The china-africa axis in relation to other regional axes

China and Africa grosso modo are often seen as standing at two ends of the spectrum of developing countries, the former having acquired enormous industrial capacity in short order, and the latter not. In the nineteenth century Africa presented few states strong enough to resist the Western states with their newly organized nations, industrial economies and militaries. There were hardly any African states capable of imposing terms or even playing European powers off each other. As a consequence, Europeans were able to gang up, or agree to disagree, in carving the continent up in the 'scramble for Africa' without stepping on each other's toes. Strangely enough, the NATO victory in oil-rich Libya has renewed fears of Western colonial ambitions in Africa. In the Libyan adventure, European leaders exhibited a startling enthusiasm for waging war for economic capture.

Duke Scholars

Author Engseng Ho Cultural Anthropology