IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiaeu/v14y2016i2d10.1007_s10308-015-0445-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does China have a geoeconomic strategy towards Zimbabwe? The case of the Zimbabwean natural resource sector

Author

Listed:
  • Annina Kärkkäinen

    (University of Turku)

Abstract

The Chinese party-state and Chinese companies have become increasingly active in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the natural resource sector. Accessing natural resources is assumed to be one of the main goals of both the Chinese government and relevant Chinese companies in resource-rich African countries. In the article, the interplay between Chinese party-state and state-owned enterprises in Zimbabwe is analyzed from the viewpoint of China’s geoeconomic strategy. While existing literature has focused on various facets of China’s Africa policy, details of collaboration between Chinese party-state and corporate actors remain largely unexamined. In the natural resource sector, such collaboration ranges from negotiating access to natural resources to arranging large Chinese-financed projects repaid or collateralized in natural resources. The article analyzes in detail the cases of three companies that have been involved in such arrangements in Zimbabwe’s natural resource sector between 2000 and 2013: NORINCO, AFECC, and CMEC. The central argument advanced in the article is that China’s Ministry of Commerce, Eximbank and CDB have pressured the Zimbabwean government to offer resources as collateral for further Chinese loans, in particular in the mid-2000's. The article concludes that while a geoeconomic strategy seems to be in place, its implementation is hindered by the great variety of actors involved.

Suggested Citation

  • Annina Kärkkäinen, 2016. "Does China have a geoeconomic strategy towards Zimbabwe? The case of the Zimbabwean natural resource sector," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 185-202, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:14:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10308-015-0445-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10308-015-0445-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-015-0445-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10308-015-0445-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jean-Pierre Cabestan, 2009. "China’s Foreign- and Security-policy Decision-making Processes under Hu Jintao," Journal of Current Chinese Affairs - China aktuell, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 38(3), pages 63-97.
    2. Luo, Yadong & Xue, Qiuzhi & Han, Binjie, 2010. "How emerging market governments promote outward FDI: Experience from China," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 68-79, January.
    3. Corkin, Lucy, 2012. "Chinese construction companies in Angola: A local linkages perspective," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 475-483.
    4. Deborah Bräutigam & Kevin P. Gallagher, 2014. "Bartering Globalization: China's Commodity-backed Finance in Africa and Latin America," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 5(3), pages 346-352, September.
    5. Peter Kragelund, 2009. "Knocking on a Wide-open Door: Chinese Investments in Africa," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(122), pages 479-497, December.
    6. Jing Gu, 2009. "China's Private Enterprises in Africa and the Implications for African Development," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 21(4), pages 570-587, September.
    7. Deborah Bräutigam, 2010. "Working Paper 107 - China, Africa and the International Aid Architecture," Working Paper Series 244, African Development Bank.
    8. Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Catherine Yap Co, 2009. "Chinese state???s economic cooperation related investment: An investigation of its direction and some implications for outward investment," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp966, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Peter J Buckley & L Jeremy Clegg & Hinrich Voss & Adam R Cross & Xin Liu & Ping Zheng, 2018. "A retrospective and agenda for future research on Chinese outward foreign direct investment," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 4-23, January.
    2. Hu, Dengfeng & You, Kefei & Esiyok, Bulent, 2021. "Foreign direct investment among developing markets and its technological impact on host: Evidence from spatial analysis of Chinese investment in Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    3. Xu, Jiajun & Ru, Xinshun & Song, Pengcheng, 2021. "Can a new model of infrastructure financing mitigate credit rationing in poorly governed countries?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 111-120.
    4. Wang, Yuan, 2022. "Presidential extraversion: Understanding the politics of Sino-African mega-infrastructure projects," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    5. Boys, Kathryn & Kandilov, Ivan, 2016. "Strategic Acquisitions: Determinants Of Chinese Outward Direct Investment In The Agrifood Industry," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235972, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Munjal, Surender & Varma, Sumati & Bhatnagar, Ankur, 2022. "A comparative analysis of Indian and Chinese FDI into Africa: The role of governance and alliances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1018-1033.
    7. Abodohoui, Alexis & Su, Zhan, 2020. "Influence of Chinese managerial soft power on African skills development," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).
    8. Ding Fei & Abdi Ismail Samatar & Chuan Liao, 2018. "Chinese–African encounters in high†tech sectors: Comparative investigation of Chinese workplace regimes in Ethiopia," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(S1), pages 455-475, March.
    9. Tom Ogwang & Frank Vanclay, 2021. "Resource-Financed Infrastructure: Thoughts on Four Chinese-Financed Projects in Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-22, March.
    10. Cooke, Fang Lee & Wu, Gang & Zhou, Jing & Zhong, Chong & Wang, Jue, 2018. "Acquiring global footprints: Internationalization strategy of Chinese multinational enterprises and human resource implications," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 184-201.
    11. Linda Calabrese & Xiaoyang Tang, 2023. "Economic transformation in Africa: What is the role of Chinese firms?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(1), pages 43-64, January.
    12. Lauren A. Johnston, 2019. "The Belt and Road Initiative: What is in it for China?," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 40-58, January.
    13. Kitano, Naohiro, 2016. "Estimating China’s Foreign Aid II: 2014 Update," Working Papers 131, JICA Research Institute.
    14. Alessia Amighini & Claudio Cozza & Roberta Rabellotti & Marco Sanfilippo, 2014. "Investigating Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investments: How Can Firm-level Data Help?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(6), pages 44-63, November.
    15. Xiaoyu Zhou & Yi Han & Rui Wang, 2013. "An Empirical Investigation on Firms’ Proactive and Passive Motivation for Bribery in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(3), pages 461-472, December.
    16. Li, Linjie & Liu, Xiaming & Yuan, Dong & Yu, Miaojie, 2017. "Does outward FDI generate higher productivity for emerging economy MNEs? – Micro-level evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 839-854.
    17. Hu, Helen Wei & Cui, Lin, 2014. "Outward foreign direct investment of publicly listed firms from China: A corporate governance perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 750-760.
    18. Clegg, Jeremy & Lin, Hsin Mei & Voss, Hinrich & Yen, I-Fan & Shih, Yi Tien, 2016. "The OFDI patterns and firm performance of Chinese firms: The moderating effects of multinationality strategy and external factors," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 971-985.
    19. Gammeltoft, Peter & Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2021. "Enriching internationalization process theory: insights from the study of emerging market multinationals," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(3).
    20. Xia, Ying & Chen, Muyang, 2023. "The Janus face of stateness: China's development-oriented equity investments in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:14:y:2016:i:2:d:10.1007_s10308-015-0445-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.