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China's presence in Africa has gained growing attention at an international level in the last two
decades, especially since the 2007 food crisis, however China's presence in Africa is far from new.
China can not been perceived as a new international actor, still its reemergence as a world's leading
economic power needs to be reconsidered. China's presence in Africa has been generating a
growing misunderstanding at a different level that Debora Brautigam clearly describes in her paper
“China in Africa: seven myths”( Brautigam, 2011). Even if the presence of China in Africa has gained
international and media attention predominantly in the last fifteen years, its presence has been
constant since the 1950s/1960s. However, the growing debate over China's rising influence on Africa
has been strongly related to the alarmism consequent to the 2007-2008 food crisis, especially when
following the sharply increase of food prices China pushed the going global policy in agriculture.
Moreover, is also related to the rise of Chinese aid commitment and economic engagement since
2006. China has continued to strengthen its involvement in Africa through the Forum on China-Africa
cooperation (FOCAC), in particular the year of 2006 was denominated by the Chinese government
the “Year of Africa”, and the result of the forum held in Beijing brought on the strengthening of
ties(Alden, Large & De Oliveira, 2008:pp.3-4). The main objective of this dissertation is to challenge,
through an accurate literature review, the robust myths and shared belief that following the food crisis
have designed China as the biggest land grabber in Africa. Land grabbing is surely not a new
phenomenon, indeed is something that have characterized history for century. However, the global
food crisis that made headlines in 2008 and the subsequent rise in food prices have conducted both
national governments and private sector to elaborate new strategies to face the problem, that have
been labeling as “land grabbing”. Therefore, is possible to distinguish land grabbing following two
different paths. On the one hand, land grabs is strictly connected to food security as a part of public
agenda. On the other hand, the private sector moved towards the acquisition of land abroad, as
resulting of its financial returns. The phenomenon of Land grabbing as been used as theoretical
instrument to guide the understanding of China's land acquisition in Africa. Furthermore, the purpose
is to explore if land deals represents an already existing column of the “Going out” policies in
agriculture in which China endorsed since 2001, or as its has been debated by several editorials,
articles, statements if China is assuming the role of new colonialist power in Africa. Historical,
political, and economic relations are firstly analyzed in order to understand the strong presence of
China nearly everywhere in Africa. The background of the Sino-African relation represents the
cornerstone in the understanding of the actual volume of economic exchange. While during the
colonialist period, China mainly supported socialist regimes, with the end of Cold War was already
clear that China's interests in Africa were larger. Indeed, from a more ideological and political
intervention the activities shifted onto a more focused economic and utilitarian approach(Van Dijk, M,
2009:59). With the end of the Cold war, pragmatism piloted China's involvement in those African
countries which were overlooked by the United States and the Soviet Union. The withdrawal of cold
war nations from Africa during the 1980s, and the sharp decrease in development aid provided by
Western countries, gave rise to the opportunity for China to foster its political agenda by
strengthening contacts with African elites(Servant, 2005). Public diplomacy is an important tool in
strengthening China's political agenda abroad, and the launched of the Forum on China-Africa
Cooperation(FOCAC) in 2000, has represented the strategic instruments in cultivating and enlarging
contacts with African Elites(IdunArkhurst & Laing, 2014). China's aid involvement in foreign countries
today is still based on Enlai eight principles expressed in 1964, which were mainly based on mutual
benefit, equity, non-interference in the political sphere and free interests in economic loans. The
West is concerned about China taking over Africa, and about the impact that China's engagement
could have on the base of their principles of intervention.
Above the different objectives for China's presence in Africa, relative is its need of obtaining land
abroad for agricultural purpose. Since 2012 China has been declared as “food dependent” and surely
his demands for supply will increase in the coming years on the base of its population growth and
fast economic development. China's food problem is also strictly related to the actual status of its
natural resource, for instance the inversion of agricultural land into industrial areas or the
contamination of water have sharply reduced its production capacity. In 2016, China's arable land
per capita was 0.086, which is a rate comparable to the one of Bangladesh. Africa has 60% of the
total of arable land, nevertheless does not have the technologies to strongly develop the agricultural
sector. Thus, is not surprising that China's interest in Africa agricultural land have sharply increased,
and that African government are willing to cooperate with China, to obtain advanced technologies.
However, China endorsed in the Going Global policies in agriculture already in 2001, long before the
food crisis and there were no secrets that the going global would include overseas farming. The
adoption of the Going global policy in 2001 which encouraged Chinese companies to establish
business abroad, represented the turning point of China's engagement in Africa. Beijing encouraged
Chinese companies to invest in the farming sector in Africa, however the production of food to be
exported back to China does not represent the main objective. China is trying to enlarge its area of
influence and enter new market, and African markets represent a good business. Chinese
government never officially declared that agricultural investments in Africa represent a way to ensure
food security in China, or at least not yet. Although, common perception is that China is supporting
Chinese enterprises to acquire land abroad as part of a national food security strategy. According to
the top 20-reported “Chinese” farmland acquisitions in Africa between 2000-2014 published on
Landmatrix, the total amount of land leased was around 5,566,960 hectares. However, field research
have documented that the total amount lease in 2014 was 88,837 ha, due to the fact that the majority
of investment were abandoned, not implemented by Chinese or still under discussion(Brautigam,
2016). This is an example of how official data based on unchecked grounded research have created
a robust myths around China's agricultural engagement in Africa. Obviously, the paucity of data
increased the poorly understanding of the Sino-African relations. For instance, this dissertation
presents and compare two different case studies respectively of the Hubei-Gaza friendship farm in
Mozambique, and of the ZTE corporation in Congo. Those projects have been featured as case of
“land grabbing” in different list, and the analysis allow to explore how myths differ from reality.
Agricultural investment in Africa are not easy to conclude as is shared believed. Investments can
face local opposition and up rise of the farmers as it happened in the case of the Hubei-Gaza
friendship farm. In conclusion, the common perception that China is supporting Chinese enterprises
to acquire land abroad as part of a national food security strategy is not supported by grounded
research. China's intention in Africa are still not clear, and the paucity of data impedes a correct
understanding of the Sino-African relation. Clearly, China's involvement in African agriculture is increased and
China is interested in invest in farmland abroad. Nevertheless, while the involvement of China in Africa has
been seen with suspicions by the West, African countries are willing to strengthen their relations with the
Chinese government, especially for their principles of on non-intervention,mutual benefit, and equity. To some
extent, China has become an alternative cooperation partner at least as important as the EU for example in
the case of Ethiopia and Angola. The presence of China in Africa is not going to slow down at any point in the
future, however, the lack of grounded resource is a limit to a fully understanding of Chinese intention in Africa,
that surely as assumed by the main researchers of this field new to be filled.