Working Paper 124 - Post-Crisis Prospects for China-Africa Relations

China’s rapid growth has transformed its relationship with Africa. Industrialization has boosted China’s import demand for oil and minerals (e.g. iron ore, bauxite, nickel, copper), which Africa can satisfy. China is now Africa’s third largest trading partner and the Chinese governments going global strategy encouraged Chinese companies to become multinationals. The China-Africa relationship could be described as “commodities-for-infrastructure”, although a shift to broader cooperation on development is now evident. This paper discusses how China’s relationship with Africa is contributing to its overall development and emphasizes the central role of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The principal conclusion is that while China is likely to remain engaged with Africa in the medium term, to reap the full benefits, African countries need to transform this engagement into additional development opportunities.

Global governance and developing countries : The implications of the riseof China

The size and rapid growth of China, together with its increasing assertiveness, represent a challenge to the established global order. The dynamics and the future impacts of these power shifts for the architecture of global governance and the developing world are far from clear and not at all determined. An analysis of China\u27s participation in the WTO and its stance on development policy indicates that the extent to which China\u27s rise will create tensions varies according to the ways in which the basic interests of China and Western nations clash

Characterizing the Dynamic Response of a Chassis Frame in a Heavy-Duty Dump Vehicle based on an Improved Stochastic System Identification

This paper presents an online method for the assessment of the dynamic performance of the chassis frame in a heavy-duty dump truck based on a novel stochastic subspace identification (SSI) method. It introduces the use of an average correlation signal as the input data to conventional SSI methods in order to reduce the noisy and nonstationary contents in the vibration signals from the frame, allowing accurate modal properties to be attained for realistically assessing the dynamic behaviour of the frame when the vehicle travels on both bumped and unpaved roads under different operating conditions. The modal results show that the modal properties obtained online are significantly different from the offline ones in that the identifiable modes are less because of the integration of different vehicle systems onto the frame. Moreover, the modal shapes between 7Hz and 40Hz clearly indicate the weak section of the structure where earlier fatigues and unsafe operations may occur due to the high relative changes in the modal shapes. In addition, the loaded operations show more modes which cause high deformation on the weak section. These results have verified the performance of the proposed SSI method and provide reliable references for optimizing the construction of the frame

The Political Economy of State Business Relations in Chinese Development Cooperation in Africa

The growing involvement of the Chinese state and business in Africa has generated significant debate about China’s Africa strategy and its benefits for Africa’s development. Chinese policymakers have become increasingly oriented toward improving African countries’ agricultural productivity. This paper focuses on how state-business interactions influence agricultural development outcomes, using Zimbabwe as a country of study. It explores the question of how far the State can control business and direct development by identifying the key relationships that influence the decision-making processes of state and business actors within China and its African engagement. The paper challenges the conventional wisdom of homogenised, unitary relations, and argues that these relations are, in practice, heterogeneous, as a result of the Chinese state being disaggregated into a multiplicity of provincial relations and central state agencies, and because of tensions arising between commercial market and political interests. The active role of African governments in agricultural schemes is also affecting outcomes. The findings of a brief ethnographic analysis of four state-business schemes in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector suggest that where African agriculture is concerned, a wide range of Chinese agencies are involved, with businesses being driven by either market forces or national state interests, which together make outcomes increasingly less generalisable

Trilateral Cooperation on Trade and Investment: Implications for African Industrialisation

Africa’s trade and investment relations with China and the UK has changed drastically over the last few decades, especially with Chinese economic growth. However, while economic openness, trade and investment appear to have come hand-in-hand with poverty reduction in the rise of the “Asian Tigers” and, recently, in China itself, the links appear, so far, to be less clear in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent research analysing UK and Chinese trade and investment relations and their impacts on poverty reduction with Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa highlights how both countries can play a complementary role in aid-led investment and meeting local demand