Foreign Aid and Development in Sino-African Relations

Abstract

Recently, some emerging economies are beginning to challenge the existing international development architecture by doling out huge amounts of aid, both in cash and kind to countries in Africa, thereby playing a prominent role in the development of Africa. Amongst these new donors, China tops the list. There is great optimism about the potential benefits of China–Africa aid co-operation despite the doubts expressed by “Sino-skeptics or sinophobes.” This trust stems from two points: first, it is because China, which shares history of oppression and underdevelopment with Africa, deemed itself in a better position to be of veritable assistance to Africa, and second, Africa has plenty of lessons to draw from China’s development experiences. It is important that Africa must use the events of the past to shape the future, that is, draw lessons from its past history and experiences with the West and at the same time emulate the Chinese experiences in growth, development, poverty reduction strategy, etc. However, for China’s aid to guarantee Africa’s development, it is not only advisable for Africa to maximize and build on the complementarities across the different sectors (trade, investment, aid, etc.), which this relations offer, but that African government must develop good policies, adequate institutional framework and regulations when strategizing for development and engaging with China, as this will enable Africa to benefit in an all round way. The paper concludes, it is only when these factors are taken into consideration that Africa will be on the path to development.

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