China in Africa

The People's Republic of China's renewed interest in Africa has been a topic of ASC Leiden research over the past few years. It has been discussed at a number of seminars, most recently on 27 March 2008, when Gregor Dobler presented his research on Migrants and hosts: Chinese traders’ strategies in Namibia and their interaction with national politics. The library staff of the ASC has compiled this web dossier on China-Africa relations to coincide with this seminar.

The dossier begins with an introduction, outlining the broad contours of China’s relations with Africa. This is followed by a selection of titles dealing with various aspects of Sino-African relations published in the last decade. All titles are available in the ASC library, each title linking directly to the corresponding record in the library’s online catalogue, which provides further details and, in many cases, an abstract. The dossier concludes with a selection of web resources.

1. Introduction: China-Africa relations
2. International relations
3. Economic relations, trade
4. China and individual African countries
5. Chinese in Africa
6. African Studies in China
7. Selected Web Resources

For further information, please email us at asclibrary@ascleiden.nl or phone +31 (0)71 527 3354

Introduction: China-Africa relations

China-Africa relations have a long historical pedigree. In the 1960s and 1970s, Beijing’s interest centered on building ideological solidarity with underdeveloped nations to advance Chinese-style communism and on combating Western hegemony. Following the Cold War, Chinese interests evolved into more pragmatic pursuits such as trade, investment, and energy. In recent years, Beijing has identified the African continent as an area of significant economic and strategic interest.

China’s sharply accelerating domestic energy demand has spurred Beijing to pursue stable overseas sources of hydrocarbon fuels. In 2006, an estimated 25 percent of China’s total oil imports came from Africa, notably Sudan, Algeria, Angola, Nigeria and Chad. Chinese government firms have invested billions of dollars in foreign exchange and have used Chinese engineering and construction resources on infrastructure for developing oil, gas and other natural resources in African countries.

Africa not only exports natural resources to China but also imports Chinese commodities. China has been able to find a ready market for its cheap consumer products and is trying to take control of the African market. While in 1949, there were about 27,000 Chinese traders in Africa, this number had increased to 130,000 in 1999. South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco account for 58 percent of African imports from China.

China and Africa have set up various trade agreements in the past. In 2000, the first large-scale conference on Sino-African trade was held in Beijing with over 40 African States present. At the third Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in November 2006
China and Africa agreed to strengthen cooperation in politics, economy, international affairs and social development. China is now Africa’s third most important trading partner, behind the United States and France.

China’s current involvement in Africa has provoked much debate. Is China the latest imperial power out to exploit Africa’s natural resources, putting its own economic interests above environmental and human rights concerns? Or is China’s engagement an extension of South-South solidarity, enabling African countries to free themselves from economic dependence on and political interference from the West? Western political forces and media have criticized every aspect of China’s activities in Africa, while the Chinese have mounted a spirited defense. African responses to China’s growing involvement used to be overwhelmingly positive, but of late, a growing concern can be observed in the African media and certain sections of civil society about China’s impact on the continent.

An advantage of current Sino-African trade and aid relations is the increased room for manoeuvre for African States now that they are no longer totally dependent on the West. On the other hand, transparency and accountability are not among the core values cultivated in African-Chinese links. An illustration of the difference in approaches between the West and China vis-à-vis malgovernance in Africa is the suspension of Dutch government aid to Kenya in April 2006 because of long-standing concerns over corruption, while on the very same day China was busy securing an important oil exploration agreement with the same country.

Selected Web Resources

Online Articles

China and Africa: how will the Beijing Consensus benefit Africa? by Ellen Lammers
In: The Broker, no. 1 (April 2007)

China in Africa: it’s (still) the governance, stupid, by Akwe Amosu
FPIF Discussion Paper, March 9, 2007

photo Chinese flags in Africa China's African rise: the democracy dimension, by Ian Taylor
In: Open Democracy, November 2, 2006

China’s expanding role in Africa and implications for the United States, by Bates Gill, Chin-Hao Huang, and J. Stephen Morrison
CSIS Report February 5, 2007

China’s trade safari in Africa, by Jean-Christophe Servant
In: Le monde diplomatique, May 2005

The growing relationship between China and Sub-Saharan Africa: macroeconomic, trade, investment, and aid links, by Ali Zafar
In: The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 22, no. 1 (Spring 2007), p. 103-130

Cheapness and resentment: Chinese traders and local society in Oshikango, Namibia, by Gregor Dobler
Paper presented at the ASC Leiden seminar on 13 March 2008

Sudan’s foreign relations with Asia: China and the politics of ‘Looking East’, by Daniel Large
Institute for Security Studies Occasional Paper 158 , February 2008

Web Links

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
Africa page of the Ministry. Contains news items, extensive information on relations with individual African countries, and issues concerning regional organizations

Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)
Besides information on the Forum, follow-up actions, and documents, the page has latest news, and articles arranged under: topics, economic cooperation, friendly exchanges, spokespersons’ logo China-Africa Forum remarks, comments, and links (a.o. to Chinese embassies in
Africa)

Beijing Summit & Third Ministerial Conference
FOCAC Beijing 2006 official website

China View
China View, the English version of the Chinese news service Xinhuanet, has special reports on the Beijing Summit, Xinhua journalists reporting on China, China in
South Africa, Premier Wen’s visit to seven African countries in 2006, and the consolidation of China-Africa relations

Chinafrique
Site for the magazine on China's relations with
Africa, in French and Chinese. From the publishers of the Beijing Review, a Chinese government magazine.

Centre for Chinese Studies (Stellenbosch)
The Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) is the first institution devoted to the study of
China in Sub-Saharan Africa. It promotes the exchange of knowledge, ideas and experiences between China and
Africa. Has various publications, including the monthly China Monitor

International Conference: China and India, what’s in it for Africa
Papers presented at a conference held on 16-17 March 2006 at the OECD, Paris