China and Economic and Political Development in Sub-Saharan Africa - Coursework Example

 1. Describe China’s interests in Africa and the impact of Sino-African relations on economic and political development in Sub-Saharan Africa. China has emerged as an influential economic power and has expanded its role in Africa. There has been historic political and economic links with China but the recent increase in links with Africa has risen up questions regarding the protection of interests of all stakeholders. Historically, China has supported the independence movement in Africa along with continuous investments in developmental projects.

China has been showing such an interest to reach out and gain advantage from African resources and trade opportunities. There has been increasing benefits as a result of increasing African markets for Chinese products as well as arms. Sea routes and Air routes have opened up as a result of a growth in economic deals between the countries. Another reason for such interest is to challenge the economic and other such security interests of US in the region. Such a relationship has resulted in mutual benefits for both countries as Africa has gained huge investments resulting in growth in various sectors.

There has been huge impact on economic as well as political development in sub-saharan Africa. China has engaged economically with Africa in three different forms including investment, aid and trade. China is now the second largest trading partner of Africa with total trade rising to around $2.2 Trillion in the year 2009. In the area of investment, around 3% of direct investment flows from China to Africa. Major Chinese companies including Samsung electronics, Phillips and Sony electronics have been investing in Africa.

However, there has been less Chinese investment in the manufacturing sector along with heavy reliance on labor imported from china with the African labor receiving fewer benefits. China has also given huge amounts of aid mostly in the form of concession loans as well as subsidized loans. It has also become an active member of the African Development Bank. 2. Critically assess the impact of China’s relations with sub-Saharan African countries. As a result of a growth in the relationship between China and Africa, there have been gains as well as losses for Sub-Saharan African countries.

However, there are increasing concerns regarding the longer term impacts on Africa. There have been researches and some of them suggest that the negative effects of these relations may outweigh the positive ones. Some parts of the sub-Saharan Africa have been experiencing trade surpluses including Sudan, Angola, Congo etc while others have recorded continuous trade deficits. Due to China`s increasing interest for energy, minerals and bio-fuels, the manufacturing sectors have witnessed considerable decline.

Along with this, local producers have been facing increasing difficulties regarding in competing with the imported Chinese products especially clothing goods. Cheaper products from China have further resulted in huge loss of jobs for workers in African countries. According to the video, the trade between china and Africa has grown by ten folds and risen to around hundred billion dollars. The video further shows the huge investments made by China for growth in Africa including the supply of hard working Chinese labor.

However, it should be noted that in return China has also been receiving hundreds of oil gallons in return for their trade and other investment projects. Works Cited: 1. "Original Article." The European Journal of Development Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2013. .