The economic consequences of China–Africa relations: debunking myths in the debate

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThis study dissects with great acuteness some of the big questions on China-Africa relations in order to debunk burgeoning myths surrounding the nexus. It reviews a wealth of recent literature and presents the debate in three schools of thought. No substantial empirical evidence is found to back-up sinister prophesies of coming catastrophe from critics of the direction of China-Africa relations. In the mean, the relationship from an economic standpoint is promising and encouraging but more needs to be done regarding multilateral relations, improvement of institutions and sustainability of resources management. A number of positive signs suggest that China is heading toward the direction which would provide openings for a multipolar dialogue. While benefiting in the short-run, African governments have the capacity to tailor this relationship and address some socio-economic matters arising that may negatively affect the nexus in the long-term. Policy implications are discussed.

Natural Resource Exports, Foreign Aid and Terrorism

“…Contemporary examples include: (i) increasing investment from China in Nigeria's Delta region despite growing threats from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) (Obi, 2008) and (ii) China is still present in South Sudan in spite of all security risks because South Sudan represents about 5% of crude oil imports by China(Aguirre, 2014). This justification is consistent with the attendant literature on China's oil diplomacy and a long term economic strategy of engaging countries with outlooks of political instability and/or strife(Elu and Price 2010, Asongu andAminkeng 2013). As a policy implication, blanket policies aimed at employing development assistance to hedge to the potentially unfavourable impact of terrorism on fuel exports should be cautiously taken unless a prior negative terrorism-'fuel export' nexus is established.Another unexpected finding we have established is the negative incidence pertaining to the interaction between foreign aid and fuel exports.…”

Chinese Investments in Africa: What Have We Learnt?

“…Edoho (2011) identifies that Chinese investments in Africa not only is scrambling for African natural resources but also is a voracious competitor and a new colonizing power in Africa . Asongu and Aminkeng (2013) addressed Africans' opinions on Chinese presence in the respective countries . The findings suggest that Africans' views of China are nearly equivalent to those that they hold vis-à-vis western countries .…”

“…Furthermore, since the 1990s, the impacts of Chinese investments on different sectors in Africa have become a prominent topic . For instance, Asiedu (2006), Asongu and Aminkeng (2013) and (Mohan & Power, 2009) have contradictory views about the China's investments in Africa because of the difficulties in comprehensively assessing its impacts on Africa's poverty reduction efforts .…”

Large-Scale Land Acquisitions

“…In general, Chinese foreign investments have been blamed for relying on imported labour from China and on large-scale project designs, and for undermining environmental standards and offering limited benefits to target countries. While these reproaches may have merit in many cases, in others they do not accurately reflect economic dynamics, which have been stimulated by Chinese investments, and one is hard pressed to find differences with competing Western investment practices (Asongu and Aminkeng, 2013). Justified criticism of such practices notwithstanding, some Chinese projects have a genuine development motivation.…”