A Comparative Study Of The Franco-cameroonian Vs Sino-cameroonian Relationship

This thesis is a social science research for the field of international relations.The pushing factor for me to address such an issue was being a Cameroonian student in China who has came to understand that there is a lack of data on the bilateral relations between France and Cameroon,even between China and Cameroon.And additional the project of Cameroon to become emergence by 2035 and the actual place of China in Cameroon diplomacy were the initiative factors.The paper deals with the Chinese foreign policy in Cameroon in comparison to France,and the impact of both super power in the development of Cameroon.It is classified as a comparative research analysis.The argument is this study is the point that China in Cameroon have been a positive influence and Cameroon economic and cultural relation with China are positively affected by China in contrary to France.Thesis further argues that the upcoming of Chinese have Cameroon an optional choice rather that the traditional relations and aid from the France.The objectives of this thesis is addressing the China foreign policy as well as France foreign policy in separate sphere and explain the impact they both have on Cameroon so that it gets easier to compare both.The scope of research is Cameroon in terms of economic,cultural and aid in term of aspect of issue addressed.On the gathering of data the research is done by both quantitative and qualitative as a primary and secondary source.Internship,focus group discussion,interview listening observation are the primary data collection methods.The thesis uses some table's figures to analyze the data and the criteria used to recruit key informants was first respondents close to the topic and next from all around the community to have a general output.The thesis has been able to identify the positive impact of Chinese foreign policy in Cameroon economy as well as cultural and aid.It compared this impact with the France foreign policy in Cameroon and included that China has emerged as a new window outlook for Cameroon.In terms of economy the paper explains the trade relations between Cameroon and France,France investment,import and export to Cameroon.In return Cameroon serves as a commercial launch pad for Chinese products with 24 million people in demand opening a wide market opportunities and investment chances.Cameroon politically is a strategic partner to China as it is the seat to African Union and Central African Economic and Monetary Community.The Chinese principle toward Cameroon has been based on mutual benefit and common development,a non-interference policy and one China principles are the basic element in sino-cameroonian relations.Cameroonian's first and foremost foreign policy is advocating economic and development growth before everything.The Cameroonian government believes that government should be an active participant in economy and culture.This fact have somewhat made it similar with the Chinese system.It is at this point that France have been intervening in order to make the majority of institutions on the hand of privatization and to keep a good place in Cameroon foreign policy.On the side of the France the paper examined the French policy of privatization,use of nongovernment organization French Agency for Development,Structural Adjustment Programme… this policy has been applied in Africa for years and Cameroon has also taken its share.The disadvantage of this policies have overweighed the advantages because still this policies don't guide the Cameroonian economy to be independent rather they promote to always wait for AID.And for the cultural view consist a barrier and involve some cultural and language issues.The thesis have compared and contrasted both the French and Chinese policy,culture,economy and aid in Cameroon,and reach to a conclusion that even if China is an important partner for Cameroon and both countries are benefiting from their relation on a mutual understanding.Most of the road and buildings including palace of sport,unity palace are built by China.Major investment.The bilateral relation between the two have been increasing from time to time and the dimension are also widening side by side.Thus this have been an option to look forward for Cameroon as what it needs is economic development before anything and this have been clearly stated on the foreign policy of Cameroon and the Chinese have come with the principle of business is business where it havebeen easier for Cameroon to achieve its goal.The French doesn't consider a mutual relation with not only with Cameroon but with African countries rather it is fully dependent on Aid,the risk of investing and constructing on long term loans is what France doesn't trust.So the relation with Cameroon have been aid and an old and strategic partner but not more than that,for the Chinese Cameroon is a land of opportunity which could be used to fulfill their interest of raw material,open market,million people consumption and strategic political use to penetrate Cameroon and Central African countries.As the merits were listed there are also challenges mostly quoted by Chinese involvement in Cameroon.The first is how the Chinese companies are overtaking local producers in the multi-dimensional form of the market in products like cloth,shoes and electronic device and also overtake contractors because mostly the Chinese offer a low price scale for infrastructure constructions.The second one is immigration Cameroon is facing the problem of Chinese moving to Cameroon.After such an analysis the thesis recommends several points in order for the betterment and enhancement of Sino-Cameroonian relation.Like on ways of helping the local peoples disadvantage,advocating more joint venture between China and Cameroon by the government on terms of investment in order to raise the ability of local producers to compete.For France to redirect the policy in Cameroon and to be more concern on the development of Cameroon.