The Newsletter 60 Summer 2012

How China seduces Africa

Mamoudou GaziboOlivier Mbabia

During the last decade, China has managed to considerably establish its influence in the world, including in Africa. Some analysts have focused on economic imperatives, particularly in the energy sector, to identify what conditions have facilitated this achievement. Others have pointed to the absence of conditionality (democracy, human rights, good governance, etc.) in the Chinese approach towards Africa. Finally, another group of authors claim that by increasing its presence in Africa, China has been trying to promote a ‘Beijing consensus’ (in opposition to the Washington consensus), relying on “the example of their own model, the strength of their economic position and their rigid defence of the Westphalian system of national sovereignty”.

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