Africa in and beyond China’s BRI: Development and Security in a New Era of Global Competition
ABSTRACT
This seminar will examine Africa in the evolving BRI with special interest in security. It will firstly take stock of Africa in the BRI at a time of change and questions about the trajectory of a transcontinental nature that has been repositioning Africa’s previous salience in China’s foreign policy in the global South. Almost all African states have signed up to the BRI, which has also been integrated into the official China-Africa cooperation framework. In practice, however, the BRI remains a work in progress. Second, and drawing on such cases as Mali and South Sudan, it will examine the multifaceted theme of security in Africa’s engagement with the BRI and in terms of how China’s multi-level engagement has been evolving. In doing so, particular attention will be dedicated to examining China’s official rationale concerning the efficacy of economic development as key to overcoming security challenges.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Daniel Large is Associate Professor at Central European University, Vienna, Austria, and a Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute, Nairobi. His book publications include China and Africa: The New Era (Polity, 2021), and New Directions in the Study of Africa and China (Routledge, 2018), co-edited with Chris Alden, and recent journal articles include “China, Africa and the 2021 Dakar FOCAC.” African Affairs (2022) and, with Lina Benabdallah, “‘The Key to solving all problems’? Unpacking China’s development-as-security approach in Mali.” Third World Quarterly (2022).
ORGANIZER
Organizer: ASIAR Research Cluster, HKIHSS, under the CRF Project “Infrastructures of Faith: Religious Mobilities on the Belt and Road [BRINFAITH]” (RGC CRF HKU C7052-18G)
Co-organizer: NYU Shanghai Center for Global Asia
