Suchergebnisse

This title unpacks the political economy of China's COVID-19 vaccine supplies to the Global South. Examining the political and economic forces at play, the book demonstrates how China's vaccine provisions have been determined by a complex set of commercial interests, domestic politics, and geopolitical relationships.

This book unpacks the political economy of China's COVID-19 vaccine supplies to the Global South. Examining the political and economic forces at play, the book demonstrates how China's vaccine provisions have been determined by a complex set of commercial interests, domestic politics, and geopolitical relationships. The book sheds light on how domestic interests shape China's role in global governance and its international economic engagement. Its analysis contributes to broader academic debates on the politics and economics of crises, as well as offering new insights on how pre-existing political and market forces shape aid and trade in the context of crisis.

Abstract
A paucity of data has thus far made systematic comparative analysis of emerging bilateral creditors a major challenge. In this study I take advantage of new World Bank data on the sovereign creditors of low- and middle-income countries to map the distribution of lending from the key emerging bilateral official creditors during the 21st century, focusing on the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). I then statistically analyze the political and economic factors that drive BRICs' lending and investigate whether their motivations and terms are different from each other and from "traditional" creditors. The results suggest that concerns about the BRICs using bilateral credit as a foreign policy tool may be overblown. Instead, BRICs official loan commitments are driven by their trading ties with borrowers, and are complements to rather than substitutes for traditional lenders. However, the results also show that countries which borrow proportionately more from the BRICs face significantly less concessional terms on their official external debts compared to borrowing from traditional OECD lenders. Given the growing importance of emerging bilateral creditors, systematic comparative understanding of their motives and behavior has substantial policy relevance, in particular amid COVID-19 induced economic distress across much of the developing world.

Conventional studies of Chinese aid to Africa typically neglect China's six decades of donor experience, and de-emphasize the distinct historical relationships that China holds with African countries and the ideological and geopolitical contexts in which these relations were built. Applying the framework of relationality that highlights the role of social relationships in defining rational actions, I provide an alternative perspective on Chinese aid by analyzing the ideological and Cold War dynamics that shaped China's early Mao era aid allocation and the impact of these initial ties on contemporary Chinese policymakers' choices about where to direct Chinese aid. (Asian Perspect/GIGA)

The nexus between China's human and economic presence abroad and its security policy is increasingly important. Within this nexus, this study statistically explores whether and to what extent Chinese contractors reduce the number of Chinese nationals they send to work in North Africa, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa when the security situation in host states worsens. We find no significant evidence that either warnings from Chinese embassies and consulates to leave host countries or expert perceptions of host stability influence the number of Chinese workers. Worker numbers appear to decrease significantly only in the aftermath of large-scale violent events. These findings suggest that Chinese companies are relatively acceptant of security risks and uncertainties, despite the decade-long regulatory efforts of the Chinese government to make them more security-conscious overseas and, thus, to reduce pressure to use diplomatically and economically expensive military means for their protection. (China Q / GIGA)

Abstract
In this article we depart from the classic model of foreign direct investment (FDI) determinants and examine the effect of sociohistorical factors on FDI. We argue that past foreign aid projects confer social capital that constitutes specific resources available to investors in the present, increasing their preferences for host countries in which their home country has accumulated more social capital. We use new data on China's historical aid in Africa to test these contentions, uncovering a positive, significant connection between China's historical aid program in Africa (1956–1999) and contemporary (2000–2015) investments by Chinese companies. While China's historical aid may have been politically driven, it has had important long-term consequences for its commercial investors. More broadly, these findings suggest a sociohistorical explanation of the puzzle of why Chinese foreign investments deviate from conventional FDI patterns.