Continuity and change in China's foreign policy towards Africa: the cases of the two Sudans, the DRC and Nigeria

[摘要] The relationship between China and the African continent dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) but has grown rapidly and intensely from the early 1990s. This study provides significant insight to the relationship between China and the two Sudans, the DRC and Nigeria. Specifically, this study explores aspects of continuity and change in China's foreign policy towards African states using these countries as case studies. The dynamics of China's changing foreign policy are based on the problem statement that there is evident change in China's foreign policy, despite China's refusal to admit this. This study uses primary and secondary sources for deductive reasoning on foreign policy approaches, and the case study approach to establish the consistency of China's foreign policy in a constantly changing world. Finally, the study concludes that despite notable changes in China's foreign policy towards Africa, specifically in the two Sudans, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria, continuity largely prevails. At the same time, it should be noted that the findings emanate from only three case studies, China's foreign policy behaviour in other cases could differ to some extent from the discoveries on the African context in this study.

[发布机构] University of the Free State