China’s Expanding Role in Africa: Implications for the United States
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies

The Chinese push forward in Africa raises the promise of achieving future gains that benefit Africa in significant, constructive ways, raising hopes that China will seriously turn its attention to long-neglected areas such as infrastructure development and that its strategic approach will raise Africa’s status globally, intensify political and market competition, create promising new choices in external partnerships, strengthen African capacities to combat malaria and HIV/AIDS, and propel the continent’s economic growth, enabling African countries to better integrate with the global economy.

This report identifies six key factors that significantly undergird the Chinese approach:

1. China’s quest to build a strategic partnership with Africa fits squarely within Beijing’s global foreign policy strategy and its vision of the evolving international system.
2. Chinese leaders and strategists believe China’s historical experience and development model resonate powerfully with African counterparts, thereby creating a comparative advantage vis-a-vis the West.
3. China’s history of friendly, respectful, and helpful political linkages with Africa is thought to provide a durable foundation for a future strategic partnership.
4. China believes Africa is on the verge of a developmental takeoff.
5. China’s policymakers are confident that a state-centric approach to Africa will build strategically on Beijing’s core strengths and align with the stated preferences of African countries.
6. Policymakers believe it is in China’s interest to engage third parties on Africa, but cautiously, slowly, and with serious reservations.

+ Full Paper (PDF; 1.08 MB)

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 11:33 am and is filed under Africa, China, International Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.