Chinese Involvement In Africa Research Articles

Reading the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (2000-2021): geoeconomics, governance, and embedding ‘creative involvement’

ABSTRACT How China can promote its overseas commercial and strategic interests and protect its citizens and investments while continuing to adhere to a longstanding commitment to non-interference is a subject of intense policy and academic debate. A notion of ‘creative involvement’ has been developed to specify an increasingly flexible and pragmatic approach to projecting and managing China’s expanding global interests. In this research a close reading of the Declarations and Action Plans of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) over the period 2000–21 reveals specific degrees and types of embedding of Chinese involvement in Africa’s complex political economic landscape and an evolving reorientation of development cooperation policy practices shaped by growing concerns with African economic policy and local governance issues.

What Drives the Chinese Involvement in Africa? An Afrocentric Reflection on Ghana, 2010 to 2020

What Drives the Chinese Involvement in Africa? An Afrocentric Reflection on Ghana, 2010 to 2020

Chinese Investment and the Rise of “Made in Africa” Fashion Production

This article examines the rise of Chinese fashion manufacturing across Africa. By tracing the history of Chinese involvement in Africa's fashion production and reviewing a case study of Chinese garment firms in Newcastle, South Africa, this article attempts to understand the implications of Chinese-funded fashion production in Africa. I argue that the move of fashion production from China to Africa represents a new phase in the migration of global fashion production, and offers an opportunity for examining the gendered dynamics of fashion production in Africa.

Analysing China’s “Angola Model”: A Pattern for Chinese Involvement in Africa?

The paper discusses the relationship between the People's Republic of China and Angola in the 21st century in the broader context of Chinese economic activity in Africa. I discuss the effectiveness of the “Angola Model” of this relationship as a gateway for cooperation with Africa. The main research question is whether the “Angola Model” is an effective way to increase China's involvement in Africa and whether it has been applied to other countries on the continent? I hypothesise that the implementation of this model allows China to intensify economic cooperation with African countries because this model brings mutual benefits to partners. China gains access to energy resources, new markets and investment opportunities, while African states obtain loans, revenues from the sale of raw materials and assistance in infrastructure development. To some extent, the Angola Model also allows China to spread political influence, but the example of Angola shows that it has several limitations. China has implemented elements of economic cooperation characteristic of the Angola Model in many African countries.

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This study discusses the reason behind the Chinese hastened engagement in Africa. The study particularly emphasizes debates surrounding such massive involvements from the African, European and Chinese point of view focusing on the main tenets of Washington and Beijing consensuses. The study shows that Beijing consensus has been perceived cynically by traditional western power contending that Chinese involvement in Africa has been built on china’s narrow, and parochial interest of grabbing African’s resources on one hand, and reversing of democratization and human rights improvements taking shape on the continent. The pro- Chinese narratives, on the other hand, argue that Chinese involvement in Africa has been built on the continent’s historical relations with China when fighting colonial imperialism and apartheid system. In addition, it is their shared experiences of humiliation and subjugation at the hand of western imperialist colonial power that coach China and Africa to free their relationship from western style of involvements in one another’s domestic affairs. Africans view Chinese engagement in Africa optimistically as a relief from century-old “civilizing mission” of the former colonial powers. This article argues that besides Chinese soft and non-conditional loans and aids and its commitment to neutrality in its relation to African countries’ domestic affairs, the historical legacies of western influence on Africa, their post-colonial military presences on the continent and their cultural imperialism through imposition of western values and norms has been increasing Africa’s discontent with the western approach. These phenomena have been contributing enormously to Chinese engagement in Africa. Key words: China, Africa, Washington consensus, Sino-phobia, Beijing consensus.

African Venture of China: Déja Vu? or the soft power of words

China has experienced rapid development in many different spheres, related to industrialisation, urbanisation, economic growth, finances, and a new strategy of foreign investment. During the past decade, Chinese direct investments in Sub-Saharan Africa have not only increased, but also played a crucial role within the hosting countries. International institutions repeatedly report on the considerable progress of African nations towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, despite challenging initial conditions. Chinese presence in the African hosting economies influences the inner processes and the way these goals could be achieved. There are different opinions on the future consequences of Chinese involvement in Africa. Some view the Chinese policy of non-interference and lack of preconditions for credit lines given to Africa as an effective model for cooperation with emerging markets and developing societies. Some critically predict the growing dependence on such an investor and are deeply unsatisfied with Chinese practices of winning tenders, treating employees and the environment. However, there is no univocal conclusion, whether these consequences could be doubtlessly defined as negative or positive. Keywords : China, Africa, Soft Power, Development, Environment Marianna Levtov, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Zurich Email: marianna.levtov@uzh.ch

Same Same but Different? India–Africa Relations and Chinese Involvement in the Continent

India’s involvement in Africa today is often viewed in economic terms only, mainly focusing on resources. The narrative of an emerging power just looking for oil is nowadays used for India’s involvement in Africa as much as for Beijing’s foray into the continent. Although both countries’ reinforced involvement in the continent is the most important development of Africa’s international relations since the end of the Cold War, this approach poses the danger of overlooking or at least playing down important nuances and possible differences between the Indian and the Chinese way of dealing with Africa today. As a matter of fact, officials in New Delhi try to dissociate their policy vis-à-vis Africa from Beijing’s ‘game plan’. But to what extent do India’s and China’s involvement in Africa actually differ? This article lays out an analytical framework for comparing Indian and Chinese involvement in Africa and subsequently helps examine historical, political and economic relations between the two emerging powers and Africa. It seeks to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of New Delhi’s involvement in Africa beyond conventional, sometimes simplistic, assumptions by contrasting India–Africa with China–Africa relations and carving out differences and similarities.

China's foreign direct investment in Africa's land: hallmarks of neo-colonialism or South–South cooperation?

Since the end of the Cold War and the emergence of globalization, China's economic role has gained significant prominence in a system once dominated by capital from developed countries. Undeniably, the increasing role of China's foreign direct investment in Africa's land is transforming the agricultural sector of the region. Beijing's visible presence in the international political economy has attracted distinctive attention in both academic and media discourse across the globe but more importantly in the developing geopolitical terrains such as Africa. The discussion of Sino-African relationship at policy levels is therefore compelling against such a background. The major concern has been whether Beijing's direct investment in Africa's land marks any important change in Africa's international political economy. Trade between the two partners has grown significantly and Beijing is accorded access to supplies of natural resources such as land, diamond, coopers and oil among other vital resources. The paper seeks to examine the most pertinent question in relation to China–Africa relationship: To what extent is Chinese involvement in Africa's land any different from the hallmarks of neo-colonialism?

Debating China’s New Role in Africa’s Political Economy

Since the end of the Cold War and the emergence of rapid globalisation, China’s economic role has gained remarkable prominence in a system once dominated by capital from developed countries. In this way, China’s contemporary visible presence in the international political economy has attracted significant attention in both academic and media discourse across the globe but more importantly in the developing geo-political terrains such as Africa. The discussion of China-Africa relationship at policy levels is therefore compelling against such a background. The common concern has been whether China’s Africa policy marks any significant change in Africa’s international political economy. Trade between the two partners has grown and China is accorded access to supplies of natural resources such as oil, copper and diamonds among other vital resources. The article seeks to examine the most pertinent question in relation to China-Africa economic relationship: to what extent is Chinese involvement in Africa any different from the hallmarks of neo-colonialism? The argument of the article is divided as follows. It begins with a dissection of the origins of the relations; it then explores the complex relationship through the lenses of the competing views on China’s policy on Africa; a position on whether China exudes the qualities of a neo-colonial poweris then taken. The article concludes with proffered recommendations.

Weapons for Oil: An Analysis of Contemporary Chinese Weapons Sales to Africa in Exchange for Oil

Since 1949, China has gradually increased the scope of its weapons sales overseas to include 40 countries, 23 of which are located in Africa. With Chinese weapons sales in 2009 reaching 946 million U.S. dollars, the global community cannot help but pay attention to China‘s overseas weapons sales model. Over the past few years, resource-rich African nations have become the center of China‘s new geopolitical strategies and the starting point for oil development and extraction programs. With decades of cooperative experience in the energy sector, Africa has become an important area through which China is able to further diversify its energy resources. While China helped Africa develop an oil market, many other forms of aid and investment were also necessary. The most important form of aid can be best seen through "goods for goods" bartering transactions, especially in the form of Chinese weapons for African oil. This article will examine the realities of weapons-for-oil transactions as well as other Chinese involvement in Africa‘s natural resources and domestic economies, paying particular attention to how China is defining its interactions with African nations as those of a socialist leader. Through research and analysis of both historical and contemporary Sino-African relations, this article will illustrate the implications continued weapons-for-oil exchanges have for the future of Sino-Africa relations as well as for the international community.

New African Choices? The Politics of Chinese Engagement

The role of China in Africa must be understood in the context of competing and intensified global energy politics, in which the US, India and China are among the key players vying for security of supply. Contrary to popular representation, China's role in Africa is much more than this however, opening up new choices for African development for the first time since the neo-liberal turn of the 1980s. As such it is important to start by disaggregating ‘China’ and ‘Africa’ since neither represents a coherent and uniform set of motivations and opportunities. This points to the need for, at minimum, a comparative case study approach which highlights the different agendas operating in different African states. It also requires taking a longue durée perspective since China-Africa relations are long standing and recent intervention builds on cold war solidarities, in polemic at least. It also forces us to consider Chinese involvement in Africa as ambivalent, but contextual. Here we look at the political dimensions of this engagement and set out a research agenda that focuses on class and racial dynamics, state restructuring, party politics, civil society responses and aid effectiveness.

China's engagement in Africa: scope, significance and consequences

China's vastly increased involvement in Africa over the past decade is one of the most significant recent developments in the region. It appears to contradict the idea of international marginalisation of Africa and brings significant economic and political consequences. China's Africa interest is part of a recently more active international strategy based on multipolarity and non-intervention. Increased aid, debt cancellation, and a boom in Chinese-African trade, with a strategic Chinese focus on oil, have proven mutually advantageous for China and African state elites. By offering aid without preconditions, China has presented an attractive alternative to conditional Western aid, and gained valuable diplomatic support to defend its international interests. However, a generally asymmetrical relationship differing little from previous African–Western patterns, alongside support of authoritarian governments at the expense of human rights, make the economic consequences of increased Chinese involvement in Africa mixed at best, while the political consequences are bound to prove deleterious.

The People's Republic of China and Africa

Chinese involvement in Africa may be conveniently dated from the Bandung conference of April 1955, which marked the initiation of a policy of Chinese Communist co-operation with the states of Afro-Asia. Inasmuch as the movement in Africa which resulted in the independence of many states in the next decade had hardly begun at that time, the most significant African contact made by China at Bandung was with President Nasser. The development of contacts between the two states led Egypt in May 1956 to become the first African country to give its official recognition to the Chinese People's Republic (C.P.R.). Thereafter the Suez crisis served to bring the two countries still closer together.