China's Relations with African Sub-regions: The Case of West Africa

Abstract

Until recently, ‘China in West Africa’ has been less exposed to the scrutiny of observers of China–Africa links than China in North, East, Southern, or even Central Africa. The reasons are both historical and ideological. Historically, apart from West Africa, all other sub-regions were known to the Chinese as early as the tenth to the sixth centuries BC. Indirect1 and direct interactions existed since 138–126 BC, when Zhang Qian accomplished his diplomatic mission for the Han Dynasty.2 Moreover, Africa (Guinea, Mali and Ghana, and Senegal to a lesser extent) adopted a progressive stance, which was the main drive to relations with Mao’s China. At the same time, both China and West Africa relied heavily on non-alignment discourse to call for mutual support in Cold War-dominated world affairs, which produced a congruence of political interests.

This report aims at shedding light on the Chinese involvement in the sub-region and the implications for incumbent governments and constituencies, as well as regional institutions. Five core areas are covered: political interaction; the economy (specifically, development assistance and contracting); environmental and labour implications; trade and investments; and governance. To bring out existing particularities in China’s involvement, we elaborate on four case studies: Benin, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia. For the purposes of this publication, we will be presenting two of these cases, Benin and Côte d’Ivoire. Our assessment of the Chinese impact on West African development looks closely inter alia at the governance factor. This is based on the Ibrahim Index on African Development. This is a five-variable index, with variables including: safety and security; rule of law, transparency and corruption; participation and human rights; sustainable economic development; and human development.