On October 24, the Cornell Levinson China and Asia Pacific Studies (CAPS) program hosted a timely China and Africa panel discussion, titled "China and Africa: Past, Present, and Future. Engagement and Local Variation."
The panel included Professor He Wenping, a China and Africa expert at the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Oumar Ba at the Cornell Department of Government, and Professor Ding Fei at the Cornell Department of City and Regional Planning. Professor Nicolas van de Walle, Maxwell M. Upson Professor of Government at Cornell, moderated the panel discussion.
The panelists explored China's historical political and economic engagement with Africa, the future of Afro-Chinese diplomacy, the emergence of debt in Africa and whether debt-trap diplomacy is a legitimate concern, the slowdown of the Chinese economy and the rise of domestic debt in China and how it affects China-Africa relations, and China's influence in Africa through its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The panelists also discussed China's changing investment pattern in Africa through time, the significant local variations in African countries' economic, political, and foreign relations with China, the implications of China's evolving engagement with Africa for the U.S. and the international order, and how China, the U.S., and European countries can better cooperate in Africa.
The discussion was informative and thought-provoking, and the audience both in person and online was engaged.
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