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China's foreign policy agenda in Africa forms a part of
its thrust to foster cooperation among the developing countries
and demonstrate its status as an emerging superpower. The
2000 Beijing Declaration and the Program for China-Africa
Cooperation in Economic and Social Development are the basis
of the renewed relations. It has developed diverse and varied
relations with Africa in all spheres of interaction. However,
Africa's mineral and energy resources, required by China's
bourgeoning industry, are the major attraction of its re-engagement
with Africa in the 21st century. The accelerated growth
of China's trade and investment in Africa has stirred controversy
among academics and policy makers in terms of the nature
of opportunities and challenges for the continent's development,
and whether a neo-colonial pattern of relationship akin
to the one with the West is likely to develop. The imbalance
in trade and investment relations, partly due to economic
asymmetries, and China's failure to condemn the repressive
African governments and poorly managed economies point to
a foreign economic policy which is self-serving and influenced
by immediate short-term gains. China's foreign policy has
also led to a new great power rivalry in the continent of
Africa. Whether the global competition for Africa's market
will benefit the continent remains unclear and is largely
dependent on Africa's tact in negotiating and extracting
concessions from big powers.
Since the colonial era, Western nations and their multinational
corporations, as well as International Financial Institutions
(IFIs), have been the predominant players in African economies,
both as trading partners and as investors. The re-entry
of China to the continent of Africa in the 21st century
as the new economic power has stimulated heated academic
debate regarding implications for Africa and created the
new scramble for Africa's resources among the great powers.
China's rapid growth and her deepening and pervasive engagement
with Africa have also aroused consternation in the West.
This paper, therefore, analyzes the nature of China-Africa
relations in the 21st century as contained in the Beijing
Declaration, and by doing so it unravel factors that shape
China's foreign policy towards Africa. Second it discusses
the opportunities, challenges and shortcomings emanating
from the relationship, and the response of the African continent
to China's renewed interest as well as what must be done
to make it mutually beneficial.
Examination of China's foreign policy towards Africa, is
based on the assumption that domestic factors determine
a state's foreign policy regardless of its ideological,
political and economic setup or even size. Primarily, strategic
economic issues influence a state's foreign policy. China's
re-engagement with Africa forms a part of its global foreign
policy as an emergent superpower and transitional capitalist
economy, and is a reflection of domestic demands. Thus,
China seeks partners among developing countries as it tries
to assert itself in international affairs and challenge
the hegemony of the West over Africa. As a new and blossoming
capitalist economy, it is inevitable that China expands
overseas to Africa in search of raw materials, markets and
surplus extraction. In the current globalized World, China's
relations with Africa have centered on economic ties. Thus,
China's renewed links with Africa in the 21st century is
determined by the need to diversify sources of resources,
trade with as many partners as possible and seek new areas
of investment. These reflect the predominance of economics
in its foreign policy and contemporary international relations
as well as the demands of the global capitalist economy,
of which China has become the fourth largest, and great
power competition for resources. Globalization, defined
as intensified interdependence between national economies,
and more and more interdependence between political entities
such as states, helps to understand China's foreign policy
towards Africa, manifested in increased economic and political
ties. However, the nature of the relation is one-sided with
Africa more dependent on China, and not interdependent,
an indication that globalization is far from ideal.
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