Friday, October 16, 2020

North Africa's View of China

 The ChinaMed Project published on 9 October 2020 a report titled "China in the Mid-Med: Connectivity and Security" by Enrico Fardella, Ori Sela, Brandon Friedman, and Andrea Ghiselli.

It contains a brief section titled "Connectivity and Security in North Africa" by Eric Olander and Lina Benabdallah.  The authors conclude that while the elites have an overall positive perception of China, the general public in North African countries has a rather limited knowledge of China.  This seems on target.

The article also concludes that "Western countries or organizations offer very little by way of competition with China, and hence it is often the case that African countries have but one option--China."  When looking specifically at North Africa, this seems to exaggerate the situation.  Algeria and Egypt also have close ties with Russia while Morocco and Tunisia are closer to Europe and, to some extent, even the United States than to China.  The situation in Libya is especially complex because of the role played by Russia, Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, and a host of other countries.