Strategies of China and Japan’s Rivalry in Africa

Abstract

Africa has been an arena for global power struggle during the past three hundred years. The struggle has passed three periods. The first period started with the Atlantic slave trade and only involved Western European powers who parcelled the continent up into spheres of influence /colonies after trading in African slaves for 400 years. The second period, which started after WW2 and involved non-Western European powers as well, was characterised by the Cold War struggle for spheres of influence on the continent. China and Japan were the only Asian powers involved in that struggle. The third/current period started after the Cold War ended and now includes new powers from Asia (for example, India and South Korea) and South America (for example, Brazil). The paper focuses on the third/current period, but only discusses two of the strategies China and Japan are using to project their influence on the continent, namely Africa +1 (which refers to the different fora through which certain powers today interact with African countries as a group) and peacebuilding. Belonging to rival ideological blocs during the Cold War, the two powers competed indirectly. However, since the end of the war they have competed directly in the so-called ‘the Second Scramble for Africa’. The decision to look at their ongoing rivalry was instigated by the coincident visits to the continent, in January 2014, of Wang Yi (Chinese foreign minister) and Shinzo Abe (the then Japanese prime minister). The paper, whose objective is to draw more attention to the strategies these two Asian powers are using to project their influence on the continent, is sourced from the literature on Africa’s relationship with Asia