Abstract
Ever since the mid-1950s and 1980s, China has expanded its relations with Africa as part of its broader incursion and strategy of developing friendly relations with the “Third World Africa.” In recent years, China has achieved deeper ties with many African countries, and the issue of impact in Africa has received more attention. China has enjoyed a long relationship with Africa, which became more intense in post-Mao era as the policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of African states or to respect the sovereignty of African states endures. These relations cover the vast areas of trade, investment, diplomacy, foreign policy, economy, agriculture, education, health, transport, infrastructure, tourism, security, defence, military, oil and gas. We demonstrated that Chinese new interest in Africa was primarily in area of securing strategic and important natural resources like crude oil. Not surprisingly, the impact of Chinese incursion into Africa has not improved Africa’s economy significantly. This study is essentially qualitative and historical, and as such relies on secondary sources of data. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p283
Highlights
China is fast becoming a developmental ‘champion’ and a beacon of hope for the world’s poorest countries, many of which are to be found on the African continent
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) spent years negotiating a transparency agreement with the Angolan government only to be told in 2007 that Luanda was no longer interested in IMF money. Instead they had secured a $2billion ‘no conditions’ loan from China. This scenario has been repeated across Africa in countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Zimbabwe
In its foreign policy pronouncements China has repeatedly reaffirmed its strong advocacy for the ‘sovereignty’ concept and the right of all states to be free of interference in their internal affairs
Summary
China is fast becoming a developmental ‘champion’ and a beacon of hope for the world’s poorest countries, many of which are to be found on the African continent. For a number of differing reasons of self interest the leaders of many developing African countries find this model attractive They seem to argue that their countries should reject the failed Western system with all of its demanding conditions and follow the freer Chinese developmental model, pursuing economic growth first and deferring the political reforms until later. This change of approach is beginning to undermine the West’s developmental efforts in Africa. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) spent years negotiating a transparency agreement with the Angolan government only to be told in 2007 that Luanda was no longer interested in IMF money Instead they had secured a $2billion ‘no conditions’ loan from China. There is little doubt that China could exert considerable influence in this instance as it sells Sudan weapons, buys two thirds of its oil and has invested $6 billion in its industries
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