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Exploiting Africa: The Influence of Maoist China in Algeria, Ghana, and Tanzania . DONOVAN C. CHAU . Annapolis, MD : Naval Institute Press , 2014. x + 212 pp. $46.95. ISBN 978-1-61251-250-1
Book Reviews
The book is an historical treatment of China's relations with Algeria, Ghana and Tanzania, focused on the period 1956-76. This was when China began to - at first tentatively and then latterly with a degree of enthusiasm - engage with the continent. It is important to know the historical background of Beijing's entry into Africa. Often we are told that this is either a new phenomenon previously not seen (one extreme), or that China has been in Africa since time began, usually with reverent hushed nods to Admiral Zheng He and his Celestial Fleet (the other extreme). Both are crude distortions of reality. What is interesting about Chau's historical work is that he reveals a number of things that are unnervingly comparable to today's Sino-African relations. Aid projects to leverage political advantage, the influx of thousands of Chinese workers into Africa, the repeated state visits by senior Chinese leaders to court African elites - and the over-the-top reception of African leaders in Beijing when they visit - were all well-established patterns back in the 1950s and 1960s and are comparable to behaviour today.
Differences in approach to different African countries of course also staked out Sino-African relations, as they do today, and Chau demonstrates this through a skilful use of the case studies. Much Chinese energy was put into constructing a support constituency in Africa that would support Beijing's claim to represent China at the United Nations, achieved in October 1971 with 26 of the 76 votes cast in the PRC's favour being African. Providing space for Chinese policy vis-à-vis the Soviets was also a key element of Beijing's interest in the continent. Although the author does not discuss this, such "balancing" led to Chinese tactics which helped initiate harmful splits in the...