China’s Engagement in Africa: A Comprehensive Analysis of Economic, Political, and Social Dimensions
摘要
Chinese engagement with Africa started gaining attention from the late 1990s but as history suggests that China had its presence in the African continent during the pre-colonial period as well. It supported various liberation movements in African countries during the colonial period and continued their support after these countries gained independence. Due to the consolidated efforts of Chinese leadership during the Cold War and post-Cold War, China looked for various platforms to engage with the African nations. Its strong policies like FOCAC provided it a leverage as compared to other African partners. The large amount of aids and investment that the Chinese provided in the African continent was difficult for others to match. Similarly, the African countries needed help with improving the infrastructure and somehow stabilise their economies and Chinese help seemed to be the best option. However, despite many problems and concerns with the Chinese way of working in African countries, they have continued to expand this engagement in a major way in the twenty-first century. With the recent rejections of some of the traditional powers in the African continent, China still has a lot of advantage in Africa. With this background, this chapter tries to assess the Chinese engagement with Africa in different areas.