China's burgeoning engagement with Africa is often characterized as alarming, asset stripping, unquestioning in its support for regimes with serious human rights violations, and even a new form of colonialism. This talk charts the ways in which Chinese approaches to development in Africa are characterized by different institutions with different initial assumptions from those of the West. It suggests that despite these very real differences, China's rhetoric conceals a range of evolving realities that may well result in greater convergence with Western development practices.
Julia Strauss is professor of Chinese politics in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, where she is a member of the SOAS China Institute and the SOAS Food Studies Centre.
Sponsored with the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.