Editorial: Africa and China: cooperation, interactions and research

Abstract

It is convenient to identify the establishment of the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000 as the symbolic starting-point of a new phase of China’s engagement with Africa. This intensified engagement is driven by the imperatives of China’s current mode of accumulation which demands raw materials for its rapid industrialisation, and export markets for its manufactured products. It reflects China’s increased integration into the global capitalist economy since its adoption of the “Go out policy” in 1999. Thus in analysing the changing relationship between Africa and China, much attention must be given to the economic issues of trade and investment, and the role China has played in the commodities boom that has fuelled a period of strong economic growth on the continent. But while these economic realities are the basis of China’s current involvement with Africa, there are many other ways that China interacts with the continent, diplomatically, socially and culturally. Hence a comprehensive academic analysis of the modalities and impact of China’s engagement with Africa must encompass a complexity of issues at different levels of China’s intercourse with Africa. This requires both the concepts that can capture the dialectic of global trends and local responses, and the tools of multi-disciplinary perspectives.