A Week After FOCAC, Experts Weigh in with More Nuance
While much of the news coverage in the immediate aftermath of this year’s FOCAC focused on the premature calculation that China had reduced its financial pledge by a third, now, a week later, more nuanced analysis from some of the world’s leading specialists in the field is beginning to emerge:
- MORE, NOT LESS FROM CHINA: “The overall direction of Africa-China relations is intensification rather than a cooling. Not only that, but the plans unveiled at FOCAC 8 are more African-led – again, based on, a careful reading of all of the speeches and documents in comparison to previous declarations and action plans” — Leah Lynch, Hannah Ryder, and Jing Cai from Development Reimagined (READ MORE)
- GREAT POWER RIVALRY: “While it is important to understand the China-Africa relationship on its own terms and in the context of its unique historical development, it is also increasingly relevant to see the relationship in a broader global context. In the wake of Blinken’s visit to Africa and the launch of US and EU rivals to the Belt and Road Initiative, it looks like the three year period between now and the next FOCAC will see increasing big power rivalry over Africa’s development pathway” — Ma Tianjie and Tom Baxter, Panda Paw Dragon Claw blog (READ MORE)
- AFRICA MUST FIGURE OUT WHAT IT WANTS FROM CHINA: “China-Africa relations have been nurtured on a heavy diet of credit lines in the last 20 years, and that seems to be changing if the content of the 2021 plan is anything to go by. Overall, China plays an important role as Africa’s development partner, but Africa must be more proactive and coordinated in its relationship with China. China has released three Africa policy papers since 2006 yet Africa is yet to develop a policy paper on China” — David Monyae, director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg (READ MORE)
- A NEW APPROACH FOR CHINESE DEVELOPMENT FINANCE: “China must boost standardization and transparency in its foreign aid and cooperation projects. Ultimately, this requires the enactment of a comprehensive foreign-aid law, focused on ensuring transparency and accountability. It is also critical to engage more actors, including the private sector and multilateral development banks, with a view toward blended financing” — Justin Yifu Lin, Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and Yan Wang from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center (READ MORE)
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