China's Special Economic Zones in Africa: Who Are They For?

HAL archives-ouvertes published in December 2018 a paper titled "China in Africa: Phoenix Nests versus Special Economic Zones" by Thierry Pairault, emeritus director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

The paper focuses on the question of whether the Overseas Economic and Commercial Cooperation Zones (OECCZ) model that China is proposing in African countries and those along the Silk Road matches the definition of a SEZ as understood by Chinese researchers and commentators themselves. The author tentatively concludes that the OECCZ is above all "building a nest to accommodate the Phoenix [China]" without much consideration for the host countries' needs.