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African Shenzhen: China's special economic zones in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2011

Deborah Bräutigam  and
Tang Xiaoyang
Deborah Bräutigam*
Affiliation:
School of International Service, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20016-8071, USA
Tang Xiaoyang*
Affiliation:
New School for Social Research, 6 East 16th St., New York, NY 10003, USA
*
Email: dbrauti@american.edu
Email: tangx415@newschool.edu
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Abstract

This article examines recent Chinese efforts to construct a series of official economic cooperation zones in Africa. These zones are a central platform in China's announced strategy of engagement in Africa as ‘mutual benefit’. We analyse the background, motives and implementation of the zones, and argue that they form a unique, experimental model of development cooperation in Africa: market-based decisions and investment by Chinese companies are combined with support and subsidies from an Asian ‘developmental state’. Though this cooperation provides a promising new approach to sustainable industrialisation, we also identify serious political, economic and social challenges. Inadequate local learning and local participation could affect the ability of the zones to catalyse African industrialisation. The synergy between Chinese enterprises, the Chinese government and African governments has been evolving through practice. A case study of Egypt provides insight into this learning process.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 27 - 54
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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