Developing Economic Ties
- There are increasing economic ties between emerging powers such as China and developing nations
China and African nations
- Since 2008 China has been Africa's largest trading partner
- In 2021 China had US$4.99 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa
- One third of China's construction companies business was in Africa in 2015
- China's increasing demand for resources has driven this increase with most of the investment often being targeted at resource rich nations such as DR Congo, Zambia and Algeria
- China has made large scale investment in transport and infrastructure to improve efficiency of resource exploitation and exports including:
- The Nairobi Expressway in Kenya
- Doraleh Multi-Purpose Port in Djibouti
- Benguela Railway in Angola
- Much of this has been part of the China proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is aimed at improving connectivity
- The increased economic ties have a range of environmental impacts and challenges as well as opportunities
Environmental Impacts, Benefits and Challenges
Environmental Impacts | Opportunities | Challenges |
Deforestation increases to build roads and mines Increase in mining and drilling can lead to:
Movement of steel and cement industries to countries such as Zimbabwe increases risk of air and water pollution |
Increases trade for African nations which is not based on colonial ties Increases jobs and incomes Transport and infrastructure improvements benefit the communities as well as exports Increases the GDP |
Investment is focussed on resource rich nations so is unequally distributed Focus is still on the export of raw materials rather than manufactured products so profits are not high Imports of cheap Chinese products has undercut local African companies reducing their profits A decline in China's economy would impact on the African Nations receiving investment |