中欧社会论坛 - China Europa ForumChina in Africa: European Perceptions and Responses to the Chinese Challenge
Denis M. Tull
African Studies Program The Johns Hopkins University
www.swp-berlin.org/common/get_document.php?asset_id=5611
As elsewhere, China’s rapidly increasing involvement in Africa over the last few
years has drawn significant attention in Europe. The reasons for this are not hard to
identify. Firstly, European countries, along with the US and Japan as well the
international financial organizations in which they have large stakes, considered
themselves to be the main players in Africa’s external relations. Secondly, there was a
widespread sense of incredulity that a rising superpower should show a keen interest in a
continent that large parts of the European public regard as hopeless on account of its
widespread poverty and wars.
Horrific conflicts and South African apartheid aside, it is hard to think of any
Africa-related phenomenon that has received as much attention by the public, the media
and political circles in Europe over the past decades than China’s involvement in Africa.
As is usual within the European Union, assessments and responses were not uniform,
oscillating between sometimes shrill alarmist views and more balanced accounts that
reflected the difficulties to grapple with China’s largely unexpected return to Africa.
This paper examines European representations, perceptions and responses to
China’s challenge in Africa. The difficulty lies in the fact that neither Europe and nor the
European Union are homogenous entities. Interpretations and responses come from the
national governments and agencies of EU member states as well as from institutions of
the European Union such as the parliament, the Council and notably the European
Commission.
This paper argues that opinions and assessments about China’s engagement with
Africa have significantly evolved within a relatively short period of time. A discernable
and distinct European response has yet to take shape which would seek to engage China
over Africa. Certainly the most remarkable consequence of the China-Africa embrace is
that it has contributed to re-ignite a tremendous amount of European interest in Africa
itself. One can argue that it is an element of perceived strategic competition which, at
least to some extent, is driving Europe’s more recent attempts to engage Africa, a trend
most obviously evidenced by the symbolic politics of the European Union – Africa
Summit in Lisbon in December 2007.