Reading the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (2000-2021): geoeconomics, governance, and embedding 'creative involvement'

• Published in: Area development and policy Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 60 - 83
• Main Authors: Cheng, Han, Mawdsley, Emma, Liu, Weidong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 02.01.2023
• Subjects: '一带一路'倡议; Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); China-Africa relations; cooperación Sur-Sur; desarrollo internacional; FOCAC; Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC); international development; Nueva Ruta de la Seda; relaciones entre China y África; South-South cooperation; инициатива 'Один Пояс - один Путь'; китайско-африканские отношения; международное развитие; сотрудничество Юг-Юг; 中非关系; 中非合作论坛; 南南合作; 国际发展
• ISSN: 2379-2949; 2379-2957
• DOI: 10.1080/23792949.2022.2092018

How China can promote its overseas commercial and strategic interests and protect its citizens and investments while continuing to adhere to a longstanding commitment to non-interference is a subject of intense policy and academic debate. A notion of 'creative involvement' has been developed to specify an increasingly flexible and pragmatic approach to projecting and managing China's expanding global interests. In this research a close reading of the Declarations and Action Plans of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) over the period 2000-21 reveals specific degrees and types of embedding of Chinese involvement in Africa's complex political economic landscape and an evolving reorientation of development cooperation policy practices shaped by growing concerns with African economic policy and local governance issues.