Words from on High: The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Chinese Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Çin giderek kendisini küresel bir süper güç olarak öne sürerken, batılı akademisyenler ve politika yapıcılar, ulusun yurtdışındaki eylemlerine karşı her zamankinden daha fazla ihtiyatlı davrandılar. Özel bir endişe alanı, Çin Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi (BRI) tarafından finanse edilen ve yönetilen Sahra Altı Afrika'da büyüyen bir Çin ayak izinin algılanmasıdır. Açık kaynak araştırmasını kullanan bu makale, gerçekten de Çin'in Afrika'daki yatırımının artıp artmadığını belirlemeye çalışıyor. Ek olarak, bu makale, Afrika'daki Çin yatırımının BRI'nin sonucu olup olmadığını ve ne ölçüde olduğunu belirlemeye çalışmaktadır. Sonuç olarak, bu makale, Afrika'daki Çin yatırımının BRI'nin tanıtılmasından bu yana - mantık dışı bir şekilde - azaldığı sonucuna varıyor. Bu makale, Afrika'daki artan Çin varlığının hatalı algısının nasıl bu kadar yaygın olarak kabul görebileceğini ve bunun neden batılı okuyucuların Çinli yetkililerin sözlerini akılsızca yüzeysel değerde almalarının bir sonucu olabileceğini belirlemeye çalışıyor.

Keywords

• Kuşak ve Yol Girişimi
• Doğrudan yabancı yatırım
• Kamu-özel ortaklıkları
• Çin Komünist Partisi
• Borç tuzağı diplomasisi
• Kalkınma finansmanı

Words from on High: The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Chinese Investment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

As China increasingly asserts itself as a global superpower, western academics and policymakers have grown evermore wary of the nation’s actions abroad. One particular field of concern has involved the perception of a growing Chinese footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa, financed and directed by the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Using open-source research, this paper attempts to determine if, indeed, Chinese investment in Africa is growing. Additionally, this paper attempts to determine if and to what extent Chinese investment in Africa is the result of the BRI. Ultimately, this paper concludes that Chinese investment in Africa has – counterintuitively – decreased since the introduction of the BRI. This paper attempts to establish how the faulty perception of increased Chinese presence in Africa could come to be so commonly accepted, and why this might be the result of western readers unwisely taking the words of Chinese officials at face value.

Keywords

• Belt and Road Initiative
• Foreign direct investment
• Public-private partnerships
• Chinese Communist Party
• Debt-trap diplomacy
• Development finance

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