The Broader Meaning of FOCAC 2024

 Megatrends Afrika posted on 16 September 2024 a commentary titled "FOCAC 2024: Moving Away from Large Infrastructure Deals towards Normative Power of China" by Hangwei Li and Christine Hackenesch.

FOCAC 2024 shifted away from large-scale infrastructure deals towards "small yet beautiful" projects, thereby responding to international criticism on debt sustainability, and reflecting China's own economic slowdown.  FOCAC also demonstrated how China is increasingly positioning itself as a normative power in Africa, emphasizing its own modernization experiences as a potential model for African countries.  FOCAC stressed Xi Jinping's concept of "shared future" with Africa and China's "shared past" with the continent.  

Podcast on China-Africa and China-Eurasia

The Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute did a one hour podcast on 27 May 2020 titled "China's Wider Quest for Influence: Africa and Eurasia."

Jacques de Lisle, University of Pennsylvania, moderated the conversation with Josh Eisenman, Notre Dame, Chris Miller, Fletcher School, and me. The wide ranging discussion covered numerous aspects of the China-Africa and China-Eurasia relationship. 

African Support for China's Core Principles

The Spring 2020 issue of Orbis contains an article titled "Evolving Principles and Guiding Concepts: How China Gains African Support for its Core National Interests" by me and Josh Eisenman. This link only offers the abstract. Until I can figure out how to load the sharing mechanism and if you want a PDF copy of the entire article, please send an email to dhshinn@earthlink.net.

Under Xi Jinping, China has packaged its policies using two interrelated guiding concepts, the "Chinese Dream" and "The Community of Shared Future." These concepts represent the conceptual framework that China has created to engage African and other countries as it expands its diplomatic, economic, and security interaction with Africa. Beijing has successfully obtained African support or, at least, acquiescence for its core national interests: Taiwan, Tibet, the mistreatment of Muslim minorities, human rights, South China Sea, and Hong Kong.

China's New Defense White Paper and Africa

China's State Council published on 24 July 2019 its first defense white paper since 2015. The most recent one is titled "National Defense in the New Era."

There are few references to Africa in the white paper and no surprises. There is mention of China's "support base" in Djibouti, a euphemism for its military base. The paper continues to commit China to support of UN peacekeeping operations in Africa and the anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden. There is reference to the first meeting in 2018 of the China-Africa Defense and Security Forum and China's military contribution to combating Ebola in West Africa in 2014.