The Impact Of China’S Soft Power Diplomacy On Sustainable Development In Africa

Abstract

African states are in dire need of setting up infrastructure projects to spur economic growth and development. However, most of these countries lack the requisite capital and technical know-how to undertake these projects. It is for this reason that they have turned to China, which has the financial muscle, technical expertise and has presented itself as a willing partner to assist Africa. However, states are driven by interests and China is not an exception. It has an elaborate plan to attract Africa through its soft power diplomacy with an eye on the continents vast reserves of natural resources. This study set out to investigate whether the partnership between China and Africa will at the expense of future generations. The study utilized dependency approach which postulates that developed or core countries impoverish periphery countries through the global economic system which is skewed in their favor. As a result ,the trade balance is heavily in favor of China, The environment continues to be massively degraded due to over exploitation of natural resources and young Africans continue to be agitated as a result of unemployment as Chinese multinationals employ their own citizens and outcompete local businesses. The study used purposive sampling and a questionnaire as the instrument of data collection. The study found out that most African governments have no policies in place to protect their natural resources and ensure the benefits trickle down to the citizens rather than the big multinationals. It also found out that most local citizens in Africa feel that China is taking away their livelihoods due to flooding the market with cheap goods. It made a raft of recommendations such as setting up a sustainable development fund to cushion its citizens and coming up with tough policies to curb importation of products that can be made locally to protect the local industries and create jobs for sustainable development to occur