| dc.description.abstract | China has shown increased interest in the African continent particularly since the
end of the cold war. The key driver of China's interest in the continent is the search for
raw materials to meet growing demand at home, as a market for her products, as well as
a source of energy security .In Kenya, Chinese presence has increased significantly since
a new government came into power in 2002 led by the now retired President Mwai
Kibaki. Large scale infrastructural development projects have been undertaken and
completed. Regardless of this, Kenya continues to co-operate with, and to rely on her
traditional donors for funding and trade. This research attempts to assess this growing
significance of China as a donor, financier and trade partner in Kenya's economic
development on Kenya's foreign relations, and in particular with traditional donors, that
is, the United States(US),United Kingdom(UK),Germany, and Japan.
The foreign policy of a country is given as "combination of aims and interests
pursued and defended by a given state and its ruling class in its relations with other states,
and the methods and means used by it for the achievement and defusing of these purposes
and interests". The study establishes that Kenya's foreign policy has changed through the
three transitions the country has been through, that is under presidents Kenyatta, Moi, and
Kibaki, and that the foreign policy focus under each president has determined the key
areas that the country has focused in for development. In President Kibaki's reign, the
economic pillar of Kenya's foreign policy has been central to Kenya's foreign relations,
with focus being on diversifying sources of development funding to include new
economic partners, notably the adoption of the "Look East" policy in foreign relations.
This has led to China increasing in significance as a development partner, and a source of
funding for large scale infrastructural development projects in Kenya. The coming in of a
new government after the March 4th 2013 general elections further points to a
reinvigorated interest to strengthen continued ties with the east, particularly China, with
economic diplomacy being the key focus of Kenya's foreign relations.
An analysis of trade and aid figures between Kenya, China, United Kingdom,
United States, Britain and Japan concludes that China has gained significance as a trade
partner for Kenya as evidenced by the fact that China is now the largest source of imports
in Kenya. By contrast, the United Kingdom is the largest export market for Kenya,
followed by the United States while Kenya's shares of exports to China are the least. An
analysis of aid figures presents the United States as the largest bilateral donor to Kenya,
and although China's aid has been on the increase, and significantly so in infrastructural
and communications sectors, Kenya still is heavily reliant on her bilateral donors for
funding. China's funding is notably in the infrastructural development and
telecommunications sector. The study concludes that the growing relationship between
Kenya and China has therefore not affected the significance of the United States, United
Kingdom, Japan and Germany, both as sources of funding and as trade partners for
Kenya. | en_US |
