Belt and Road Initiative – Alternative Development Path for Africa, 2018

China’s emphasis on infrastructure development has received support from African leaders. Its focus on infrastructure development in Africa was endorsed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between China and the African Union on 27 January 2015. The agree- ment outlines plans for connecting African countries through transportation infrastructure projects, including modern highways, airports and high-speed railways. At the heart of the Belt and Road Initiative lies the creation of an economic land belt that includes countries on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, as well as a mari- time “road” that links China’s port facilities with the African coast, pushing up through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. China has from the outset emphasised that the Belt and Road Initiative will be developed within the framework of the five principles. These entail mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; nonaggression; non-in- terference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful coexist- ence. This volume provides an analysis of this stance by both African and Chinese scholars. Africa, through its Agenda 2063, has been driving, among others, the re-industrialisation of its economies, improved connectivity and infrastructure development, diversification of en- ergy sources, technology transfer and skills development. The Belt and Road Initiative pro- vides an alternative path for Africa to realise some of these milestones.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Unblocking Africa’s underdevelopment through the Belt and Road Initiative

Chapter 3: State of infrastructural development cooperation between China and Africa

Chapter 4: Attracting investment for infrastructure development in Africa

Chapter 5: Belt and Road linked transnational infrastructure and resources in Eastern and Southern Africa

Chapter 6: Africa-China strategic coalition: a remodelled financial model for infrastructure development

Chapter 7: Relocating China’s manufacturing capacity and industrialisation to Africa

Chapter 8: The Belt and Road (OBOR) initiative and China-Africa agricultural cooperation

Chapter 9: Reconceptualising peace and security: distributional justice within Sino-African cooperation and beyond

Chapter 10: People to people interactions: Africans in China – status analysis

Conclusion: Merging two developmental visons: Africa’s Agenda 2063 and China’s Belt and Road Initiative