ABSTRACT
In Chapter 6, Joshua Eisenman and David H. Shinn examine China’s extensive network of economic, political, and military relationships in Africa. They note that China’s once strongly ideological foreign policy in Africa has become largely a quest for resources, markets, and strategic influence. The establishment of the China–Africa Cooperation Forum in 2000 has ushered in a new era in China’s relations with African nations and allowed Beijing to institutionalize a growing array of technical training, debt relief, financial aid, political cadre training, and infrastructure development projects. Eisenman and Shinn note that while China’s economic assistance, investment, and debt financing generally contribute to GDP growth in Africa, trade deficits may have pernicious long-term consequences. Of more immediate concern, Chinese norms of “non-interference” and its lack of discrimination in arms sales work to sustain a number of oppressive autocratic regimes.
