Abstract
Africa in the twenty-first century has become a destination for foreign investment from all corners of the globe to the extent that we may talk of the globalisation of foreign investment on the continent. In the study of the effects of globalisation on contemporary society, foreign investment features as a salient issue for intellectual discussion of issues such as agency, soft power, and symmetry. Rather than being an obscure technical-economic notion, it has become a popular and popularised topic for analysing political, economic, and cultural aspects of national and continental development. In this paper, we outline the important role that China has played in the globalisation of investment in Africa, and argue that China has, indeed, created a paradigm shift with respect to its investment engagement with the African continent. This paradigm shift can be calibrated in terms of the volume of engagement; in terms of the speed and efficiency with which investment projects are completed; and, in terms of the very discourse of trade and investment. The argument is further advanced by discussing some of the main features of Chinese investment that distinguish it from that of other global players on the African continent, such as Europe and India. The paper ends with an outline of the strategies China can pursue, and the pitfalls China must avoid, if it is to consolidate its leading role on the African continent in the second decade of the twenty-first century.
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Notes
- 1.
This chapter focuses on Chinese FDI. For a discussion of FDI from traditional partners such as the EU countries, see Bodomo (2011).
- 2.
Other partners such as Japan and India may have done similar things to smaller degrees but the Chinese engagement is a complete paradigm shift exactly in terms of the three ways outlined: volume, efficiency, and the very discourse of trade, investment and development assistance.
- 3.
An anonymous reviewer has challenged this view of Africa–China relations by claiming that “[r]hetoric and reality are two different entities…”. To this I, the first author, say he or she is entitled to his or her opinion while I am entitled to mine in outlining all facets of the Chinese engagements. One thing I am sure about is that I find the discourse of Western imposition of conditionalities on Africa nauseating, to say the least!
- 4.
For instance, in an April 8, 2017 news article titled: Chinese Mission angry over galamsey, rather than constructively engaging the stakeholders involved, the Chinese ambassador in Ghana is reported to be blaming the country’s news media for reporting harshly on Chinese activities in the illegal surface mining industry, called “galamsey” in Ghana (Nyabor 2017).
- 5.
An anonymous reviewer has challenged this notion of telling China to contain its own populations in Africa by claiming that since “there are more than 2000 companies [in Africa], it would be impossible to coordinate various activities.” I think this would be a huge excuse on the part of China to not do anything to rein in its own populations committing crimes in Africa. The first author has researched the African presence in Guangzhou and other parts of China quite extensively and can attest clearly that on several occasions local governments have often appealed to ambassadors and other diplomats (and even me as a researcher) to do something to impress on our fellow Africans to stop committing crimes in China. Why can’t this be told to Chinese committing crimes in Africa?
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The authors thank the reviewers and especially the editors of this book, Ross Anthony and Uta Rupert, for closely reading through the paper and making critical comments and suggestions that improved the content. All errors remain the authors’ responsibility.
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Bodomo, A., Che, D. (2020). The Globalisation of Foreign Investment in Africa: In Comes the Dragon. In: Anthony, R., Ruppert, U. (eds) Reconfiguring Transregionalisation in the Global South. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28311-7_4
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