5,579 Electric Cars Sold in China in 2011,” REVE, January 16, 2012, evwind.es/2012/01/16/5579-electric-cars-sold-in-china-in-2011/15911.
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Among the plan’s: “CHINA: 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015) for National Economic and Social Development,” Asia Pacific Energy Portal, 2011, policy.asiapacificenergy.org/node/37.
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Such a figure: “New Energy Vehicles Enjoyed a High-Speed Growth,” China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, January 20, 2016, archived January 28, 2016, at web.archive.org/web/20160128212046/http://www.caam.org.cn/AutomotivesStatistics/20160120/1305184260.html.
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increase by 223 percent: James Ayre, “China Electric Car Sales Increased 223% in 2015,” EV Obsession, March 7, 2016, https://evobsession.com/1-4-china-auto-market-2015/.
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Three writers at: Christopher Marquis et al., “China’s Quest to Adopt Electric Vehicles,” Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2013, 53.
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to have been “dismal”: Economy, “China’s Round Two on Electric Cars.”
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home to two million: “EVs in China Will Account for 40% of Sales, 50 Million Vehicles and 200 TWh Demand in 2030,” Global Sustainable Electricity Partnership, globalelectricity.org/success-story/evs-in-china-will-account-for-40-of-sales-50-million-vehicles-and-200-twh-demand-in-2030/ [inactive].
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China was mandating: Nancy W. Stauffer, “China’s Transition to Electric Vehicles,” MIT News, April 29, 2021, news.mit.edu/2021/chinas-transition-electric-vehicles-0429.
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four times what the market: Daniel Ren, “Overcapacity in China’s EV Battery Industry to Reach Four Times Demand by 2025, Putting Small Players at Risk,” South China Morning Post, July 20, 2023. A gigawatt-hour is a billion watt-hours. Watt-hours are units that are used to express energy in relation to time. Therefore, in terms of batteries, a gigawatt-hour is the amount of energy that a set of batteries with the combined power of a gigawatt produce in an hour.
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Chorzempa blamed this: Martin Chorzempa, interview with the author, December 2022.
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34,637 charging points: Ross Lydall, “London to See Surge in Ultra-Rapid Charging Points for Electric Cars—As Experts Gather for Standard’s First Plug It In Summit,” Evening Standard, November 24, 2022.
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electric-vehicle dream: “Best EV Charging States in United States,” PlugShare, July 29, 2023, plugshare.com/directory/us.
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1.26 million electric: “Now We Know Who Is Really Buying Electric Vehicles in China,” Automotive News China, January 28, 2019.
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in a single month: Blagojce Krivevski, “China Is First Country to Sell Over a Million Electric Vehicles in a Month,” ElectricCarsReport, September 13, 2024, electriccarsreport.com/2024/09/china-is-first-country-to-sell-over-a-million-electric-vehicles-in-a-month/.
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“If its bet succeeds”: Akshat Rathi, “Five Things to Know About China’s Electric-Car Boom,” Quartz, January 8, 2019, qz.com/1517557/five-things-to-know-about-chinas-electric-car-boom.
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Chapter 29: The Deal of the Century
The president’s policy rested: The French slogan that Kabila used, “Cinq chantiers,” technically means “five construction sites,” but I have gone with a translation used in various reports of the time in order to better render the sense of Kabila’s words.
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“Congo will surprise”: Colette Braeckman, “Joseph Kabila: ‘Le Congo va surprendre, car il se redressera beaucoup plus vite que prévu,’ ” Le Soir, November 16, 2006.
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slow to materialize: China and Congo: Friends in Need (Global Witness, March 2011), 11, archiv.kongo-kinshasa.de/dokumente/ngo/gw_rep_0311_en.pdf.
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“There he discovered that China”: Jean Mpisi, La Sicomines (L’Harmattan, May 2020), 21.
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one of the more unpleasant: In 2011, I worked on a story involving these debts for The Guardian. It was my first time working on issues relating to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. See Greg Palast et al., “Vulture Funds Await Jersey Decision on Poor Countries’ Debts,” Guardian, November 15, 2011, theguardian.com/global-development/2011/nov/15/vulture-funds-jersey-decision.
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$6 billion infrastructure: Mpisi, La Sicomines, 119.
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tons of gold: Marie-France Cros, “RDC: Le contrat chinois est modifié,” La Libre, November 16, 2009.
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“We did not explain”: Barnabé Kikaya Bin Karubi, interview with the author, June 2025.
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Surprisingly for such: The Backchannel: State Capture and Bribery in Congo’s Deal of the Century (Sentry, November 2021), 7, thesentry.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/TheBackchannel-TheSentry-Nov2021.pdf.
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“working with babies”: Simon Clark et al., “China Lets Child Workers Die Digging in Congo Mines for Copper,” Bloomberg, July 23, 2008.
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company related to Huayou: “Chen Xuehua: Minor Metal, Big World,” Huayou Holding, March 18, 2019, en.huayouholding.com/news/503.html [inactive]. (Huayou declined to reply to questions for this book, but I include answers to a few questions put to Huayou during fact-checking for a piece I wrote for The New Yorker.)
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working as a minor: “的华友” [Advancing Huayou], Huayou Cobalt, huayou.com/about/culture/video/10.
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the company website explains: “Chen Xuehua: Minor Metal, Big World.”
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with $3.19 million: Si Chen, “The Emerging Role of Chinese Transnational Corporations as Non-State Actors in Transnational Labour Law: A Case Study of Huayou Cobalt in the Global Cobalt Supply Chain,” Journal of Asian Sociology 50, no. 1 (March 2021): 149.
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traditional homes connected: Scott Fagerstrom, “Tongxiang’s Humble Silkworm a Symbol of China’s Culture, Trade,” China Daily, April 17, 2019, chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2019-04/17/content_37459165.htm.
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“The source of raw”: “的华友” [Advancing Huayou].
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a $4 million loan: 2023 Semi-Annual Report of Huayou Cobalt (Huayou Cobalt, August 2023), 152–53.
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It also gave charitable: “Huayou ESG Series Report (Part 3): With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility,” Huayou Cobalt, huayou.com/news/corporate-news/127.html.
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almost $8.7 billion: “Steady Progress! Huayou Cobalt Continues Its Third Consecutive Year on China’s Top 500 Private Enterprises List,” Huayou Cobalt, October 22, 2024, huayou.com/en/news/corporate-news/256.
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“complete industrial chain”: “Chen Xuehua: Minor Metal, Big World.”
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“not develop sustainably”: “的华友” [Advancing Huayou].
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“Taking the flag over there”: Keep Moving Forward with Your Dreams: Huayou Cobalt 2023 Cultural Case Story Collection (Zhejiang Huayou, 2023), 67–69, online (Mandarin version) at yunzhan365.com/basic/51-100/34178235.html.
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“To be bestowed”: “的华友” [Advancing Huayou].
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always left the office: Keep Moving Forward with Your Dreams, 67–69.
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“domestic-garden-style residential areas”: Keep Moving Forward with Your Dreams, 68.
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“on the islands of Indonesia”: Keep Moving Forward with Your Dreams, 66.
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ideas about strength: Keep Moving Forward with Your Dreams, 60.
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“With the dream of lithium”: Keep Moving Forward with Your Dreams, 164.
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“a global leader in lithium-ion”: “的华友” [Advancing Huayou].
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Xi Jinping’s speeches and edicts: “Returning from Duty! Chairman Chen Xuehua Immediately Shares the ‘Good Voice’ of the Two Sessions,” Huayou Cobalt, March 21, 2024, huayou.com/en/news/corporate-news/173.
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“Huayou’s success is inseparable”: “的华友” [Advancing Huayou].
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Chen understood that: “Returning from Duty! Chairman Chen Xuehua Immediately Shares the ‘Good Voice’ of the Two Sessions.”
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“God rewards the diligent”: “Chen Xuehua: Minor Metal, Big World.”
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“The almost unanimous sentiment”: Mpisi, La Sicomines, 91.
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“a spanner in the works”: Le Monde, March 26, 2008, as cited in Mpisi, La Sicomines, 92.
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might be to Congo’s advantage: Stefaan Marysse and Sara Geenen, “Les contrats chinois en RDC: L’impérialisme rouge en marche?,” in L’Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire 2007–2008 (L’Harmattan), 311.
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China might saddle Congo: At the end of the negotiations, $3 billion was to be repaid at 4.4 percent interest, $2.3 billion at 6.1 percent interest, and $1.07 billion at 0 percent interest.
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would be difficult to sell: China and Congo: Friends in Need, 20.
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KCC was the result: Rebecca Bream, “A Bid for Front-Line Command in Africa,” Financial Times, November 7, 2007, ft.com/content/eec69b16-8d6e-11dc-a398-0000779fd2ac.
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“price to pay”: A State Affair: Privatizing Congo’s Copper Sector (Carter Center, November 2017), 44, cartercenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/congo-report-carter-center-nov-2017.pdf.
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Global Witness described: China and Congo: Friends in Need, 24.
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Du represented himself as: The Backchannel, 9.
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“shell company at the center”: The Backchannel, 3.
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the Lubumbashi jurist: Marcel Yabili, Chine-RD Congo, vol. 2, Il Manque un Détail! (Les Impliqués Éditeurs, 2022), 151.
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“the power behind the throne”: Cable “09KINSHASA1084_a,” U.S. Embassy Kinshasa, December 15, 2009, wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09KINSHASA1084_a.html.
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“the new universe”: Augustin Katumba Mwanke, Ma vérité (EPI, 2013), 196.
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“the President’s strategic constructions”: Katumba Mwanke, Ma verité, 198–99.
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catapulted out of his seat: Jonny Hogg, “Death of Kabila Deal-Maker Leaves Void in Congo,” Reuters, February 13, 2012.
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“Our friend is happy”: Gertner and Gertner v. Gertler, [Arbitration Award Before the Honorable Arbitrator, Judge (Ret.) Eitan Orenstein], Arb. Eitan Orenstein, April 22, 2024, 1,195.
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“I will have to help”: Plea Agreement, Exhibit 3 at 18, United States v. OZ Africa Management GP, LLC, 16-CR-515 (NGG) (E.D.N.Y. 2016), justice.gov/criminal/criminal-fraud/file/900276/dl?inline.
