Based on an extensive literature review, in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and anecdotal evidence, this text examines China’s engagement with East Africa (notably Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) and considers these relationships through the lens of history, diplomacy, education, trade, media, cultural exchanges, and infrastructure. It probes the sentiments of pessimism, optimism, and pragmatism to explore perceptions about China in East Africa Africa. China’s ancient connection to the East African coast, as well as other incidents of contact in the past, are analyzed from the viewpoint of the deployment of Chinese soft power capital in current times. The book notably examines the significant role China is playing in the construction of new infrastructure and housing throughout East Africa and addresses China’s involvement in the natural resources sector and the political debate surrounding the construction of gas and oil pipelines, its investment in the tourism sector, in the news media and information and communication technology sectors as well as in educational and cultural programs.

The countries that make up Southeast Asia are seeing an incredible resurgence in their economic power. Over the past fifty years, their combined wealth has reached the same level as the United Kingdom and, taken together, they are on track to become the fifth-largest world economy. But that stability and success has drawn the attention of the second largest world economy--China. The emerging superpower is increasingly involved in Southeast Asia as part of the ongoing global realignment. As China deepens its influence across the region, the countries of Southeast Asia are negotiating spaces for themselves in order to respond to--or even challenge--China's power. This is the first book to survey China's growing role in Southeast Asia along multiple dimensions. It looks closely and skeptically at the multitude of ways that China has built connections in the region, including through trade, foreign aid, and cultural diplomacy. It incorporates examples such as the operation of Confucius Institutes in Indonesia or the promotion of the concept of guangxi.China's Footprints in Southeast Asia raises the question of whether the Chinese efforts are helpful or disruptive and explores who it is that really stands to benefit from these relationships. The answers differ from country to country, but, as this volume suggests, the footprint of hard and soft power always leaves a lasting mark on other countries' institutions.

In contemporary discourse on China-Africa relations, there are, on the one hand, the Sino-pessimists who see China as a giant vacuum-cleaner, sucking up Africa’s resources in order to fuel its own rapid industrialization, and destroying Africa’s development potential in the process. On the other hand, the Sino-optimists see China as the ultimate savior of Africa, capable of or willing to 'develop' the continent. Between the two divergent schools of thought are those sitting on the fence for the time being, the Sino-pragmatists, who are less sanguine for sure about what Africa would gain from China-Africa relations, but are nevertheless willing to reserve judgment until the dust settles. This book is innovative in two ways: it introduces a regional approach to the study of China-Africa relations by focusing on Eastern and Southern Africa; and it puts forward a disciplinary framework- disciplinary in both senses of that term- for interrogating the burgeoning literature about China-Africa relations by conceptualizing the three schools of thought mentioned above.

The global implications of China's rise as a global actor In 2005, a senior official in the George W. Bush administration expressed the hope that China would emerge as a “responsible stakeholder” on the world stage. A dozen years later, the Trump administration dramatically shifted course, instead calling China a “strategic competitor” whose actions routinely threaten U.S. interests. Both assessments reflected an underlying truth: China is no longer just a “rising” power. It has emerged as a truly global actor, both economically and militarily. Every day its actions affect nearly every region and every major issue, from climate change to trade, from conflict in troubled lands to competition over rules that will govern the uses of emerging technologies. To better address the implications of China's new status, both for American policy and for the broader international order, Brookings scholars conducted research over the past two years, culminating in a project: Global China: Assessing China's Growing Role in the World. The project is intended to furnish policy makers and the public with hard facts and deep insights for understanding China's regional and global ambitions. The initiative draws not only on Brookings's deep bench of China and East Asia experts, but also on the tremendous breadth of the institution's security, strategy, regional studies, technological, and economic development experts. Areas of focus include the evolution of China's domestic institutions; great power relations; the emergence of critical technologies; Asian security; China's influence in key regions beyond Asia; and China's impact on global governance and norms. Global China: Assessing China's Growing Role in the World provides the most current, broad-scope, and fact-based assessment of the implications of China's rise for the United States and the rest of the world.

As the United States slowly disengages from the Middle East and Europe faces internal challenges, a new actor is quietly exerting greater influence across North Africa: China. Beijing's growing footprint in North Africa encompasses, but is not limited to, trade, infrastructure development, ports, shipping, financial cooperation, tourism and manufacturing. It is continuing to expand its co-operation with North African countries, not only in the economic and cultural spheres, but also those of diplomacy and defence. This engagement with North Africa relates to the key aim of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which wants to connect Asia, Africa and Europe and sees potential in North Africa's strategic geographic location. This book is the first to analyse China's role in North Africa. It comprises of five leading country experts - Anouar Boukhars, Yahia Zoubir, Sarah Yerkes, Tareki Magresi and Nael Shama – who examine the various socio-economic, political and security aspects of China's relationship with Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. The book explores how China is displaying a development model that seeks to combine authoritarianism with economic growth, a model and that has an eager audience among regimes across the MENA region. It reveals how the China-North Africa relationship fits within the broader dynamics of increasing China-US rivalry. In doing so, contributors explain why China's growing role in North Africa is likely to have far-reaching economic and geopolitical consequences for both countries in the region and around the world.

Beginning in earnest at the turn of the twenty-first century, China embarked on a robust multilevel engagement strategy with a number of African states on three simultaneous fronts--economic, political, and military. The push was predicated by Beijing's need to secure energy and natural resources to fuel its booming economy and bolster its position as the world's manufacturing hub. The depth of China's engagement cannot be understated, and its increasing stakes in the security dimension of Africa's myriad conflicts is affecting the geopolitical landscape of a continent that has been in the past an exclusive domain of the West. C hina in Africa examines the multifaceted effects of China's engagement with the continent, both its many risks and opportunities. It provides critical and relevant information for understanding the strategic drivers, trends, and the potential impact of China in Africa. The book covers Chinese soft and hard power, energy and arms relations, and China's relations with individual African countries: Angola, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Ultimately, this volume serves to assist in improving U.S. policymakers' understanding of China's role in Africa and ensure that appropriate measures are taken to secure American interests in the region. Contributors include Mauro De Lorenzo (American Enterprise Institute), Drew Thompson (Nixon Center), Wenran Jiang (University of Alberta), Paul Hare (U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce), Susan M. Puska (Defense Group, Inc.), Ian Taylor (University of St. Andrews), Chris Zambelis (Helios Global, Inc.), David Shinn (GeorgeWashington University), Joshua Eisenman (American Foreign Policy Council), Yitzhak Shichor (University of Haifa), Greg Mills and Christopher Thompson (Brenthurst Foundation), Andrew McGregor (Aberfoyle International), and John C. K. Daly (United Press International).

"In Will Africa Feed China?, Deborah Brautigam, one of the world's leading experts on China and Africa, challenges the conventional wisdom that the Chinese are leading the great African land grab. Her eye-opening analysis sheds new light on the myths and realities of China's evolving global quest for food security"--