Abstract
The Africa-China trade relationship has been a trending topic since the evolution of trade relations till present due to growing relations between the two. It has been argued by many scholars, commentators and authors that the relationship between the two is asymmetrical, while some argue that the presence of China in the African continent has contributed to economic growth. This research examined whether trade relations between Africa and China are mutually beneficial or whether it is perpetuation of Africa’s disadvantaged economic position by assessing the transformation of trade from basic good dependency to high-tech. The researched used four African countries as case studies namely South Africa, Egypt, Ghana and Kenya representing a sampling of the Southern, North, East and West African regions. Adopting one country from each region presents defined results about trade relations being mutually beneficial or not as the study aims to investigate whether the African continent has benefitted from trade relations with China.
The study investigated the Africa- China trade relationship within the framework of Mercantilism (economic nationalism) as a theory. Economic Liberalism and Economic Nationalism are compared in the study to prove which theory fails to explain the Africa-China trade relationship. The theory explains the nature of the market and emphasizes on the behavior of states in the international system. Mercantilists assert that trade should always be a positive balance, if trade is not positively balanced then one is not benefiting from trade relations and they also view economic activity as a way of enlarging state power.
This study relies on triangulation, which applies a mixed method approach, making it qualitative and quantitative in nature. It also applied a desktop approach that drew on primary and secondary sources of information. Raw trade data was located from the UNCTAD and WTO-operated database Trade Map which augmented the empirical data. Furthermore, noteworthy Africa- China relations scholars such as Taylor; Alden and Wu; Matambo; Chege; Sandrey as well as scholars of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as Ndzendze and Marwala, among others provided imperative secondary data for the study.
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According to the findings of the study, the Africa- China trade relationship appears to be unbalanced and skewed to China’s favour. Throughout the 10-year span that the study analyses, the African continent has not been able to diversify its exports to China to ensure a positive balanced trade. Furthermore, the African continents science and technology appears to be lagging behind. However, many authors argue that the African continent can adopt a few lessons from the Chinese model.