Before 2003 international fixed-line price remained constant
Before 2003 international fixed-line price remained constant, but then through a devaluation of the Ethiopian currency, local and international fixed-line tariffs were brought down in U.S.\$ terms.\\ Although a devaluation has happened, inhabitants claim to pay high prices ranging from U.S.\$2 to U.S.\$5 for international calls lasting 3-5 minutes.\\ China has managed to expand the broadband network in Ethiopia, raised the penetration rates, but the fact that the monopolistic Ethio Telecom and its prices are not cost-oriented instead are set arbitrarily forces the inhabitants to pay in excess for all services (Dr Adam, 2012)\cite{ICTinEthiopia}.\\ China is for one thing used to enterprises like Ethio Telecom that are state-owned companies due to similar circumstances such as state-holding enterprises in their country.\\ Accordingly, the influence of China in the Ethiopian ICT sector was positive because the penetration has increased and will further increase, plus the broadband network in Ethiopia has technologically advanced due to projects obtaining infrastructural enhancements.\\ A sector like ICT can always be connected to opportunities like job vacancies for inhabitants meaning the homepage of Ethio telecom is always looking for young qualified applicants.\\ At the website itself, key responsibilities and required qualifications of applicants are displayed quite professionally comparable with developed countries.\\ According to the world bank findings concerning trends in Ethiopia’s dynamic labour market, since 1999, the overall labour force participation rate in Ethiopia has increased, including women in the workforce realizing a jump of 6 \% points from 71.9 to 77.8 \% by 2013 (Golubski, 2016)\cite{TrendsinEthiopia}. \\
\subsection{Infrastructure growth as the determinant of FDI}
To fairly evaluate the allocation of Chinese development assistance considered as direct investment, we initially look at the aid projects which have already been completed over the last years. \\ Starting with the China Associate (Group) Co., Ltd., which is specialized in pharmaceutical manufacturing and trading business.\\ This firm was initially founded as a joint venture by 78 Chinese pharmaceutical factories conclusively represented by 48 factories as shareholders (Sino-Ethiop Associate, 2016) \cite{SinoEthiopa}.\\ Over the last 20 years, these Chinese companies have strengthened business connections with pharmaceutical companies based in Ethiopia. \\ Even though China is not part of the OECD and, on top of that, it does not participate in the OECD Reporting System, various datasets can be retrieved to figure out how the Chinese play a significant role in the development of Ethiopia’s infrastructure.\\
The first completed aid project taken out from the database was collected from the Ministry of Commerce in China. \\ Interestingly is that the Chinese community is vastly growing due to actions from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa (Geiger, 2012) \cite{WorldBank:2012}. \\ Compared to a lot of east African countries, the infrastructure in Ethiopia is quite advanced thanks to several projects initiated by the Chinese such as the 470-mile electric railway starting from the capital city Addis Ababa to the port of the neighbouring state of Djibouti. \\ This was a specific contribution of the Chinese covering a 2.5bn dollar project financed by a Chinese bank and constructed by Chinese companies fostering the public transportation system in Ethiopia.\\ According to Reuters, China and Ethiopia had agreed on restructuring a railway loan linking the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with the neighbouring country Djibouti (Reuters, 2018) \cite{EthiopiaRailway}. \\ In a regular exchange between the Counselor Office of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the Ethiopian Agriculture Works Corporation, it is considered to be an essential commodity that has already been in place, and further add-on projects will be planned Ministry of Commerce People’s Republic of China, 2019) \cite{Chinesebuiltrailway}. \\ It is a milestone for the East African country because this infrastructure program is considered as the first electrified transnational railway in Africa providing services such as transport of commodities or the opportunity for tourists using convenient public transportations.\\
Analog to the electrified transnational railway, the topic of obtainable electricity remains to be part of the infrastructural growth of Ethiopia.\\ An Enterprise Survey data is going to assess what the Chinese firms contribute towards the region of Sub-Saharan Africa in terms of enhancing the electricity condition. \\ In this survey, business owners and top managers of several firms were interviewed, capturing different topics disrupting the development in Ethiopia. As an appropriate indicator within the study, the percentage of “electric shortages” in Ethiopia is going to be reflected and confronted with Sub-Saharan Africa.
\begin{table}[H]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{pics/tabelle6.pdf}
\caption[Enterprise Survey on Ethiopian Infrastructure]{Enterprise Survey on Ethiopian Infrastructure (World Bank, 2015) \cite{Enterprisesurvey}}
\label{fig:example}
\end{table}
After reviewing the table, it is evident that the percentage of firms based in Ethiopia experiencing electrical outages is tremendously high, stating 80\%. \\ Following these electrical outages are also affecting the annual sales of firms in Ethiopia, especially for firms mainly relying on electricity.\\ This issue of having electrical outages belongs to the daily issues of both Ethiopian companies and the inhabitants facing it. In the next table, electric outages influencing business in Ethiopia will be shown, followed by the intentions of the Chinese fixing arising problems.\\
In line with these infrastructural issues, the State Grid Corporation of China recently announced to invest another 1.8 billion dollars in Ethiopia’s electricity transmission (GCR, 2019)\cite{Ethiopiapowergrid}. \\Although, not all electric installations \& the population can be compensated in Ethiopia, whose demand for power is approximately 30\% per year. \\ Nevertheless, this investment is undoubtedly the right approach to ensure and foster infrastructural growth in Ethiopia.\\ So far, Ethiopia managed to develop 60 gigawatts of renewable energy and has about 4.5 gigawatts of installed capacity covering a population of more than 100 million citizens. As a comparison, Germany uses 60 gigawatts of renewable energy, showing that Ethiopia took significant steps to decrease infrastructural issues and sustain energy access. \\ A further consequence of avoiding electricity shortages is the method of rationing electricity of homes and industries in Ethiopia. \\ China invests in quite long-term and likewise sophisticated projects; however, the basics need to be fulfilled by the Ethiopians.\\ Therefore, electrical applications need to operate smoothly to make projects like the electric railway perform flawlessly and contribute towards infrastructural advances of Ethiopia. \\ According to Reuters and the source Xinhua, a Chinese newspaper article, the rationing of electricity has already been started in Ethiopia (Reuters, 2019) \cite{Ethiopiaenergydeficit}.\\ Due to an incident this year wherein ongoing energy shortage in hydroelectric dams led to production issues, a strategic plan concerning electric savings was created.\\ Here again, we are referring to the results of the survey depicting the average duration of having an electrical outage, which appeared to be almost 6 hours.\\ Having a generator wherein electricity has been saved over a couple of months, a job, or many projects depending on electricity can still be continued and executed.\\
Besides, Ethiopia benefits from saving electricity with the help of a generator, such as selling a surplus of electricity to neighboring countries or even countries that seek electrical accessibility.\\ This method can be considered as a profit-seeking way of dealing with countries all over the African continent and evolving to a significant player as a distributor of electricity and power grids. \\ A hydroelectric dam not only needs to maintain electrical accessibility and connection but also water, which is the main component to launch projects and long-term businesses. \\ However, for Ethiopia being a third world country, water as a natural resource is barely adequate.\\ As the indicator percent of firms experiencing “water insufficiencies” in the table illustrates, it lies at 80\%, which is certainly a drawback for long-term projects and the potential progress of the East-African country.
\begin{table}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{pics/tabelle7.pdf}
\caption[Enterprise on Ethiopian infrastructure ]{Enterprise on Ethiopian infrastructure (World Bank, 2015) \cite{Enterprisesurvey}}
\label{fig:example}
\end{table}
The Export-Import Bank of China is funding for a cross-border water project, including Ethiopia and its neighbouring country Djibouti, once again (Xinhua, 2019) \cite{Chinesefund}. \\ This project was planned in 2003, and it took a while until it was underway. \\ After a severe start in 2003 and a strict loan agreement between the Chinese, the Ethiopian, and its neighbouring country Djibouti, in 2015, the cross-border water project was implemented.\\ Following this, a water pipeline from Ethiopia to Djibouti was built, offering a volume of 100,000 cubic meters of drinking water.\\
Thus, the cross-border project aligns with the Ethiopian trading business, wherein a correlation exists, increasing the country’s productivity. \ref{Thesis3} \\
This whole project will give Ethiopia a huge advantage in their current economic situation, boosting the agriculture sector and other respective sectors. \\ In other words, the access to essential resources such as electricity and water needed for pharmaceutical projects and projects determine the level of infrastructure and their linkage to natural resources\\ The Chinese consider building huge projects, and once infrastructural issues are solved, thus would imply to get better access to natural resources.\\
In CCTV news, a resident of Ethiopia’s capital city mentions the positive takeaways of the cross-border water project.\\ She is saying before the water project was implemented, there were only 2-3 times access to water.\\ Now, after the implementation, residents use the access to water for essential tasks in household work and other essential duties of life where water is vitally important.\\
This helps the residents using water for essential tasks in household work and other essential duties of life.\\ The effect of cross-border trade in general for Ethiopia will be measured through the National Bank of Ethiopia, wherein researchers used time-series data on the Export and Import of Ethiopia with its neighbours during different periods.\\ The total export value of Ethiopia that also comes with cross-border trade amounts 2.2 billion dollars and imported 8 billion dollars, resulting in a negative trade balance of 5.8 billion dollars (0EC, 2017) \cite{Ethiopiaprofile}.\\ The cross-border project did affect Ethiopia in their bilateral trade by the time the project was implemented in 2015 until now.\\ As China became the primary recipient for resources after efforts in the enhancement of value chain components had been made, the export of essential resources like coffee and sesame increased.\\ The project is part of Ethiopia’s economic development; the most recent exports are led by coffee, which represents 32.5\% of the total exports of Ethiopia, followed by sesame seeds accounting for 15.9\%.\\ Not only will the number of exports increase, but also trades with neighbouring countries across the East African area will rise.\\ The used method of China establishing military bases around Ethiopia’s neighbouring countries did affect cross-border trades over the last years. Due to China’s involvement in controlling cross-border trades by securing a smooth flow of trade, Ethiopia earns 290 million U.S. dollars from energy export in 2019 after the electricity transmission, and distribution line was completed (Zelalem, 2018) \cite{Ethiopiaboosting}.\\ Not only resources like electricity and water ensure sustainable economics but also ensuring sustainable peace with its neighbouring countries Kenya, South Sudan, or Djibouti are vital measurements because many Chinese projects have the intention to connect Ethiopia with its neighbours.\\ In a cross-border project, the intention is still to enhance bargaining among several business partners wherein Ethiopia earns approximately about 80 million U.S. dollars of revenue by selling 100 megawatts energy to Sudan conclusively 80 megawatts of energy to Djibouti (Zelalem, 2018) \cite{Ethiopiaboosting}.\\ There are still instabilities and repetitive civil wars in areas like South Sudan, but the effect of cross-border trade is visible and has a significant effect on Ethiopia’s economic development.\\ Even though Ethiopia is considered an underdeveloped country, it ranks as the 129th largest export economy in the world, which is a great achievement for a threshold country (0EC, 2017) \cite{Ethiopiaprofile}.
\subsection{GDP as the determinant of FDI and further measurements}
In 1995, around 35 million Ethiopians, approximately 60\% of the population, were living in extreme poverty at the threshold of 1.25 dollars per day at purchasing power parity (PPP) (Deloitte, 2014) [p.13] \cite{Ethiopiagrowth}.\\ The PPP GNI, also known as gross national income converted to the international dollar using purchasing power parity rates, is an important measure to comprehend Ethiopia’s economic development and spending capacity.\\ After Chinese involvement over the last decade, Ethiopia has succeeded in reducing the amount of poverty, even though the population has increased from 57 million to 83 million.\\ It is often stated that Ethiopia belongs to the 20 fastest growing economies, which will be measured by the GDP per capita (PPP).\\ With the help of the International Monetary Fund, the development of Ethiopia’s GDP per capital can be traced and respectively measured.\\ As already mentioned in the previous chapter, bilateral trade started in 1992, where many Chinese projects had the status of being “pre-implemented,” but the ones which have been implemented were around 2012 up to nowadays.\\ Analog to a global database, which strongly partners up with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, it is stated that PPP data was reported at a record low of 18,050.923 Intl (international) million dollars in 1992 (Ceicdata, 2018)\cite{EthiopiaET}.\\ Interestingly is that during 1992 no real project was implemented; instead, bilateral negotiations were underway between China and Ethiopia, and from Ethiopia’s perspective, no targeted investment had been conducted.\\
The evolvement of GDP per capita for Ethiopia stagnated in the late ’90s due to the after-war impact, also in the subsequent years, Ethiopia did not perform better than other African countries, even though GDP in general increased. Interestingly, here is how did the GDP per capita develop compared to other African countries, with identical conditions, including potential Chinese investments?
\begin{figure}[H]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{pics/GDPpercapita.pdf}
\caption[GDP per capita in select African countries]{GDP per capita in select African countries, GDP in U.S. \$ multiplied by factor 10} (Trines, 2018) \cite{EducationinEthiopia}
\label{fig:example}
\end{figure}
The graph shows how Ethiopia’s GDP per capita performed below average compared to other African countries from early 2000 until 2017.\\
To analyze the GDP per capita is part of the evolution because analogue to most of the results, Ethiopia’s GDP is growing. Following this, GDP per capita suits to see if inhabitants get wealthier.\\
In numbers, Ethiopia has stated approximately an average of 735 \$ as GDP per capita, whereas neighboring countries like Kenya or Nigeria have twice as much on average GDP (Countryeconomy, 2018) \cite{CountrycomparisonGDP}.\\One of the reasons implies how Ethiopia has lost plenty of workforce within the last 10-15 years. In articles and news, it is often mentioned that lots of Ethiopians flee out of the country to seek better educations opportunities, resulting in better living standards.\\ The UN Refugee Agency has always dealt with the issue of Ethiopian leaving the country and how high the number of Ethiopian refugees in another country is.\\If that is the case, then there is a correlation between GDP per capita in the country, education, and employment opportunities.\\Analog to the Ethiopian history of long-lasting wars and political instabilities, lots of professionals used to escape the country.\\ Moreover, many young Ethiopians seek asylum in the Western world to get educated by reformed universities.\\ They do believe that studying abroad opens more job opportunities, having a brighter future.\\ The fact that Ethiopia had never been colonized, no Western education has been used as fundament to create a further education system that simplifies the argument of Ethiopian studying abroad.\\ Before, all educational systems in Ethiopia were religiously based, meaning only public church schools did offer education to students with religious assimilation (Trines, 2018) \cite{EducationinEthiopia}.\\
Through external influences, other African countries already had educational facilities where manpower was kept and further used to increase GDP per capita annually.\\ Consequently, the more educated people or in general people leave the country, the less workforce will be provided, leading to decreases in GDP per capita, visible in the graph.\\ Following the specific refinements and advances that Chinas has made to enhance Ethiopia’s status quo, the GDP per capita and its weak performance do belong to the past.\\ With China’s projects plan, foreign direct investment within the “special economic zones,” many opportunities have been created, and further are going to evolve.\\ Referring to the evolution of FDI and new opportunities that have been created, with the support of China to get access to essential resources and make use of it to foster the country, fewer people leave the country.\\ This can be measured through the fact that China managed to offer plenty of university partnerships; hence the number of Ethiopians students enrolled in a degree, and non-degree programs in China tripled from 2011 to 2829 in 2016 (Trines, 2018) \cite{EducationinEthiopia}.\\ According to the program, these people will get back to their country to make use of their competence and expertise than can both kept and spread around the country.\\
The country has maintained relatively steady economic growth averaging 10.6\% GDP growth per year between 2005 and 2015 \cite{EthiopiasannualGDP}.\\In 2017, the data reached an all-time high of 198,104.479 Intl million dollars. The world bank analysis states that industry mainly construction and services, also represented in the Ethiopian Industrial Zone set up by the Chinese, do contribute the most in the increase of GDP (World Bank, 2019) \cite{WorldBankinEthiopia}. Followed by a strong broadband growth averaging 9,9\% during 2007 to 2017/2018, which is double compared to a regional average of approximately 5,4\% (World Bank, 2019) \cite{WorldBankinEthiopia}.\\ Corresponding to the overall growth of Ethiopia’s economy, real gross domestic product growth has risen to 7.7\% in 2017/2018 due to increased private consumption and public investment (World Bank, 2019) \cite{WorldBankinEthiopia}.\\ Ethiopia has boosted its overall growth by laying the foundations for achieving middle-income status in the following years.\\ Especially the public sector increases a lot concerning the GDP due to several projects with China, where the Ethiopian public expenditure rose extremely (World Bank, 2013) \cite{WorldBankEthiopiaEconomicUpdate}.\\ From the early 90’s to the 21st, a huge transition has happened, increasing GDP per capita more than fivefold, from 136 U.S. dollars to 768 U.S. dollars (World Bank, 2013) \cite{WorldBankinEthiopia}.\\
High costly projects where credits are needed to finance public capital outlays have increased the most. Public investment and consumption are key elements of the Growth and Transformation Plan, wherein the focus lies on ensuring rapid and sustainable growth by developing and implementing mega-projects consisting of different sectors.\\
Nevertheless, in the evolution of foreign direct investment, including all investments for new and upcoming projects, the national debt of Ethiopia has increased to around 43.97 billion in 2018, which signifies 59\% of GDP (Statista, 2013) \cite{Ethiopianationaldebt}.\\With more involvement of Chinese in Ethiopia, investments will undoubtedly increase, meaning that the national debt raises proportionally.\\ For an emerging country, the relation from national debt to GDP growth is quite essential, wherein Ethiopia is facing a tremendous amount of debt.\\ The repayment risks of Ethiopia are increasing, hence leading to the decision of China, reducing the scale of investment, and consequently extending the repayment period.\\ Still, there is no other way except for operating in red to achieve the desirable middle-income status, including a better living standard.\\ In 2018, Ethiopia became the first country in Africa that is capable of restructuring its Chinese debt (Olingo, 2018) \cite{EthiopiabagsChinadebtdeal}.\\ According to this, many other discussions about national debt increase and repayment risks between China and Ethiopia are being held, avoiding the further accumulation of debts.\\ Additionally, there is high inflation and limited access to foreign exchange that undermines the expansion of private consumption; both will ease in the future (Coface for Trade, 2019) \cite{Riskassessment}.\\ The more jobs will be created, and people correspondingly employed, the lower the poverty rate, and to that effect, the higher the private consumption in Ethiopia. With that being said, in early 2000, Ethiopia had one of the highest poverty rates in the world, marking 44\%, according to the WorldBank (World Bank, 2014) \cite{EthiopiaPovertyAssessment}.\\ After the expansion of infrastructural areas and cooperating with several Chinese manufacturing companies, the proportion of people living below the national poverty line has reduced to approximately 25\% nowadays, and the share of the population without education has also reduced from 70\% to 50\% (World Bank, 2014) \cite{EthiopiaPovertyAssessment}.\\ Referring to the Chinese investments including its assisting fields such as infrastructure growth, FDI, information, and communication technology living standards measured by electricity, piped water and water in residence have improved from 2000 to 2011 immensely, which are part of China’s strategy in extending the soft power in Ethiopia.\\ One effect that comes with increasing economic growth is to educate people to reduce poverty both in urban and rural areas by also influencing Ethiopian elites.\\ In February 2010, the so-called Confucius Institute based at the Ethio-China Polytechnic College offered free training to 24 Ethiopian diplomats and officials from 19 different ministries (Cabestan, 2012) \cite{ChinaandEthiopiaAuthoritarian}.\\ Subsequently, in 2011, the Confucius Institute started cooperating with further Ethiopian universities by providing Chinese language teaching centers. As a result, the number of trained students rose by 47 to 118 in 2008 (Thakur, 2009) [p.12] \cite{Thakur:2009}.\\ The effect here is that students expand their scope of knowledge and once they have a certain degree of education, they offer free teaching to others with eager to learn in universities on diverse fields such as agronomy, sports, and information technology including a special payment of 200 dollars per month (Kenneth, 2011) \cite{ChinasCooperationwithEthiopia}.\\
This gives an incentive to learn from the experts, induce knowledge of exchange among adaptive students so that everyone is going to benefit from it.\\
In the early 1990s, there were no public universities, and nowadays the number of public universities increased to 30, including the number of private universities, also known as higher education institutions, rose to 60 (Trines, 2018) \cite{EducationinEthiopia}.\\ All these partnerships between China and Ethiopia are based on behalf of the Ethiopian education system that fosters the country these days to be sophisticated and less dependent on experts from abroad.\\
Overall, Ethiopia’s GDP in numbers grew, but many factors must be considered and analyzed, such as workforce, educational level, and know-how transfer to describe a country’s development.\\
Following this, China’s face-to-face training and a high amount of newly established universities and schools must consider both inhabitants living in urban and rural areas.\\ A precise balance must be provided to keep the labor force in the country and perform better than neighboring countries.\\ According to the World Bank and World Education Reviews, 72 \% of surveyed students were on full scholarships and another 11 percent on partial stipends that enable students coming from low-income backgrounds to witness the active promotion of China’s academic exchange with Ethiopia in schools and universities (Trines, 2018) \cite{EducationinEthiopia}.
\section{Results of Case Study}
The fact that the so-called “special economic zone,” also known as EIZ, plays a significant role in the development of foreign direct investment, the opinion survey reflects information about the operations of EIZ-based companies and the current sentiment of local employees.
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{pics/CaseStudyEIZ.pdf}
\caption[Opinion survey in EIZ, own creation based on China-Africa Research Initiative]{Opinion survey in EIZ, own creation based on China-Africa Research Initiative} (Ding, 2018) \cite{Ding}
\label{fig:example}
\end{table}
As in one of the previous chapters mentioned, 204 local employees within the EIZ got interviewed, see section (\ref{case}).\\ The fact that the Ethiopian Industrial Zone is divided into different sectors, zone developers/operators (n=12) working in the construction sector and resident enterprises (n=192), working in the manufacturing sector got interviewed (Ding, 2018) \cite{Ding}.\\
Among the 204 employees, 142 are male, and 62 are female, considering that not all female employees were interested in getting interviewed, or they were exhausted from work (Ding, 2018) \cite{Ding}.\\In China and the western world, the proportion of men working in industrial zones is also higher than female, even so at least 1/3 of 204 that have been employed were female.\\ In developing countries, the roles between men and women are clearly defined, meaning men tend to work physically, and women are responsible for the household. The Chinese-based companies do take applications of both genders seriously, resulting in equal job opportunities as 1/3 of all surveyed employees are female.\\ According to the table, the age band ranges between 16 and 28. Especially the youth is responsible for economic development in Ethiopia, as the majority start at young ages.\\ In 2016, the EIZ managed to settle in 64 enterprises, of which 31 are already in operation (Ding, 2018) [p.11]\cite{Ding}.Therefore, the target group is young Ethiopians who shape the country’s economic development. According to the evaluated survey, 80 \% of the surveyed employees, meaning 163 started their first job in the EIZ (Ding, 2018) [p.15] \cite{Ding}. Only 34 made the experience from other Chinese companies having a short-term contract, and sixteen personas worked for an Ethiopian company apart from the industrial zone.\\
By the demographics of educational achievement, the contribution of EIZ to the employment is displayed. Approximately 10\% out of 204 started their first job after finishing primary school in the EIZ, wherein the highest number of laborers, stating 70 who had been interviewed, were graduates from secondary school, together with universities offering dual education system, stating 90 laborers.\\ This is a way of working and parallel studying, which is an excellent opportunity to combine theory and practice at once.\\ In the industry sector, a Chinese based company called Yangfan Motors, displaying a car assembler that has recruited several students majoring in mechanical engineering as interns (Ding, 2018) [p.15] \cite{Ding}.\\ According to the numbers, the Chinese-based companies do make demands in terms of application requirements.\\ The recruitment process works through job advertisements, and respective face-to-face interviews (Ding, 2018) [p.15] \cite{Ding}.\\Employees with a bachelor’s or master’s degree have a higher chance of getting hired than applicants with a less value degree or even no degree. In addition to this, the effort of doing know-how transfer will be reduced once more students apply for the job fulfilling the requirement.\\ For all sectors, within the regular working week, training sessions are provided by Chinese. A company like Linde Garment that is exporting to European markets, higher quality standard is expected; thus, longer training sessions for local employees are provided (Ding, 2018) [p.15] \cite{Ding}.\\This is one of the reasons why a few of the interviewed employees got exhausted because the training sessions were considerably long.\\This reflects how China is using its approach to train themselves and what brought them to the top, wherein sacrifices are inevitable. Nevertheless, out of all the interviewed workers, training was considered helpful, including all skills transfer. The Ethiopians evaluated Chinese expertise as very competent in professional skills (Ding, 2018) [p.20] \cite{Ding}.\\
The working conditions vary from sector to sector, meaning employees in the service sector work the most, on average 10.6 hours followed by workers in the manufacturing industry working from 9.5-10.1 hours per day (Ding, 2018) [p.15] \cite{Ding}.\\Most of the surveyed employees did not complain about poor working conditions, more about the fact that the salary is not enough to cover household expenses, predominately in apartments around the EIZ (Ding, 2018) [p.22] \cite{Ding}.\\ Therefore many Ethiopian employees tend to live outside the “special economic zone,” at affordable rent prices.\\ Most of the companies in the EIZ with large numbers of workers tend to provide transportation such as shuttle buses waiting for the employees outside their firm (Ding, 2018) [p.17] \cite{Ding}.\\ The largest employer in the EIZ is in the manufacturing sector, namely Huajian International Shoe City (Ding, 2018) [p.15] \cite{Ding}.\\ In general, the interview is not covering the whole labor force in the EIZ. However, the manufacturing company is recruiting most workers depicting a disadvantage in terms of diversification of work.\\ In other words, the level of competition is higher, resulting in job shortages.\\ Hence, EIZ is already representing different sectors; however, other companies from various sectors must also recruit employees to diversify correctly, meaning a high job variety provided. Out of all interviewed employees, the feedback was positive, even though improvement in terms of job diversification, increase in wages, and the goal of the work-life balance must be undertaken.\\ It is well established that, Chinese tend to have a different mentality in teaching, where on the hand, this “special economic zone” led to their economic takeoff and rapid urbanization, and on the other hand, more time is needed for some Ethiopians adopt China’s mentality fully.\\ Ethiopia, as a country, is going to benefit from it; thus, more jobs will be provided, and inhabitants help to develop their country with the support of China.
\section{Comparison of Literature}
After reviewing and analyzing all economic, diplomatic, and strategic approaches, including the respective contribution, the positive aspects of China’s influence do outweigh the negatives referring to the development of Ethiopia.\\
Nevertheless, the exciting part is how different perspective perceives the Sino-Ethiopian relation, thus leading to a more concrete statement about how the influence of the Chinese on Ethiopia can be evaluated.\\ Various angles show how affected countries adapt to changes and if there is a real benefit out of it or rather a propagandized reaction of either the Chinese, Ethiopia itself, or the western world.
\subsection{Western perspective}
Back in the year 2015, it was a quite memorable speech from former U.S. president, Barack Obama in Ethiopia addressing the delegation at the organization’s new headquarter built and financed by Chinese.\\ After the announcement of Chinese premier Li Keqiang saying that he expects a trading volume for Ethiopia of approximately 100 billion dollars (Mohammed et al., 2015) \cite{Westinshadow}.\\ Both empowered countries, the U.S. and China were competing for more influence in Ethiopia. According to a profound article by “Quartz Africa,” China has already put more activities in a place surrounded by vast amounts of investments.\\ The fact that China and Ethiopia share many similarities, the article insists that this relieves trade relations and further cooperative activities. The very first beginning of approaches happened when both imperial backgrounds ended, and both countries became republics. Both countries witnessed an era of imperial history where already a few formal diplomatic relations between countries were established.\\ Western sources claim that it displays one of the aspects why China can incorporate businesses with Ethiopia a lot easier than the countries located in the Western world. As stated in the Business Day article: “Both countries feel secure about their pasts and have a defined vision for their futures (Cowen, 2018) [\ldots] “\cite{EthiopiaChinafast-growingeconomy}.\\ As the article emphasizes, both countries share similarities that are attributable to their history, including the change of regime, the historical kingdoms, and dynasties both have witnessed and represented. Visitors go to each of both countries and pay homage to the people being in charge decades ago. Once people show interest in the historical background of both countries, they might recognize how Ethiopia and China share similarities and that a certain historical connection between them exists.\\
Indeed, in the same article, issues are being mentioned which aggravate Chinese joint venture projects in Ethiopia.\\ Affected is the ICT sector, which is one of the assisting fields of China regarding their foreign direct investment. The expansion of the network in the country is underway, and connection to other countries via the social platform, for example, has been improved through the support of China. Nevertheless, Ethiopia’s internet is among the least free in the world, as outlined in the “Quartz Africa” article (Kou, 2016) \cite{OnlyChinaSyriaandIranrankworsethanEthiopia}.\\ A nonprofit organization called Freedom house has ranked Ethiopia ahead of only Iran, Syria and China, out of 65 countries concerning access to the internet and release of country-specific information.\\ Compared to all other countries in the continent, Ethiopia has positioned itself as the worst of any. Anti-government protests are blamed for this poor ranking. The Western world gained the most attention when an Ethiopian marathon runner made up a gesture used by protesters at the Olympics. \\ As a consequence, Ethiopian authorities have shut down all connections on social media, mobile, and internet platforms. According to the Western world, this is depicting a risky situation because an over and over six-month state of emergency has been declared, imposing a ban where no posts or access to information about the protests on social media are allowed. In addition to that, counter-terrorism laws have been passed, putting pressure on journalists and are even sentencing journalists who post or spread country-specific information. Additionally, most of the Western articles claim that the government-owned EthioTelecom uses its monopoly on internet access, which is limiting access to telecommunication for people living in rural areas. According to the “Quartz Africa” article, Chinese investment in the International Communication and Technology sector is only helping EthioTelecom maintaining its hold on the sector and continue censoring and surveilling citizens (Mohammed et al., 2015) \cite{Westinshadow}.\\ Starting with the youth as a target group because they tend to leave the country it is most likely the young generation.\\ The guardian has analyzed that almost 200 young Ethiopians across the Red Sea in circumstances of aggravation to reach the Gulf because they see no hope in their country due to political insecurity and lack of job possibilities (The Guardian, 2018) \cite{Deadlyjourneys}.\\ China offers Ethiopian youth to get scholarships when considering studying in China.\\ The students will be selected through a Confucius Institute, a Chinese government-affiliated language and culture center being established in Ethiopia. On top of that, Chinese companies provide the construction, foster telecommunication network, and equipment for Ethiopians.\\ This Western article implies that China already stands for an alternative to the West and that China’s position in the country seems to be deep-seated. The Western views state that China is going to benefit from all partnerships and long-term plans provided to Ethiopia; however, the Western world must react if they want to catch up with the Chinese. As stated by an article from CNN, cars drive through the city on smooth Chinese roads, cranes, sewing machines, and tourists arrive at the Chinese-upgraded airport while using modern built railways (Marsh, 2018) \cite{Skyscraperstrainsandroads}.\\Mostly in the Ethiopian capital city, many signs outlining the plan for Chinese constructed roads in Addis are noticeable.\\ Most of the articles emphasize how the capital city has been radically transformed, and immense skyscrapers, including the 46-story glass tower, will be the tallest in Ethiopia by 2020, give the city a different flavour that has never been seen before. In line with this, a journal about Chinese perspectives published by a French author Cabestan (2012) outlines that Ethiopia mainly exports resources to China and focuses on buying equipment and machines from China \cite{ChinaandEthiopiaAuthoritarian}.\\The the article is acknowledging all Chinese actions in Ethiopia, where many projects have already been realized and contributed to the economic development.\\Beyond that other Western sources, it is mentioned that Ethiopia’s arm is being twisted by the influence of China related to giving high amounts of loans.\\ The Western world fears the debt-trap diplomacy, where China can use this strategy to put pressure on Ethiopia. This will undoubtedly lead to a new way of colonialism by giving the East-African country no feasibility of repaying their debt.\\ As in Forbes mentioned collectively, the countries would need to spend 130-170 billion dollars per year to meet all infrastructural needs. Consequently, one of the afore-mentioned massive water projects ended up costing Ethiopia nearly a quarter of its total 2016 budget (Shepard, 2019) \cite{WhatChinaisreallyup}.\\For Ethiopia, the EU as a whole, was the largest traditional donor in 2009, ahead of the United States.\\ As stated in the Western journal, European \& U.S. donors in terms of financial flows to Ethiopia would not go beyond development assistance, for instance, loans or export credits (Hackenesch, 2013) [p.17] \cite{AidDonorMeetsStrategicPartner}.\\ On the one hand, Western countries see Ethiopia as a potential target for future trades and economic advantages, but on the other hand, due to political instabilities, it is, according to the West, not a secured place to conduct business.\\ Speaking about the political instabilities, the shutdown of the government in the ICT sector was one of the main burdens but also the adverse events on one of the largest floricultural companies in the world, Esmeralda Farms. Esmeralda Farms has been located in southern America and mainly steered by the U.S.\\ In fact, the company has managed to gather 150 ha of land available in Ethiopia, and they have imported flowers from Ethiopia that generated 30-40\% of their turnover (Flowerweb, 2016) \cite{LossesEsmeraldaFarm}.\\ In 2016 the company’s land had been attacked by rebels and destroyed, resulting in economic damage and Esmeralda Farm backed out of a bargain.\\ Due to this incident and politic instability as criteria, the Western world seems to be quite sceptical in terms of further investment actions in Ethiopia.\\
Since Chinese minerals tend to be scarce, preying on vulnerable nations like Ethiopia with substantial natural resources reserves becomes imminent.
As author Cabestan (2012) states, China’s assistance serves in its interests by promising economic emancipation in exchanging of accessing Ethiopia’s natural resources [p.61] \citep{ChinaandEthiopiaAuthoritarian}. The Western perspective is generally not satisfied with the fact that China is putting lots of effort into establishing further long-term alliances with Ethiopia. China is not interested in having a fair bilateral agreement with Ethiopia, but also seek to quench its natural resources thirst.
Added to this the Western world fears Ethiopia in terms of political instability.\\
\subsection{China’s perspective}
China’s perspective is based on a win-win scenario case for both sides.\\ All the partnerships and cooperation between both countries will help foster each other and develop both economically and socially.\\ According to the article “The Diplomat” which is mainly reporting from the Asia-Pacific region, stated that the West needs to stop complaining and start engaging in Africa (Morgan, 2018) \cite{WhytheWest}.\\ While China is all over Ethiopia with plenty of cooperative projects, Western countries complain about the conditions in Ethiopia and the way China is operating businesses.\\ Analog to the article “The Diplomat” tensions such as trade war or rivalry by competing for new businesses between China and the Western world, especially China-U.S. relationship reappears.\\ In the article, all accomplished projects and infrastructural zones are being mentioned, which the Chinese managed to build, while the U.S. has placed a significant player in retail businesses whereby global investors could not run their business.\\ The article is being considered as a type of propaganda mechanism in favour of China with mentioning all malfunctioned manufacturing business from the U.S. Analogue to the main Chinese article “Xinhuanet” mentioning Sino-Ethiopia cooperation it is said that Ethiopia hopes to attract investment from Chinese enterprises under the so-called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (Xinhua, 2019) \cite{ChinaEthiopiadialogue}.\\ The long-term business cooperation between both countries will be continued to boost the achievement of sustainable development goals and foster expanding sectors like information and communication technology and light industries. The preferable term is “long-term,” meaning that China considers long-run projects in Ethiopia even though Ethiopia might not be able to repay the provided loans immediately.\\ This is one of the decisive differences between China and the Western world that China also tolerates expanding the repayment period of Ethiopia from 10 to 30 years.\\ The extension of the repayment period is one of the main topics in all different types of sources because it shows how China contemplates to operate and implement projects for extended periods.\\ Western sources say that China puts Ethiopia into a serious debt trap and that this problem will not be discussed between responsible parties.\\ According to the South China Morning Post, Ethiopia and China are in serious talks about the debt situation wherein lots of loans for the Belt and Road Initiative are being provided. The article emphasizes the statement of Ethiopian ambassador to China, Teshome Toga Chanaka, where is defending the trade and infrastructure plan, including that all investments are worth it (Zhou, 2019) \cite{Ethiopiaintalks}.\\ In addition to that, the Ethiopian ambassador rejects all criticism that the plan is a debt trap, and he insists on signing the Belt and Road Initiative which covers all projects initiated by Chinese.\\ Western sources claim that China is all over East Africa, but when going through different Chinese sources, the impact of China on Ethiopia has brought new hope for young Ethiopians finding newly created jobs since 70 percent of Ethiopia’s population corresponds to the youth.\\ It is a fact that in Ethiopia, there is a gap between the growing needs of young Ethiopians and the supply of resources that leads to frustration within the young-aged population.\\ Analog to the analysis from Tegenu, Ethiopia faces 48\% of the adult population being in the age group 15-29 (Tegenu, 2016) \cite{YouthBulge}.\\ Especially in the newspaper article called “Chinadaily” a public service platform has been shared with Ethiopia where cross-border e-commerce, training, and trade will be provided (Wei, 2019) \cite{AlibabasetsupeWTP}.\\ China offers a multifunction digital trade hub, where the capacity for building online training, trading programs and specialized programs for young Ethiopian entrepreneurs, business leaders, and university lecturers have been provided.\\ Their main goal will be to educate certainly young Ethiopians, so that diverse projects such as smart logistics hub and innovations in trade finance can be implemented and further long-term plans can be steered from both sides.\\ Followed by the long-lasting relation since 1991 between Ethiopia and China, a unique partnership has been formed.\\ The diplomatic relations between emperor Haile Selassie and the Republic of China have already started in 1970, gradually developed and adjusted until nowadays. As a matter of fact, in most of the Chinese article, the considerable difference between approaches of the Western world and the Chinese world are being mentioned.\\ Here the diplomatic relationship between China and Ethiopia has improved in fields of politics, economy, and social development, stated by Deputy Head of Mission of the Ethiopian Embassy shared in the article of China Daily (Tianyang, 2019) \cite{Chinesebuiltrailwaylifeline}.\\ Emphasized by a Chinese journal about Chinese Affairs, Ethiopia is reforming the European aid system, but in contrast, China sees Ethiopia as an important economic and political ally in its new Africa policy.\\ The journal says that China’s engagement in Ethiopia goes beyond aid and builds a long-lasting relationship, a fact that pressures the EU to boost its efforts to remain an attractive partner (Hackenesch, 2013) [p.9]\cite{AidDonorMeetsStrategicPartner}.\\ In Chinese articles, it is claimed that despite the EU being the largest donor in terms of aid volume, no real project had been implemented by the European.\\ The European primarily focus on assisting social sectors and support for governance reforms, but establishing projects to advance the country economically is not their primary focus.\\ That is where China and the Western world differ the most relating to different intentions. Speaking about real projects in “China Daily,” it is presumed that before the Chinese-built railway, another railroad was built by Western countries, but no sustainable project was being implemented (Tianyang, 2019) \cite{Chinesebuiltrailwaylifeline}. \\ Based on Chinese perspectives and their intention of business cooperation with Ethiopia, no project will be started and remained unfinished or even discontinued.\\ Analog to a journal on Current Chinese Affairs, in contrast to European partners, a huge benefit is that Chinese partners do not interfere with Ethiopian domestic politics and policies (Hackenech, 2013) [p.15]\cite{AidDonorMeetsStrategicPartner}.\\ In line with all economic programs in Ethiopia, China is involved by planning 14 industrial parks across the country built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) along with the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway project (Tianyang, 2019) \cite{Chinesebuiltrailwaylifeline}.\\ Corresponding to all implemented and finished projects, there is enough proof compared to Western world accomplishments; the Chinese do take their relationship with Ethiopia seriously.\\ Ethiopia is, in fact, more valuable for China since it can use the low labor and production costs to increase their quantity of goods and foster trade businesses, and as mentioned in the previous chapters, businesses between both countries evolved in recent years, and further cooperation will follow.\\ However, external readers reading over Chinese journals like the “Chinadaily,” which is the most significant domestic journal with all relevant information about the Sino-Ethiopian relationship, might think it is a propagandistic perspective considering China’s method implementing projects to benefit from it and making Ethiopia believe fostering it.\\Ethiopia would not advance as fast as now without China’s engagement.\\ Interesting here is, how does the Ethiopian media, press, and journals react to China’s influence?
\subsection{Ethiopia’s perspective}
Several discussions are being made about the China-Ethiopian relationship and if it is reflecting a win-win or win-lose scenario.\\ According to author Geda et al. (2016) writing about the impact of China-Africa investment relations, he is outlining how the relations between both countries have increased in areas like infrastructure, the supply of manufactured goods, telecommunication, and installation of electric power grids.\\ As in the chapter above-mentioned and according to Geda’s (2016) analysis, all these assisting fields contribute to the hike of Chinese foreign direct investment in Ethiopia and the growth of Chinese projects being under pre-implementation and implemented phase [p.15]\cite{ImpactofChinaAfrica}.\\ In the infrastructural sector, many things happen, but how do Ethiopians being in charge of specific projects perceive it. \\Mebratu Delelegn is a director of the Operation Control Center responsible for the prominent project, the Ethio-Djibouti Railway financed by the Chinese Bank. He is emphasizing that for this project, a specific workforce is missing, meaning more electrical and mechanical engineers need to enroll for a Master’s degree to support or rather guide such projects.\\ Nevertheless, he sees it as an excellent achievement for developing his country because economic growth has been enhanced by reducing the time of travel for tourists and freights.\\ In addition to that, more job opportunities have been created for the local workforce. For instance, the train between Ethiopia and Djibouti that stops at 19 stations where for each station, labor force will be needed, such as customer services like restaurants or ticket inspectors and engineers.\\ Before the implementation of projects like the railway, high transportation costs of goods compromised Ethiopia’s and China’s profitability, but now shipments of goods within Ethiopia and neighboring countries are benefited.\\ Thus, Ethiopian acknowledge Chinese trainers who highlighted the transition from traditional to new media hence motivating Ethiopian inhabitants to align in using new media or creating a platform where the audience can easily express opinions (Selassie, 2017) \cite{ChinathroughanEthiopian}.\\Ethiopians realize how Chinese investors do not only establish infrastructural projects they also include educating potential Ethiopian employees, and this fact is also reflected in the perspective of Ethiopians.\\Corresponding to one of the most common Ethiopian news articles, not only economic signs of progress have also been made social-cultural advances such as an Ethiopian who has published a Mandarin-Amharic guide wherein cultural exchanges, similarities between both countries such as traditional food, behavior, etc. are illustrated.\\ Based on Western articles, the topic is inevitable in how China does operate businesses and the offered working conditions to local employees. Often working conditions in China are quite criticized in terms of working hours, wages, and lousy treatment of employees, which even more affects underdeveloped countries. Interesting here is that according to African Studies and School of Oriental, a comparison between Chinese and non-Chinese manufacturing companies in Ethiopia has been made.\\ This project was led by Carlos Oya, who has made an analysis of 76 companies among 31 Chinese companies wherein also Ethiopian workers were interviewed (Pilling, 2019) \cite{Chineselaborpractices}.\\The working conditions and wages in both countries resemble each other even if training and skill development are being provided for Chinese companies in Ethiopia. There might be differences in terms of education but the right measurements to compensate for this issue are ongoing.\\Researches have been made, but real figures cannot be used even so agreements between Ethiopia and China have been made on how suitable working conditions and wages are justified.\\Ethiopia has here granted over three hundred visas for Chinese technicians so that they can manage to transfer know-how, train locals, and initiate operation fast, which leads to better working conditions, including skilled-employees in the future (Xiaoyang, 2016) [p.111]\cite{DoesChineseEmploymentBenefitAfricans}.
\\In an Ethiopian article “addisfortune,” all industrial projects between Ethiopia and China are mentioned and in what ways they are beneficiary for the Sub-Saharan country.\\In the article itself, a statement is emphasized from the office of the Ethiopian prime minister saying that all agreements in the assisting fields like infrastructure will not only facilitate the uninterrupted power supply but also create new jobs (Tadesse, 2019) \cite{EthiopiaChinaPartner} .\\Based on the Ethiopian journal, many projects are already implemented, but the industrial park requires a power supply with the actual generating capacity of the country, as stated by the former Prime Minister Hailemraim Desalegn.\\ According to Meles Alem, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “China is desirous for Ethiopia to further promote its leading role in shoring up the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (..)” (Maru, 2019) \cite{EthiopiaTigray}.\\Ethiopian cherish moments like loan agreements between China and Ethiopia to diminish the shortage of water in specific regions, additionally improve the production and living standards of residents.\\However, the different ethnicities seem to be a big problem in Ethiopia, mainly the ethnic with the greatest proportion in the country “Tigray” .\\This ethnic group belongs half to neighboring country Eritrea and the other half to Ethiopia, where the specific affinity becomes quite crucial.\\Looking at different local and regional Ethiopian sources, the main topic is how the Chinese will also consider conducting investments in the Tigray region. For Ethiopians, the Tigray people are considered as culturally, and linguistically diverse, which becomes problematic when China approaches Tigray.\\Therefore, in several Ethiopian articles, the tension between the Federal Government of Ethiopia and the National Regional State of Tigray aggravates.\\The Chinese want to spread their investment activities throughout the whole country, neglecting domestic political and ethical problems. Analog to this intention, Chinese delegates met in 2019 officials of Tigray to discuss investment projects. Afterward in October 2019 more than 15 diplomats who attended the Tigray region to discuss the Ethiopian Federal Government commanded further details to return to the capital city, and discussion between those parties was prohibited (Maru, 2019) \cite{EthiopiaTigray}.\\Comparing Ethiopian with other perspectives, it becomes quite clear that the Western \& Chinese perspective does not consider the whole picture. In other words, Ethiopian sources refer to the internal ethical problems in the country, and it becomes more important since China aims to do business with everyone in Ethiopia, no matter which ethnic belongings. \\Taken out from specific sources dealing with this issue, the root of this political escalation between the ruling party and the opposing party, Tigray, causes distrust from which jealousy and hate evolves, consequently freezing economic progress in Ethiopia to a certain degree (Maru, 2019) \cite{EthiopiaTigray}.\\
According to articles, media, and other literature Ethiopia perceives China’s involvement positively, including leaving the country benefitting marks.\\ However, political and internal tensions stay always an issue for undeveloped countries, which the local media or press will not disregard.
\chapter{Conclusion}
China’s influence on Ethiopia has shown how it can shape a country considered as an underdeveloped country. As mentioned in the very beginning, even though access to essential data about both countries is missing, the evolvement of Ethiopia within the previous years display the signs of progress accomplished.\\ Before China’s approach and engagement in crucial sectors contributing to Ethiopia’s economic condition, the country had to recover from several civil wars resulting in losing lots of workforces.\\ Ethiopia’s economy may not rise of western nations, but as we have seen from their potential in a steady increase of GDP and GDP per capita income is attainable according to the results and corresponding literature. By China’s influence, economic advances are accomplished, improving Ethiopia’s current situation by reducing poverty, increasing employment, and fostering cross-border activities.\\ These accomplishments are all linked with substantial Chinese foreign direct investments that are in favor of the threshold country, Ethiopia. Analog to the established projects and expansion of markets, new jobs have been created, and Ethiopian people have several opportunities to educate themselves with China’s supportive approach. Referring to the first hypothesis and used methods to analyze it, China has undoubtedly contributed to the Sub-Saharan country by advancing the country’s economy. With the help of special economic zones, Ethiopia positions itself as an anchor for further cross-border activities, including neighboring countries, even realizing a broad range of outside the country’s subpurchasers. In the future, Ethiopia must not be complacent and solely dependent on China for economic and infrastructural development. The partnership for both Ethiopia and China is fruitful.\\ About the diverse perspectives of countries, the West has made up their points in terms of high debt level and the fact of how Ethiopia is going to square debts. However, most investments start deep in the red with the real goal to emulate and foster businesses hence to redeem shortly. China managed to open up new sales markets, where the divergence of opinions does occur after the literature comparison of diverse countries. People might argue about ethical issues in terms of working conditions.\\ Nevertheless, the Ethiopian perspective showed our bilateral agreement between the affected country and the responsible country could evolve. Retaining young educated Ethiopia in the state after their education so that they can provide the necessary skilled service the country needs to be competitive. The strategies and methods used by the Chinese, it does reach the Ethiopians, thus evolving to an anchor in the Sub-Saharan region. Despite the limitations, which used to constraint the development of manufacturing, the creation of jobs and an increase in exports, Ethiopia managed to improve its economic status over the years.\\ The broad implication of the present research implies that China makes Ethiopia competitive by attracting other nations in other sectors. A diverse portfolio of countries that they will partner with for existing and upcoming projects.\\ Overall, all results demonstrate a strong effect of Ethiopia being on the right path. Their economy is considered more advanced, after the Chinese approach and business activities, compared to many other East African economies.\\ At some point down the line, the country must focus on developing itself rather than committing its economic and social future in the hands of China. Ethiopia has used its partnership with China as a starting point and is slowly working to be independent.