https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4076-3793
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ABSTRACT
How China can promote its overseas commercial and strategic interests and protect its citizens and investments while continuing to adhere to a longstanding commitment to non-interference is a subject of intense policy and academic debate. A notion of ‘creative involvement’ has been developed to specify an increasingly flexible and pragmatic approach to projecting and managing China’s expanding global interests. In this research a close reading of the Declarations and Action Plans of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) over the period 2000–21 reveals specific degrees and types of embedding of Chinese involvement in Africa’s complex political economic landscape and an evolving reorientation of development cooperation policy practices shaped by growing concerns with African economic policy and local governance issues.
摘要
解读中非合作论坛, 2000–21: 地缘经济、治理和嵌入式‘创造性介入’。Area Development and Policy. 中国如何在坚守不干涉他国内政承诺的同时, 还能做到促进其海外商业和战略利益, 并保护其公民和投资收益的, 这是一个激烈的政策和学术辩论的主题。‘创造性介入’的概念已经形成, 用以明确指出一种越来越灵活和务实的方法来投射和管理中国不断扩大的全球利益。本文仔细解读了2000–21年中非合作论坛(FOCAC)的宣言和行动计划, 揭示了中国嵌入式参与非洲复杂政治经济格局的具体程度和类型, 以及由对非洲经济政策和地方治理问题日益关注而形成的发展合作政策实践的不断重新定位。
RESUMEN
Lectura del Foro sobre la Cooperación entre China y África, 2000–21: geoeconomía, gobernanza e integración de ‘participación creativa’. Area Development and Policy. Uno de los asuntos que despiertan un intenso debate político y académico es analizar cómo puede China fomentar sus intereses comerciales y estratégicos y proteger a sus ciudadanos e inversiones además de seguir manteniendo su compromiso prolongado de no injerencia. Se ha desarrollado la noción de ‘participación creativa’ con la finalidad de concretar un enfoque cada vez más flexible y pragmático para proyectar y gestionar los intereses mundiales en expansión de China. Para este estudio, una detallada lectura de las Declaraciones y Planes de Acción del Foro sobre la Cooperación entre China y África (FOCAC) entre 2000 y 2021 nos indica en concreto cuál es el tipo y nivel de integración de la participación china en el complejo ambiente político y económico de África y la reorientación en evolución de las prácticas políticas de desarrollo y cooperación ante las crecientes inquietudes con respecto a la política económica africana y sus problemas administrativos locales.
АННОТАЦия
Изучая Форум по китайско-африканскому сотрудничеству, 2000–21: геоэкономика, управление и внедрение ‘творческой вовлеченности’. Area Development and Policy. Вопрос о том, как Китай может продвигать свои коммерческие и стратегические интересы за рубежом и защищать своих граждан и инвестиции, продолжая придерживаться принципа невмешательства, является предметом интенсивных политических и академических дебатов. Понятие ‘творческой вовлеченности’ было разработано для определения все более гибкого и прагматичного подхода к проектированию и управлению расширяющимися глобальными интересами Китая. В этом исследовании внимательное прочтение деклараций и планов действий Форума по китайско-африканскому сотрудничеству (FOCAC) за 2000–21 годы выявляет конкретные степени и типы вовлечения Китая в сложный политико-экономический ландшафт Африки и развитие практики сотрудничества в целях развития, связанное с растущей обеспокоенностью африканской экономической политикой и проблемами местного управления.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Portions of this work draw on Han Cheng’s MPhil research thesis entitled ‘FOCAC’s “double movement” and the politics of China–Africa development cooperation: a critical assessment’ at the University of Cambridge.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. For the purpose of this article, ministerial conferences and summits are not distinguished and together referred to as FOCAC.
2. There is a substantial policy literature on FOCAC produced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and think tanks, serving various purposes and audiences. This article is informed by the relevant information, debates and stakeholder interests reflected in this literature.
3. These Five Principles are, namely: a mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity; non-aggression; non-interference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexistence.
4. The Special Representative was appointed in 2007 as China’s third appointment of the kind (the first two on affairs of the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula, respectively). The appointment was made at a particular timing, as conflicts and subsequent humanitarian crises in Darfur of Sudan were intensifying, which China was accused of fuelling for its oil ties and strategic interests (Large, Citation2008). Apart from the seriousness of this specific incident, the appointment was also part of China’s wider gradual opening towards multilateral approaches in its handling of foreign affairs, hence a regional representative in addition to ambassadors managing bilateral relations.
5. Specific detail was not discussed in the text, but before FOCAC VI the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pledged to train 1000 young African politicians in China between 2016 and 2018. The training would be ‘non-technical’, and on ‘how to govern a country, form and implement development plans, conduct youth work, and so on’ (FOCAC, Citation2015).
6. The conference first took place in 2015 in Beijing, but did not appear in the FOCAC documents until 2018.