Shaping Botswana’s Economy: Chinese Counterfeits as Catalysts of Globalisation and Local Development

Abstract

Chinese counterfeiting has dominated the global counterfeit market, earning a negative reputation even in African countries such as Botswana and South Africa. Often perceived as low quality (even when it is not) and cheap, Chinese merchandise has shaped Botswana’s economy through its role as a catalyst of globalisation and promoted local development. Data were gathered over 13 months (four research trips) between 2011 and 2015. Follow-up interviews were conducted via WeChat in 2018 and 2022. In a context that reveals the tension between local consumers starved of products and aggressive marketing by Chinese merchants, the unfolding of the counterfeit phenomenon in Botswana points towards broader questions about the dynamic interplay between local consumers and Chinese merchandise, and between local trading policies and Chinese investors. Therefore, by studying specific Chinese cases – which demonstrate the progression from selling low-quality goods, counterfeit goods and Chinese-branded goods to the manufacturing of ‘made in Botswana products’ – we can better reflect on the importance of local trading policies. Evidence has shown that local strategic policies can guide seemingly rampant foreign investment towards contributing to the local economy and local development.

Keywords:

• Botswana
• China shop
• counterfeit products
• local policy
• manufacturing
• fong kong

Acknowledgments

I express my sincere gratitude to the Chinese merchants and Batswana individuals who generously agreed to participate in this project. Additionally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the two anonymous reviewers for their invaluable constructive feedback. Special appreciation goes to Akira Takada, Yoichi Mine, and Caroline Hau for their insightful comments on the initial draft. I am also indebted to Yoon Jung Park, Thomas Brotherhood, Kevin Garvey, Miikka Lehtonen and Gil Hizi for their thoughtful contributions. Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the International Training Program and International On-Site Education Program at ASAFAS, Kyoto University, which facilitated the field research.

Notes

1 This study uses the term ‘counterfeit’ to describe tangible goods that infringe trademarks, design rights or patents, and ‘pirated’ to describe tangible goods that infringe copyrights.

2 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), Trends in Trade in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods (Paris, Illicit Trade, OECD Publishing/European Union Intellectual Property Office, 2019), p. 11, available at https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/g2g9f533-en.pdf?expires=1711680374&id=id&accname=oid030722&checksum=33F91E348DC832665D3043E5A924E489, retrieved 27 October 2022.

3 E. Schulze, ‘Counterfeit Goods from China are Crushing American Small Businesses – and They’re Calling on Trump to Fight Back’, CNBC, news website, 29 February 2020, available at https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/28/small-businesses-are-pushing-trump-to-fight-chinese-counterfeits.html, retrieved 10 July 2021.

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6 E. Tse, K. Ma and Y. Huang, Shan Zhai: A Chinese Phenomenon (Booz and Company, 2009), available at https://cthr.ctgoodjobs.hk/doc/exe_corner/20100212_Booz_Shan_Zhai_A_Chinese_Phenomenon.pdf, retrieved 10 July 2021; F. Yang, Faked in China: Nation Branding, Counterfeit Culture, and Globalization (Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 2016).

7 K. Giese, ‘Same-Same but Different: Chinese Traders’ Perspectives on African Labor’, The China Journal, 69 (2013), pp. 134–53; S. Liu, ‘China Town in Lagos: Chinese Migration and the Nigerian State Since the 1990s’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, 54, 6 (2019), pp. 783–99; T. Tu Huynh, ‘“It’s not copyrighted”. Looking West for Authenticity: Historical Chinatowns and China Town Malls in South Africa’, China Media Research, 11, 1 (2015), pp. 99–111.

8 On ‘fong kong’ in Botswana, see Y. Zi, ‘Unravelling the “Fong Kong” Phenomenon in Botswana through Analysing the Relationship among Mass Media, Governmental Activities and Local Voices’, Psychologia, 57, 4 (2014), pp. 259–74; Y. Zi, ‘The “Fong Kong” Phenomenon in Botswana: A Perspective on Globalization from Below’, African East-Asian Affairs, 1–2 (2015), pp. 6–17. On ‘fong kong’ in South Africa, see Y. Park, ‘“Fong Kong” in Southern Africa: Interrogating African Views of China-Made Goods’ (ASA Annual Meeting, 2013), available at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2237316, retrieved 10 July 2021; R. Simbao, ‘China-Africa Relations: Research Approaches’, African Arts, 45, 2 (2012), pp. 1–7; in Zimbabwe, see Park, ‘“Fong Kong” in Southern Africa’, and in Tanzania, see S. Ogawa, ‘Why Chinese Smartphones and Mobile Phones Have Permeated the Lives of Tanzanians (Tanzania no seikatsu ni chukokusei sumatohon keitai ga shintou shita wake)’, Wedge Online, 31 July 2015, available at https://wedge.ismedia.jp/articles/-/5208, retrieved 10 July 2021.

9 T. Staake, F. Thiesse and E. Fleisch, ‘The Emergence of Counterfeit Trade: A Literature Review’, European Journal of Marketing, 43, 3/4 (2009), pp. 320–49.

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11 N.B. Amaral, ‘What Can be Done to Address Luxury Counterfeiting? An Integrative Review of Tactics and Strategies’, Journal of Brand Management, 27 (2020), pp. 691–709; OECD/EUIPO, Mapping the Real Routes of Trade in Fake Goods (Paris, OECD Publishing, 2017); B. Milanovic, Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization (Cambridge, MS, Harvard University Press, 2016); Dikötter, Exotic Commodities; Z. Yi, M. Yu, and K. L. Cheung, ‘Impacts of Counterfeiting on a Global Supply Chain’, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, 24, 1 (2020), pp. 159–78.

12 D. Kluft, ‘Charles Dickens and Copyright Law: Five Things You Should Know’, Foley Hoag’s Trademark & Copyright Law, 17 January 2017, available at https://www.trademarkandcopyrightlawblog.com/2017/01/charles-dickens-and-copyright-law-five-things-you-should-know, retrieved 11 August 2021.

13 Y. Tang, ‘Consumer Psychology Analysis of Counterfeit Brand-Name Sports Shoes’, Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, 571 (2021), pp. 555–60.

14 B.G. Jordan, ‘Epilogue: From Technique to Art’, in B.G. Jordan and V.L. Weston (eds), Copying the Master and Stealing His Secrets: Talent and Training in Japanese Painting (Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2003), pp. 178–87.

15 Dikötter, Exotic Commodities, p. 38.

16 The ‘self-strengthening movement’ was also known as the Westernisation or Western Affairs Movement (c.1861–1895). It was a period of radical institutional reforms initiated in China during the late Qing dynasty following the military disasters of the Opium Wars; see Dikötter, Exotic Commodities, pp. 39–40; Ibid.

17 Ibid., p. 40.

18 Ibid.

19 L. Grove, ‘Imitation and Innovation in the Early Twentieth Century North China Weaving Industry’, in Furuta and Grove (eds), Imitation, Counterfeiting and the Quality of Goods, pp. 123–36.

20 Canton was the current province of Guangdong in southern China.

21 Grove, ‘Imitation and Innovation’, p. 135.

22 The First Opium War was fought in 1839–1842 between Great Britain and the Qing Dynasty; see Grove, ‘Imitation and Innovation’, pp. 126–7.

23 K. Gerth, China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation (Cambridge, Harvard University Asia Center, 2003).

24 Commonly known as China, the Republic of China was a sovereign state based in mainland China prior to the relocation of its government to Taiwan. Gerth, China Made, p. 43.

25 Ibid., China Made, pp. 44–5.

26 Dikötter, Exotic Commodities, p. 30.

27 Ibid., pp. 33–4.

28 C. Crow, 400 Million Customers (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1937), p. 271.

29 Dikötter, Exotic Commodities, p. 36.

30 Ibid., p. 266.

31 Ibid., p. 47.

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid., p. 262.

34 ‘The Economic Context of Botswana’, Lloyds Bank, website, October 2022, available at https://www.lloydsbanktrade.com/en/market-potential/botswana/economical-context, retrieved 27 September 2022.

35 Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Botswana, ‘An Overview of the Relations Between China and Botswana’, website, 1 February 2008, available at http://bw.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zbgx/200802/t20080201_5723182.htm, retrieved 7 November 2022.

36 A.C.G. Best, ‘General Trading in Botswana, 1890–1968’, Economic Geography, 46, 4 (1970), pp. 598–611.

37 E. Ma Mung, ‘The New Chinese Migration Flows to Africa’, Social Science Information, 47, 4 (2008), p. 644.

38 Li served as the fourth Premier of the People’s Republic of China from 1987 to 1998; this is a Chinese greeting that means ‘hello’.

39 ‘Caca’ (擦擦) in Chinese means ‘rubbing’. According to the pioneer Chinese merchants, in the early days, those Chinese who were selling essential balm oil could not speak English. Being asked by local people about how to use the oil, those Chinese would demonstrate how to rub the oil on the arm while saying ‘caca’.

40 Interview with a Chinese pioneer, Gaborone, 26 September 2014. All interviews were conducted by the author.

41 Both the local population and the Chinese merchants currently operating in Botswana employ the term ‘China shop’. Approximately 99 per cent of China shops in Botswana are Chinese-owned and generally sell goods made in China to African customers.

42 Yiwu and Jinjiang are cities in China that are famous for selling small, everyday goods.

43 A. Ito, ‘Bottom-Up Industrialization in the People’s Republic of China: A Case Study of Industries Producing Small Things in Zhejiang’, in Furuta and Grove (eds), Imitation, Counterfeiting and the Quality of Goods, p. 275.

44 Ibid.

45 D. Cissé, ‘African Traders in Yiwu: Their Trade Networks and Their Role in the Distribution of “Made in China” Products in Africa’, Journal of Pan African Studies, 7, 10 (2015), pp. 44–64.

46 Zi, ‘The “Fong Kong” Phenomenon in Botswana’.

47 Interview with a Chinese business leader who established a business in Botswana in 1991, Gaborone, 26 September 2014.

48 Interview with a middle-aged Motswana local customer, Mochudi, 27 January 2012.

49 Best, ‘General Trading in Botswana, 1890–1968’.

50 G. Mathews and Y. Yang, ‘How Africans Pursue Low-End Globalization in Hong Kong and Mainland China’, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 41, 2 (2012), pp. 95–120.

51 T. Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (New York, Penguin Books, [orig. 1899] 1994).

52 Staff reporter, ‘Fongkongs …’, MmegiOnline, Gaborone, 18 June 2010, available at https://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=6&aid=3072&dir=2010/June/Monday21, retrieved 3 July 2021.

53 Interview with a Botswana local business owner who runs a popular fashion shop in a shopping mall, Gaborone, 13 September 2013.

54 T. Motlogelwa, ‘Chinese Offer to Curb Piracy in Botswana’, MmegiOnline, 2 May 2007, available at https://www.mmegi.bw/news/chinese-offer-to-curb-piracy-in-botswana/news, retrieved 10 July 2021.

55 Ibid.

56 Interview with a young Chinese merchant who joined her family business in Botswana in 2003, Gaborone, 8 September 2014.

57 Interview with a middle-aged street trader who sells fake brand sneakers outside shopping malls, Gaborone, 9 September 2014.

58 Interview with a middle-aged shop assistant who worked for a China shop for four years, Gaborone, 10 September 2013.

59 Y. Zi and M. Mogalakwe, ‘Decoding Relationships between Chinese Merchants and Batswana Shop Assistants: The Case of China Shops in Gaborone’, African Study Monographs Supplementary Issue, 54 (2018), pp. 171–89.

60 Y. Zi, Iron Sharpens Iron: Social Interactions at China Shops in Botswana (Cameroon, Langaa RPCIG, 2017), pp. 183–5.

61 Interview with a Chinese merchant who started her business in Botswana in 2003, Gaborone, 8 September 2014.

62 Interviews in September 2011, September 2014 and September 2018.

63 Interview with Mr and Ms Chen, online, WeChat, 8 September 2018.

64 Interview with Mrs Chen, online, WeChat, 8 September 2018.

65 Ministry of Trade and Industry, Economic Diversification Drive: Medium to Long-Term Strategy 2011–2016 (Gaborone, Government of Botswana, 2011), available at https://unfccc.int/files/adaptation/groups_committees/adaptation_committee/application/pdf/20151002_botswana.pdf, retrieved 26 February 2024.

66 Ministry of Trade and Industry, ‘Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) Registration’ (Gaborone, Government of Botswana, undated), available at https://www.gov.bw/doing-business/economic-diversification-drive-edd-registration, retrieved 26 February 2024.

67 The main purpose of AGOA was to improve trade and economic co-operation between the US and eligible sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

68 X. Tang, The Impact of Asian Investment on Africa’s Textile Industries (Beijing, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, 2014).

69 Staff reporter, ‘Botswana Calls on Chinese Companies to Support Economic Growth’, Xinhua News, China.org.cn, website, 28 May 2023, available at http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2023-05/28/content_85775095.ht., retrieved 15 July 2023.

70 According to the author’s interviews, six Chinese families moved their businesses to Namibia due to distrust in Botswana’s trading policies.

71 Zi and Mogalakwe, ‘Decoding Relationships’.

72 The Botswana government was tempted to issue this policy in 2011, which triggered turmoil among the Chinese community.

73 I. Sun, The Next Factory of the World: How Chinese Investment Is Reshaping Africa (Boston, Harvard Business Review Press, 2017).

74 Staff reporter, ‘Botswana Calls on Chinese Companies’.

75 Yang, Faked in China, p. 3.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yanyin Zi

Yanyin Zi Assistant Professor, Department of Intercultural Communication, College of Intercultural Communication, Rikkyo University, 3-34-1 Nishi-Ikebukuro Toshima-Ku, Tokyo 171-8501, Japan. Email: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3338-2119