China in Africa: Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Considerations

At a meeting in late May/early June 2007 at the Kennedy School of Government, senior African, Chinese, American, and European diplomats, practitioners, businessmen, NGO leaders, and scholars evaluated the yin and yang of China’s mixed impact on contemporary Africa. They welcomed China as a force for GDP growth in Africa; simultaneously, they worried that China was a malign influence—a modern colonial colossus intent on stripping Africa of its wealth without leaving sustainable structures behind. At present, there is little technology transfer, little capacity building, and little attention given to good governance and effective institutions. China’s slapdash approach to safety issues, especially in mining, has also been exported to Africa.