Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the increasingly important economic and business relationship between
the People’s Republic of China and the countries of Africa. Our focus is on how this partnership manifests itself
in investments. The research questions are: first, how has the relationship changed over time and second, from an
African perspective has this relationship been beneficial? Finally, how has the recent economic downturn
affected their partnership? Our investigation shows that Chinese investment has been motivated by a desire to
access critical resources (oil, bauxite, etc.). The Chinese approach was been to downplay political issues (e.g.,
human rights). Although recipient African nations have received investment inflows, they have come with
certain drawbacks. For instance, they have negatively impacted local trade and commerce. Also, in some cases
African labor has not benefited from Chinese investment.

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