Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Half Title -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- List of Abbreviations -- Acknowledgements -- 1 Introduction -- 2 African Agency and Angolan Elites -- 3 Language and Power -- 4 The Development of China's Foreign Policy towards Africa -- 5 Risk and Reward: China Exim Bank in Angola -- 6 Rebuilding Angola -- 7 Agency and the Angolan Agenda -- 8 Conclusions -- Appendix 1 Chinese Companies in Angola (May 2010) -- Appendix 2 Official Bilateral Cooperation -- Appendix 3 Projects Financed by the China Exim Bank Credit Line -- References -- Index.

Angola is one of Africa's most established petro-states, with initial forays into the country's oil acreage predating national independence. A failure to diversify the economy significantly away from the now well-established oil industry proved disastrous during the global financial crisis of 2008-9: the plunge in oil prices by nearly two thirds from a high of USD147 forced the Angolan government to consider revising the oil benchmark figure in its 2009 budget to below break-even levels. Despite a recovery in the intervening years, Angola is in much the same plight barely a decade later, albeit that this time the low oil price environment is looking more and more likely to be 'the new normal', rather than a sudden, dramatic shock. Oil remains the source of approximately 98 per cent of the country's foreign exchange and 75 per cent of government revenue. As such, it is likely that this time around there will be far more wide-ranging consequences for Angola, its oil industry, and the country's major foreign investors, the international oil major (IOCs). This is particularly because the country's two constants, which have represented political and economic stability, namely President Eduardo dos Santos and the ubiquitous role of Sonangol in the economy are about to change.

It has long been recognised that the actors involved in crafting and implementing China's foreign policy are not always in agreement. This paper argues that the prioritisation of commercial outreach over purely political objectives in Africa has led to a shift in influence from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). To that end, the paper examines the rising prominence of China Exim Bank's concessional loans as a foreign policy instrument in Africa along with the process through which they are negotiated and implemented. Using the case of Angola, this paper shows how despite formal institutional equality, the MOFCOM is playing a far more influential role than the MFA is in defining the direction of China's foreign policy toward Africa. (JCCA/GIGA)