China

As the first-ever Russia-Africa summit made headlines around the world in the past few weeks, the comparison between the Russian and the Chinese approach to Africa was recurrent. It originated in the fact that both China and Russia are not Western countries, both have seemingly ‘returned’ to Africa in the 21^st century for economic and political reasons, both advocate a non-interference approach in the internal affairs of other countries and both are perceived as great powers in international relations.

During his state visit to Russia in June 2019, Chinese leader Xi Jinping together with president Vladimir Putin oversaw several signings of investment cooperation agreements between Chinese and Russian companies^[1]. These documents promised over a billion dollars worth of Chinese foreign direct investments (FDI) in Russia in the years to come.

“The Monroe Doctrine is alive and well”, proclaimed former US National Security advisor John Bolton in April 2019, re-invoking an old vestige of American foreign policy dating back to 1823. A time when an infant United States was attempting to affirm its sphere of influence south of the Rio Grande, declaring that any interference in the region from European powers would be recognised as an unfriendly act against Washington.

The story of president Xi Jinping choosing Kazakhstan as the first location for presenting his revolutionary foreign policy plan – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – has now become a common tale of China’s international relations. However, it is a story worth retelling, as it marks the starting-point of a new era in China-Central Asia relations.

We are living in the ‘Asian Century’, some analysts suggest; but will the next decade become known as the ‘Central Asian decade’?

In the last two decades, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has dramatically expanded its outreach to Africa in terms of investments, aid and cultural diplomacy. Today, Beijing is Africa’s largest trading partner and investor as well as one of the main donor to the continent. At the same time, Africa has acquired growing importance for China’s quest to global influence and soft power.

On its 70th anniversary on October 1st 2019, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will proudly celebrate the material successes of a lifetime and show them off to the rest of the world. It has many, well beyond the vagaries of economic cycles and notwithstanding the current shift to a more moderate pace of economic growth. The first and foremost is undoubtedly its severe challenge to the liberal perspective regarding the role of economic and political freedom for economic growth.