Chinese construction companies in Angola: A local linkages perspective

Abstract

China tends to spearhead its economic overtures to African countries through high-level bilateral negotiations. These are frequently in the form of China Exim Bank loans for large-scale infrastructure projects, repaid by resource exports to China. While much is made of China's resource-based activities in Africa, less focus is placed on the converse of this relationship—the infrastructure provision that African resources buy from China. This article takes the positions that local linkages development is one of the clearest ways that African countries can benefit from Chinese construction companies' market engagement. The prevailing view is that Chinese companies contracted to undertake the construction projects financed in this way do not use local labour, materials or any other inputs in the undertaking of their contracts. Focusing on the strategic orientation of large Chinese companies state-owned enterprises (SOEs) operating in Angola's construction sector, this article seeks to uncover the determinants of their sourcing behaviour, and the manner in which this is reflected in their use of local inputs.