One French Scholar’s Widely Published Article This Week Encapsulate’s Every Anxiety About China’s Influence in Africa
The popular perception of China’s steadily growing presence in Africa has long been viewed with skepticism among France’s political, media, and academic elites who have historically regarded the continent, particularly francophone countries, as a traditional sphere of influence.
Most analysis and media coverage on the issue tends to frame Chinese engagement in Africa in a rather negative perspective. That was on full display this week when many of France’s largest news publications including Le Monde, Le Point and La Tribune among others all re-published an article by Thierry Vircoulon, coordinator of the Observatory for Central and Southern Africa at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
The article was riddled with inaccuracies including references to widespread African indebtedness to China (not true as only a handful of African countries have large Chinese debt portfolios), suggesting “millions” of Chinese have migrated to China (also not true as the best estimates now are that the number is well below a million) and so on.
The article is interesting both because it provides a concise summary of the many misperceptions that continue to inform how the French perceive the Chinese in Africa and the enormous appetite for this narrative given that so many leading publications picked up the article.
Key Highlights From Thierry Vircoulon’s Article “Chineafrique: Time for Problems”
- DEPENDENCE: “After twenty years, the remarkable and notable “success story” of China in Africa has consequences that now present [real] problems… The risk of economic dependence on China is highlighted by the debt issue… [and African governments’] dependence on Chinese politics is all-encompassing.”
- NEED FOR CHANGE: “After the honeymoon, China’s relationship with African governments is now in a lull… So far, handling the problems has mostly been one-sided. In the future, China and African countries will have to put in place cooperation mechanisms to deal with these issues, otherwise, their relationship may deteriorate slowly but surely.”
Read the original article by Thierry Vircoulon on The Conversation website (in French)
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The post One French Scholar’s Widely Published Article This Week Encapsulate’s Every Anxiety About China’s Influence in Africa appeared first on The China Africa Project.
source https://chinaafricaproject.com/2021/03/23/one-french-scholars-widely-published-article-this-week-encapsulates-every-anxiety-about-chinas-influence-in-africa/
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