Africa matters for this vision for two reasons: its economic potential and the threats to that potential posed by the continent’s seemingly eternal problems of ethnic, religious, and political violence. As Forbes notes, Africa boasts a “rapidly expanding population, abundant natural resources, and rising digital connectivity”, giving it high potential for growth in consumer goods, financial services, and high-tech. But it is also [12] beset by terrorism, insurgency, piracy, and other forms of mass violence, and these directly affect both China’s economic investments and its ability to bring Chinese goods to African markets and vice versa. For this reason, two of Beijing’s most important geographic focus areas on the continent are the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Guinea, where trade routes and instability intersect.
“Africa matters for China’s vision for two reasons: its economic potential and the threats to that potential posed by the continent’s seemingly eternal problems of ethnic, religious, and political violence.”
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strongly believes that development and security are linked, and this informs Beijing’s initiatives in Africa, as elsewhere. For the CCP, economic development creates the conditions for long-term security and stability. But in the short-term, especially in environments like that found in much of Africa, lack of security threatens the type of investment that can enable development. For this reason, China’s security and economic activities in Africa are tightly linked. In part to protect its investments in Africa, China has a military base in Djibouti, one of only two outside its borders. It also has invested heavily in training African police and lawyers, training over 40,000 from some 40 African countries. Finally, Beijing is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations on the continent, with some 80% of all Chinese peacekeepers deployed to Africa. In all, over 32,000 Chinese soldiers have served in UN missions there, the highest number among permanent members of the UN Security Council. [14] One area where Chinese and Russian activities in Africa align is in whipping UN votes of African countries. Like Russia, China leverages its history of support for Africa’s anti- colonial movements into support in the UN, especially on issues related to Taiwan. [13]
// RUSSIA AND CHINA IN AFRICA Delphi Global Research Center
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