Abstract
This special edition of the AEAA | The China Monitor brings together some analysis of the dynamics around the FOCAC V in Beijing and complements our own work on this important date on the China-Africa calendar. Matthew McDonald appraises the proceedings of the FOCAC V meeting based on the Declaration and Action Plan published shortly after.
The three subsequent articles in this special edition offer different appraisals of the FOCAC platform. Huang Meibo and Qi Xie from Xiamen University in China give a categorical account of the commitments China has made to Africa since the inception of the forum, concluding that this is evidence of a co-operative, mutually beneficial relationship. Zhu Ming, from the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, while also portraying FOCAC in a positive light, highlights some of the “capacity gaps” which the Chinese side still faces. These include increasing the presence of Chinese NGO’s in Africa and putting more effort into winning China’s international media war against negative spin. Writing from St. Andrews University in Scotland, noted China-Africa scholar Ian Taylor’s critique of FOCAC is significantly different; rather than asking how the forum can be bettered, he questions its suitability in terms of the kinds of partnerships it purports to promote. Taylor argues that FOCAC commitments are largely dictated by China, making it more a spectacle in which Beijing bestows gifts of aid as opposed to a serious platform for “development-conscious participants”.
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