More African countries on the route: the positive and negative impacts of the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

The grand vision was launched in 2013 originally as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) initiative. OBOR involves China underwriting billions of dollars of infrastructure investment linking countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. At the centre of the plan are two physical routes: the Silk Road Economic Belt, stretching from Asia to Europe; and the twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road that begins in China and passes along the Indian Ocean littoral to East Africa and then Europe. The nature of this economic initiative seeks to create a community of shared prosperity, in which nations can share mutual benefits and coexist peacefully along the trade routes. The paper examines China–Africa relations, centring on the possibility of expanding the OBOR initiative to cover more African nations. Also, it examines the investment environment of Africa and its significant for more African slot. Africa should provide enabling business environment to grasp the OBOR’s opportunities.

Keywords:

• Africa
• China
• infrastructure
• investment
• OBOR

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

Notes

1 What Did China Accomplish at the Belt and Road Forum? The Diplomat. May 16, 2017. Retrieved from: http://thediplomat. com/2017/05/what-did-china-accomplish-at-the-belt-and-road-forum/

2 Ibid.

3 See Charles Clover and Lucky Homby, “China’s Great Game: Road to a New Empire.” Financial times, October 12, 2015.Retrieved from https://next.ft.com/content/6e098274-587a-11e5-a28b-50226830d644#axzz3pCLXHStT.

4 “China’s ‘Belt and Road’ opens up new business in Africa — for both the U.S. and China’. The Washington Post. 24 July, 2017. Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/07/24/chinas-belt-and-road-opens-up-new-business-in-africa-for-both-the-u-s-and-china/?utm_term=.8e8fa99394dd.

5 “What crisis? 16 of China’s biggest projects in Africa – It’s all billion-dollar territory in here.” Mail and Guardian, 19 September, 2015. Retrieved from www.mgafrica.com/article/2015-09-18-multi-billion-dollars-deals-chinas-27-biggest-active-projects-in-africa

6 See Charles Clover and Lucky Homby, “China’s Great Game: Road to a New Empire.” Financial times, October 12, 2015.Retrieved from https://next.ft.com/content/6e098274-587a-11e5-a28b-50226830d644#axzz3pCLXHStT.

7 The ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ Is Not ‘China’s Marshall Plan’. Why Not? The Diplomat, January 26, 2016. Retrieved from: www.thediplomat.com/2016/01/the-belt-and-road-initiaive-is-not-chinas-marshall-plan-why-not/

8 “Why African Nations Welcome China”. The Diplomat, 16 February 2017. Retrieved from www.thediplomat.com/2017/02/why -african-nations-welcome-china/

9 Yun Sun, Inserting Africa into China’s One Belt, One Road Strategy: A new opportunity for jobs and infrastructure. Brookings Institute, 2March 2015. Retrieved from www.brooking.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/03/02-africa-china-jobs-infrastructure-sun

10 Kenya is also the only African country included in a recent Xinhua New promotional video explaining the Belt and Road Initiative (see https://twitter.com/XHNews/status/709752281692921856

11 Zhou (2014) argues that the 15 months long standoff caused by disagreement on transit fee remittance between South and North Sudan affected oil production and export to China

12 He, ‘When BRIC becomes BRICS’; Wang, ‘South Africa’s role in the BRICS and the G-20’.

13 ‘Media remarks by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane’

14 Franz Crul, China and SA on their Way to Sustainable Trade Relations (Stellenbosch: Tralac, May 2013), available at: http://www.tralac.org/files/2013/05/S13IP022013-Crul-China-and-SA-on-their-way-to-sustainable-trade-relations-20130529-fin.pdf (accessed 15 October 2015).

15 Wang, ‘South Africa’s role in the BRICS and the G-20’

16 13% of China’s global oil imports came from Angola in 2014 (see http://www.statista.com/statistics/221765/chinese-oil-imports-by-country).

17 Five 13% of China’s global oil imports came from Angola in 2014 (see http://www.statista.com/statistics/221765/chinese-oil-imports-by-country).

18 African Union and SADC discuss intra-regional trade plans. Bridges Africa, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development.15 June 2014. Retrieved from www.ictsd.org/bridges-news/bridges-africa/news/african-union-and-sadc-discuss-intra-regional-trade-plans

19 Yun Sun, Inserting Africa into China’s One Belt, One Road Strategy: A new opportunity for jobs and infrastructure. Brookings Institute, March 2, 2015. Retrieved from www.brooking.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/posts/2015/03/02-africa-china-jobs- infrastructure-sun

20 World Energy Outlook, Electricity Access Data Base (IEA: 2016). Retrieved from http://www.worldenergyoutlookorg/resources/energydevelopment/energyaccessdatabase/accessed June 2, 2017, http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org

21 Xinhua Insight: West China seeks fortune on modern Silk Road. Xinhua, 15 May 2016. Retrieved from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-05/15/c_135360904.htm