China's Developmental Aid To Africa

The aim of this research is in general to evaluate and analyze the existing China's developmental aid to Africa in the context of case study of the State of Eritrea,while acknowledging consciously the existing strengths and weaknesses of Eritrea's economy.China's rapid economic growth in the past 30 years has stood out as one eyecatching exception to the general pattern of modernization in the West and has become the paragon for developing countries.Particularly in Africa,the Chinese development model has turned out to be appealing.For African states ‘economic development' has become a stumbling-block.For decades,the Western aid that was poured to African states,for most part,was confined to humanitarian and emergency aid.While democracy is not a destination but a process of maturity in governance that develops spontaneously over a long period of time other than being a hotcake.Hence,imposing pre-conditionalities for aid recipient on grounds of poor governance,democracy,and human rights,as the main the Western strategy,through time it proved to be failure.The worst thing,it didn't achieve democracy or economic development.It has become a zero-sum-game.This is so because without developing properly the socio-economic problems,one cannot advocate for political and civic rights.China and Africa have many commonly shared values in the past,enjoyed in present and trek with optimism towards uncharted future.Their challenges are similar,low economic development and corruption.Therefore,it is meaningful and acceptable by all standards if China and Africa have better relations to solve the common problems together.Today,China is the second largest economic power in the world,that itself reflects how far China has gone through generational process of reforms,strategically pragmatic policies,modernization combined with far-sighted and committed leadership under the Chinese Communist Party.In this regard,China's economic developmental aid to Africa can be seen from a case study of the State of Eritrea.This small Horn of African state has not been wellresearched over the past.Although the general situation of selected country(Eritrea)echoes similarity with other African countries,but the level of engagement is very low.Prior to China's developmental aid to Eritrea,the country under study has faced socio-economic challenges and far reaching problems of poor governance,poverty,conflicts with neighbors,UN sanctions,youth emigration to Europe and so on.With China's developmental aid,those socio-economic problems were partly solved and the China's aid impacts are self-evident,thanks to the commitment of the People's Republic of China.Eritrea is a coastal country situated in strategic position of Horn of Africa.The country is endowed with rich resources,energetic youth,ports,the Red Sea,fish,gold,silver,zinc,potash,and diamond,salt,etc.The research methodology approach is holistic.The author consciously chose the deductive approach.The research aims to address the following two main and minor questions: ‘What are the socio-economic impacts of China's developmental aid to Eritrea? The minor question is: ‘how do common people perceive China's socioeconomic engagement in Eritrea.Usually,developmental aid plays a crucial role as source of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI),which is,in turn,believed to be the vector of economic development.Bearing in mind,the author preferred qualitative research methodology to analyze critically the policies of the host government and China's developmental aid and its socio-economic impacts.Thus,the assessment is that SinoEritrea relations dates back as far as late 1960 s and still continue to be warm and healthy.But the level of cooperation between the two sisterly nations is very low.Though fair to say,the achievements can be stated as effective and the impacts are evident.Precisely,China's developmental aid to Eritrea can be seen as very effective in terms of the research questions quest.But overall China-Eritrea cooperation is very low and that the author reminds great China to expand and strengthen the level of cooperation with Eritrea in other sectors like trade,investments and loans.Structure of the Thesis:Chapter One: This chapter elaborates the historical context of the subject matter focusing on economic development as the main problem and developmental aid as part of the solution.It focuses on China's developmental aid to Africa under the study case of Eritrea(1995-2015).It contains: general introduction,significance of the study,statement of the problem,research questions,hypothesis,methodology of the study,and structure of the study.Chapter Two: provides the Conceptual,Theoretical framework,and Literature review.This part validates the arguments,concepts,theories and models of the research by keeping them in line with the conventional definition of terms,neoliberal view of cooperation and national interest arguments.This part also deals about postindependence challenges to African development and philosophy of developmental aid.Western and Chinese development approaches.In Africa,‘poverty as an elephant in the room' has been discussed.Sino-Africa relations: China's 5 foreign policy principles;Development models: Western vs.Chinese? Finally,China-Africa relations: historical genesis from Bandung Conference 1955 and first Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Forum(FOCAC)in 2000;while democracy is not a destination but a process of maturity in governance that develops spontaneously over a long period of time other than being a hotcake.Hence,imposing pre-conditionalities for aid recipient on grounds of poor governance,democracy,and human rights,as the main the Western strategy,through time it proved to be failure.The worst thing,it didn't achieve democracy or economic development.It has become a zero-sum-game.This is so because without developing properly the socio-economic problems,one cannot advocate for political and civil rights.China's willingness to invest in Africa in sectors which the Western investors,during and after colonization,have neglected should be welcomed,for sustainable and long-term engagement.China's development model has become increasingly an appealing model.In contrary to the Western perspective,the Chinese approach respects the African ‘state sovereignty' and that it helps the African states to gain respect locally and internationally.Chapter Three: This part deals specifically with China's developmental aid to Eritrea as a case study within defined period(1995-2015).The Sino-Eritrea relations,origins,in terms of history and substance and China's development aid to Eritrea,etc.Early China's contribution to Eritrea's national liberation struggle and its developmental aid after independence,etc.This part is the hardcore of the research paper.China's developmental aid and its impacts in a sector by sector analysis is provided in facts and figures.It describes the China's developmental aid to Eritrea and its socio-economic impacts.Briefly,it can be stated as very positive and helpful contribution characterizing China as ‘a good friend in bad times'.This part also deals with the lessons that Eritrea should learn from China's rich socio-economic developmental path and accumulated experiences.Chapter Four: This part focuses on evaluation of China's developmental aid and policy.‘What are the socio-economic impacts of China's developmental aid to Eritrea and how do recipients see the aid? Despite the conventional wisdom that Chinese foreign aid policy and overall engagement may seem detrimental for African state's interests at face value,there is a clear argument on the contrary.To this effect,Eritrea is small country whose destiny is similar to those countries in the Horn of Africa(HOA)in which case China has invested billions of USD in many projects.However,for unknown reasons China seems reluctant to do similar investments in Eritrea.In the final analysis,while the Sino-Eritrea relations are healthy,bilateral cooperation and China's developmental aid is very limited but effective in terms of socio-economic achievements and impacts it made in the common people's livelihoods.The author also calls the great People's Republic of China to do more investments in Eritrea for Eritrea is friendly to China and rich in resources.Chapter Five: focuses on general outcomes and challenges to development in Africa in general and specifically of Eritrea as selected case study country and provides answers to the research questions and draws conclusions and forwards recommendations from contending arguments in a refined manner.In a nutshell,China's developmental aid has continued to play a major role in addressing the pressing socio-economic issues in Africa generally and in Eritrea particularly.In conclusion,China didn't have any bad image in African hearts and minds.However,the Western countries' grievances can be seen from way back slavery days,through colonial exploitation and imperial ambitions,Cold War politics,World Bank and IMF dirty loans and unfair loan arrangements,all have damaged Africa physically,economically,and psychologically.China is very positive of Africa and its future.Besides,China is different from the West in many ways.But most importantly,China believes that in the long-run Africa's development is for the benefit of Africa and China.Within that spirit,China has poured and continues to pour billions of USD to Africa in the form of investment,trade,medical care,loans,aid,scholarships,etc.The winds of optimism are blowing from Beijing to Africa.Long live China!...