ABSTRACT
This comparison will present in Chapter 4 one case (Darfur) where the PRC failed to undergo a meaningful shift in its more ‘traditional’ approach to security risk management in Africa with another in Chapter 5 (Somali piracy), where China did perform a meaningful shift to one more in line with the EU’s ‘modern’ approach. In the first case, this absence of a meaningful shift naturally translated in the absence of cooperation with the EU and in the second case, the perception of this shift permitted the a cooperative spirit only contributed to worsening the situation in Darfur, on counter-piracy this cooperative spirit indirectly went some way to eventually bringing down the number of successful pirate attacks in the region. As this study will set out to prove, it was the presence or absence of cognitive-based political trust between Chinese and European officials on the ground that determined whether they were to entertain competitive or cooperative relations in this regard.
