China’s Footprint in Africa’s Peace and Security: The Contending Views

Abstract

China’s role in the global peace politics has been transformed in the past two decades. Apart from its dominance in the economic realm, China has placed issues of peace and security at the centre of its foreign policy. In Africa, China has actively engaged in Africa’s peace and security agenda from opening a military base in Djibouti to participating and contributing to peace talks in South Sudan. Based on the emerging trends, it would appear that the long-cherished non-interference principle is undergoing a deliberate transformation given the emerging realities in the global geo-politics. It is based on this “paradigmatic shift” that this paper interrogates China’s role in Africa’s peace and security. The paper argues that China’s interest in Africa’s peace and security agenda is driven by economic and geo-political interests. The paper further discusses the role that China has played in military cooperation, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and post conflict reconstruction in Africa using specific country case examples.