Madam Vice Chairman, Commissioner Blumenthal, thank you for the opportunity to testify before the U.S.-China Commission today about the intersection of China's trade, aid, and political relationships with Africa.
Over the past few years, China's growing footprint in Africa has become the most potent symbol of its expanding global influence. But the China-Africa topic is no longer new. The first synthesis articles from 2004, by Stéphanie Giry and Howard W. French, identified some of the key themes that have remained central to the China-Africa discussion: China's insatiable hunger for African natural resources, its disinterest in human rights and democracy, the first stirrings of African discontent about Chinese business practices, and the effects of China's unconditional aid and loan programs on weak states. . . .
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Mauro De Lorenzo is a resident fellow at AEI.
