The political economy of Sino-Afrlcan cooperation: Opportunities and risks

This paper focuses on Sino African co-operation; with the objective of explore opportunities and limitations of this engagement. It fIrst introduces the main concepts and debates on Sino African engagement and proposes two theoretical constructs for assessing the extent to which Africa has benefIted from this cooperatiOn as weit'as the extent to which the development prospects for Africa have been hindered. As a result it explores the channels through which, in spite of the challenges and limitations, Africa can capitalize on the robust co-operation it has with China. This paper therefore attempts to examine the development experiences of Africa in its co-operation with China. It will explore the lively contrasts in the political and economic nature, magnitude, gravity and urgency of development prospects, __ opportunities and threats presented by Sino-African engagement for SSA. It is my hope that this study will contribute towards the continued analysis of development options, goals, objectives, plans and priorities for Africa in keeping with its own unique requirements, resources, ideologies and the genius of its peoples.