Sub-Saharan Africa’s Partnerships with China and the United States of America, exploring trade and financial investments

Abstract

China’s partnership with African countries is under scrutiny with many people increasingly worried by their willingness to give out loans regardless of whether a country would be able to pay back the loans. Critics are accusing China of using debt-trap diplomacy to take out resources by offering cheap loans without conditions. China claims that it has no interest in interfering in the internal affairs of its African partners, unlike its Western counterparts. For the U.S, its influence in Africa has decreased and it is increasingly worried by China’s global ambitions. The current U.S administration has been warning African countries to reject China’s loans and encouraged them to stick with the U.S as a more important partner. African leaders, however, still see China as a better partner as many of them can point to the infrastructure built by Chinese funding.

This research paper aims to explore the partnerships between China, the United States and sub-Saharan Africa specifically. The aim is to see who is a better trading partner for sub-Saharan Africa, and to explore the reasons why a majority of African countries prefer Chinese loans over traditional lenders from the West, such as the IMF and World Bank.

For African leaders, China simply represents a better partner because it is funding big infrastructure projects that meet the demand for infrastructure in Africa. Nobody is convinced that China or the U.S are in Africa for altruistic reasons and African leaders are well aware that China is also there for its own interests but to them it is important that a trading partner respects the sovereignty of a country and does not try to impose its own beliefs as many western countries have long been accused of doing.