Sommaire :
This new book in the Pambazuka Press ‘China and Africa’ series explores China’s deepening engagement in Africa from the rarely heeded perspectives of African and Chinese civil society organisations.
Description
The deepening engagement of China in Africa since the end of the cold war has led to debates about the evolving nature of this relationship. Yet the focus of analysis has largely been confined to the interactions between states. Little attention has been paid to the growing dialogue between Chinese and African civil society organisations. This collection of essays, written by scholars and activists, explores the interaction between African and Chinese non-state actors and argues that the future of Africa-China relations rests on including such voices if a robust and vibrant engagement and a meaningful relationship are to be sustained.
Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa assesses China’s activities in Africa through patterns of investment, legal cooperation, effects on the environment, trade, aid and labour links, questions of peace, security and stability, the African Union response, possible regulatory interventions and the future strengthening of an Africa–China CSO dialogue.
Table of Contents
Introduction – Axel Harneit-Sievers, Sanusha Naidu and Stephen Marks
Part I Ongoing debates
African studies in China: a historiographical survey – Li Anshan
China in Africa: a maturing of the engagement? – Sanusha Naidu
Matching China’s activities with Africa’s needs – Sanou Mbaye
Part II Macroeconomic dimensions
China’s strategic relations with Africa – Zeng Qiang
Chinese development assistance to Africa: aid, trade and debt – Nancy Dubosse
Trade, investment and legal cooperation between China and Africa – Hong Yonghong
Part III Country case studies
Ethio-China relations: challenges and prospects – Gedion Gamora and K. Mathews
China’s impact on Kenya’s clothing industry – Paul Kamau
The impact of Chinese imports on Nigerian traders – Edwin Ikhuoria
The dragon is not green enough: the potential environmental impact of Chinese investment in the DRC – Claude Kabemba
Disappearing forests, disappearing hope: Mozambique – Daniel Ribeiro
The West’s retreat and China’s advance in Angola – Elias Isaac
Part IV China, the African Union and the quest for peace
The Darfur issue and China’s role – He Wenping
The role of China in peace and security in Africa – Desire Assogbavi
The role and place of the African Union in the emerging China–Africa partnership – Francis Ikome
Part V Perspectives for civil society participation
Chinese perceptions of African CSOs: how should African CSOs engage China? – Xiao Yuhua
Sino-African relations: reflections on civil society engagement – Antony Otieno Ong’ayo
The Global Environmental Institute: regulating the ecological impact of Chinese overseas enterprises – Zhi Yingbiao and Bai Jie
Conclusion
China–African civil society dialogue in perspective – Axel Harneit-Sievers, Li Anshan, Sanusha Naidu and Stephen Marks
Detailed info
Title : Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa
Authors : Li Anshan, Desire Assogbavi, Nancy Dubosse, Gedion Gamora, Edwin Daniel Ikhuoria, Francis Ikome, Bai Jie, Claude Kabemba, Paul Kamau, K. Mathews, Sanou Mbaye, Antony Otieno Ong’ayo, Zeng Qiang, Daniel Ribeiro, He Wenping, Zhi Yingbiao, Xiao Yuhua
Edited by : Axel Harneit-Sievers, Stephen Marks, Sanusha Naidu
Audience : Activists, campaigners, NGO-workers, academics, journalists, commentators
BISAC : POL033000 POLITICAL SCIENCE / Globalization | POL011000 POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations
BICS : JFFS Globalization, JPS International relations
Format Paperback | ISBN-10 : 1-906387-33-8 | ISBN-13 : 978-1-906387-33-4 | Reference no. : 9781906387334 | Publication Date September 2010 | Nb of pages : XVI – 274 Includes Index | Dimensions 12.9 x 19.8 x 1.5 cm | List Price £16.95 | Buy the book here
Format Adobe PDF : ISBN-10 : 1-906387-34-6 | ISBN-13 : 978-1-906387-34-1 | Reference no. : 9781906387341 | Publication Date September 2010 | Nb of pages : XVI – 274 Includes Index | List Price £16.95 | Buy the PDF here
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Amir Demeke says
At the global roundtable on African affairs and international diplomacy the debate continues regarding the role that China has played and will play in Africa’s development. From the engaged, yet visibly antagonistic Western perspective, one frequently hears the outcry against Chinese neo-colonialism and indiscriminate foreign investment trends. While the global North and China vie for top trade partner position in Africa, many question whether Africa has become the political pawn in imperial war. However, what are the Chinese and more importantly, the African communities saying about the growing presence from China in Africa? Mandated to further dialogue and action towards human rights and social justice in African communities, Pambazuka Press recently put forth a contribution to this discussion with its latest publication, Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa. The book is this week’s recommended reader aimed to give macrocosmic perspective to our daily intercultural experience throughout the African continent.
Li Anshan of Peking University traces a shifting focus in contemporary history of African studies in China from politically driven beginnings of translating major world references on Africa to the recent proliferation of university programs and international academic exchanges. Specifically noted were the early commitment of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to studying Africa and supporting African national liberation movements in the 1960s and 1970s, the founding of the Chinese Association of African Studies (CAAS) (1979) and the Chinese Society of African Historical Studies (CSAHS) (1980), and the broadened focus in academia and government beyond economics, law, international relations, socialism, and democratization in Africa to an action-oriented Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000.
Similarly, Zeng Qiang traces the history of international relations between China and Africa with the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and China’s subsequent policy toward independent African nations of non-interventionist, peaceful coexistence. He offers concrete examples of China’s contributions to agriculture education, health, infrastructure, and ICT sectors across the African continent and the equally important debt write-offs that have taken place in the last ten years.
Sanusha Naidu offers a valuable analysis of the underlying economic factors to Sino-African relations and poses the essential question as to whether China’s engagement in Africa ultimately aims at increasing stabilization. Highlighting the Chinese commodities crunch set against a global backdrop of the American-led global economic implosion, Naidu makes it plain that Chinese interest in Africa is resource-driven with nearly 80% of Chinese imports classified as oil or petroleum-based since 2000. Nancy Dubosse offers a similar summary based upon the Chinese divergence from national development agendas in aid dependent nations like Angola and Zambia to focus intensively on the extractive sector. Naidu also argues that the consolidated Chinese foreign investment in Africa shows no indication of decline while reminding the reader to consider not only the prioritization that China places on its relations to the global North, but also the class-based division that has increased via Chinese engagement with strongly entrenched political elites. Predicting an increase in the general outcry for social justice in immediate years to come, one infers that China will continuously need to factor political instability and restructure investment to the changing political landscape.
While covering China in relation to Darfur, He Wienping aptly identifies U.S. foreign policy, oil dependency, and diplomatic bullying as principal factors to the elevation of this conflict over others in Africa as well as the concern for Chinese-Sudanese diplomatic relations. However, he does not fail to detail the extensive investment made by China into Sudan since 1959, most notably in oil pipelines and infrastructural development, which enabled Sudan to shift from net oil importer to shipping crude oil at over 80% of total exports. While it still reads as defensive of Chinese foreign policy, the section brings facts to the table for consideration such as the China’s promotion of diplomacy over sabotage through economic sanctions.
Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa offers additional country case studies, noting China’s support of Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and its strengthened bi-lateral relations with Ethiopia since 1991, which have led to infrastructural development for Ethiopia and market diversification for China. Relations in Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Angola provide diverse examples of the duality of the African experience with China that are essential for those policy makers who wish to contextualize their present negotiations.
Ultimately what the book demands of us is to call into question not only the motives, capacity, and record of the Chinese to impact the course of Africa’s development or destabilization, but prepare us to monitor the moral and political will of our leaders to efficiently utilize the capital that China eagerly infuses into the Continent. To strive to have a broadly balanced outlook is a critical challenge and Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa can take us a step further towards obtaining that outlook. Order a pre-publication copy electronically via http://fahamubooks.org. The book releases officially on 30 September and will be available in Rwanda and Uganda through Fountain Publishers in Kampala.
– Amir Demeke is Kigali-based activist currently enrolled at the Confucius Institute, a non-profit institute within the Kigali Institute of Education aimed at promoting Chinese language and culture and enhancing cultural and academic collaboration and exchanges between China and Rwanda.
Socialist Standard says
Nov 1, 2010
There may be a prevalent view of Africa as a continent immersed in poverty, but in fact it is rich in many things, minerals and energy, for instance. Efforts by the wealthiest and most powerful countries to exploit these resources have carried on since the end of classical colonialism and the coming of ‘independence’, and these have helped ensure the continuation of poverty for the vast majority of Africans. As China joins the club of developed capitalist states, it also sees Africa as a source of raw materials and a market for exports. This volume gives a wide-ranging overview of China’s activities in Africa, with chapters by activists and academics from both China and Africa. Almost without exception, the most interesting essays are those by African authors, with those by Chinese contributors being largely bland and uncritical.
Bilateral trade between China and Africa has increased over the last decade to more than $US100 billion. As Chinese capitalism expands, it needs to import raw materials of various kinds, and nearly 80 percent of China’s imports from Africa are oil and petroleum products. For instance, 500,000 barrels of oil are exported to China from Angola each day, and it is only Chinese companies, with mainly Chinese employees, who carry out this work, so Chinese industry benefits from both the oil and the extraction work. Furthermore, China is a major producer of wood and paper products, but has relatively little by way of forestry resources, hence Chinese companies undertake logging in Mozambique and Tanzania. Minerals such as iron ore, copper and uranium are imported to China from Liberia, Zambia and Niger.
At the same time, China exports finished goods to Africa. In Nigeria, for example, cheap Chinese textiles have undercut domestically-produced goods, increasing local unemployment. Chinese companies export cheap, and sometimes dangerous, goods aimed specifically at the African market, where consumers have little money to spend. Arms sales from China to Africa are also an important source of profits, with Sudan, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe among the purchasers.
The book contains a few pointless policy ideas, such as the African Union playing a larger role in supervising Sino-African relations. Its usefulness lies elsewhere, in showing the extent to which China is acting in essentially the same way as the other capitalist powers, and how the workers and peasants of Africa remain subject to the exploitation and oppression of both ‘home-grown’ and global rulers.
Vol. 106 Issue 1275
– Paul Bennett