Review China’s Engagement in Africa: Scope, Signi¢cance and Consequences

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Introduction

‘China’s engagement in Africa: scope, significance and consequences’ is written by Dr. Denis M. Tull, the Deputy Head of the Research Division: ‘Middle East and Africa’, at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. In ‘China’s engagement in Africa: scope, significance and consequences’, China’s vastly increased involvement in Africa between the early 1990s and mid 2000s is being discussed. Dr. Tull has published several SWP Research Papers; which are politically relevant analyses of fundamental questions and current challenges of international politics. Furthermore, his work is frequently being published in academic journals, such as the Journal of Modern African Studies and the Journal of International Peacekeeping. The article therefore takes a significant place in the academic field.

Brief synopsis of main arguments

According to Denis Tull (2006),

China's vastly increased involvement in Africa over the past decade is one of the most significant recent developments in the region. It appears to contradict the idea of international marginalisation of Africa and brings significant economic and political consequences. China's Africa interest is part of a recently more active international strategy based on multipolarity and non-intervention. Increased aid, debt cancellation, and a boom in Chinese-African trade, with a strategic Chinese focus on oil, have proven mutually advantageous for China and African state elites. By offering aid without preconditions, China has presented an attractive alternative to conditional Western aid, and gained valuable diplomatic support to defend its international interests. However, a generally asymmetrical relationship differing little from previous African–Western patterns, alongside support of authoritarian governments at the expense of human rights, make the economic consequences of increased Chinese involvement in Africa mixed at best, while the political consequences are bound to prove deleterious. (p. 459)

Review

The article starts with an abstract overview of Tull’s findings, even before the actual introduction. This overview clarifies Tull’s findings to his research questions, which are mentioned in the introduction. Tull clearly describes the main focus of his research at the end of the introduction. The first half of the paper reviews to what extend China’s political and economic engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa has risen. Furthermore, it examines the underlying objectives and strategies of China’s shifting foreign policy towards the region, with particular emphasis on China’s oil interests. In the second part, Tull focuses on the impact of China’s renewed engagement on the countries of the region, by considering its economic and political consequences. So Tull defines his research questions by introducing the main focus of his research.