Assessment of China’s foreign aid for Cameroon in 2009-2020

Abstract

The visit of Jia Quinglin from China to Cameroon in 1971 and the formal President's Ahmadou Ahidjo of Cameroon return visit to China in 1973 started paving the way for Sino--Cameroon relations. Huge progress has been made towards advancing the cooperation of these two nations. This cooperation has had significant impact on both economies. China's relations with Cameroon have been more or less like an economic livewire to Cameroon, although it cannot be ruled out that it has also some drawbacks. Chinese presence in Cameroon has been growing and is concentrated in the private sector. Areas of Chinese presence include construction, agriculture, and medium size businesses. Cameroon has not only witnessed enormous increase of Chinese investment and presence, but also of Chinese foreign aid. China's foreign aid to Cameroon in the past years has been very much consistent and enormous. The main question here is what impact has this aid on Cameroon and Cameroonians? Cameroon is one of China's major partners in Africa and also a beneficiary of China's benevolent activities in Africa. China's foreign assistance has been gearing towards the development of the local economy. This paper, therefore, seeks to explore the contribution and impact of China's foreign aid on Cameroon in the period of 2009-2020. 102 Acta Politica Polonica Polycap Mudohhegemony. A gooutandbuy policy, initiated by the Chinese policy makers, has its primary focus on the approach which has witnessed a Chinese oil resource corporation migrating to Africa, Central Asia, and South America to secure raw material supplies (IDE-JETRO, 2021). China this far has been able to establish itself as a major Official Development Assistance (ODA), due to its rapid economic growth. This role did not only bring China to a centre stage, but also has evoked fears in the minds of major donors. Some opinions have greatly criticised China's role in Africa which has been perceived as the new scramble for Africa (Stahl, 2018). Nevertheless, the western traditional donors might have decided to change their strategies and develop their ODA departments' foreign policies. The alarm which accompanies China's entry into Africa mirrors the Western countries' fears of China's position as a challenger in the world economy (Lönnqvist, 2008). However, this is contrary to what most leaders in presentday Africa thinks. Just as many African governments have consciously turn to China as a potential partner in national development and regime legitimacy, African citizens have increasingly reached out to China for useful resources for personal and business progression (Mohan, Lampert, 2013). Chief Mukuni, the Head of Leya tribe, believes that Zambia now have 73 tribes, with the addition of the Chinese. He went further to insist on removing visas for Chinese tourists during the dry season, concluding that "We don't care about the color of the money, we just want to boost our tourist industry" (Yoneva, 2017). Some areas of China's influence in Africa include development projects, technical cooperat...