How the China Model Plays in Africa

Asia Dialogue published on 27 August 2019 a commentary titled "The Chinese Model in Africa and Its Wider Challenge" by Tom Harper, University of Surrey.

The author argues that the principal advocates of the Chinese model in Africa are not Chinese elites but leaders in Africa such as South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa. He adds that the Chinese model comes with both a vision for economic development and financial resources to back it up.

China-Africa Telecommunication Relationship

The African Journal of Information and Communication published in 2016 a study titled "China and Africa: Alternative Telecommunication Policies and Practices" by Ewan Sutherland.

The author notes that China has not exported its domestic model of competing state-owned telecommunications operators, nor have those operators followed the "going out" strategy. China has won from hardware sales in Africa, while Africans have won wider access to telecommunications, including states rejecting the Washington Consensus model.

China and African Peace Operations

The first issue of the China Quarterly of International Strategic Studies published in April 2015 contains an article titled "Chinese Peace? An emergent Norm in African Peace Operations" by Steven C.Y. Kuo, analyst at Control Risks in Johannesburg.

The article highlights differences, identifies tensions, and recognizes complementarities between the dominant liberal and the emergent Chinese approach to peace building.  There is a special emphasis on Chinese peace operations in Liberia.  You can access a PDF version of the article by simply registering with the journal, which is published by the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

Chinese vs. Western Development Model in Africa

PRAXIS: The Fletcher Journal of Human Security published in 2012 an article titled "China in Africa: What the Policy of Nonintervention Adds to the Western Development Dilemma." The author is Madison Condon, a joint J.D./MALD candidate between Harvard Law School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Madison Condon/LinkedIn

The article makes the point that Chinese loans and investments are typically made in exchange for securing access to natural resources. Based on its principles of nonintervention and respect for sovereignty, "China gives this money with little or no strings attached."

The author argues that the Chinese model is a legitimate challenger to Western aid.

While the article contains some annoying imprecision as it intermingles investment, loans and aid, it does offer a useful juxtaposition of the so-called Washington and Beijing Consensus models.