Chinese Incursion and Impact in Africa

Abstract

Ever since the mid-1950s and 1980s, China has expanded its relations with Africa as part of its broader incursion and strategy of developing friendly relations with the “Third World Africa.” In recent years, China has achieved deeper ties with many African countries, and the issue of impact in Africa has received more attention. China has enjoyed a long relationship with Africa, which became more intense in post-Mao era as the policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of African states or to respect the sovereignty of African states endures. These relations cover the vast areas of trade, investment, diplomacy, foreign policy, economy, agriculture, education, health, transport, infrastructure, tourism, security, defence, military, oil and gas. We demonstrated that Chinese new interest in Africa was primarily in area of securing strategic and important natural resources like crude oil. Not surprisingly, the impact of Chinese incursion into Africa has not improved Africa’s economy significantly. This study is essentially qualitative and historical, and as such relies on secondary sources of data.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n1p283