The New Silk Roads are gaining ground, on the eve of the 8th ministerial conference of the Forum on Sino-African Cooperation in Dakar, Monday, November 29, 2021. Two days of summit where it will be a question of vaccines and the fight against the pandemic of Covid-19, but also and especially of economy within the framework of the Chinese project “Belt and Road Initiative”, which Eritrea and Guinea-Bissau have just joined.
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stephane Lagarde
The deterioration of the security situation in Ethiopia and the American sanctions imposed on Eritrea will probably have accelerated this memorandum of understanding.
By joining this week the “Belt and Road” initiative – the New Silk Roads project launched by Xi Jinping – Asmara intends to take advantage of Chinese funding and infrastructure projects.
The same goes for Guinea-Bissau, where Chinese companies are already very active in forestry or deep-sea fishing. Two countries joining the New Silk Roads on the eve of the Dakar summit, it is for Chinese diplomacy a proof that is expanding “ the big family of Sino-African friendship “, As the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry described it on Friday.
It is also a way for China to strengthen its presence in the Horn of Africa, in the Red Sea and along the Atlantic coast.
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The 8th Forum on Sino-African Cooperation (FCSA) opens this Monday in Senegal. Ahead of the summit, two countries joined the Chinese New Silk Roads project, Eritrea and Guinea-Bissau. https://t.co/UJJKUcxFt4
– Stéphane Lagarde (@StephaneLagarde) November 28, 2021
Geopolitical weapon, these roads are however far from being a long quiet river. Conflicts, corruption, unpaid debts … If China wishes to continue investing on the continent, Chinese officials should remind Monday and Tuesday during the eighth China-Africa Forum in Senegal, that controls as the selection criteria for funded projects on loans abroad have been reinforced.
The Chinese president recently called on companies to better assess risks and fight corruption. Chinese companies must also “ strengthen their understanding of the political and social landscapes of countries Says Ding Yifan, analyst at the State Council’s Development Research Center, cited by the South China Morning Post :
Some of these companies are unaware of the risks. They think other countries are like China.
An argument of naivety and unpreparedness, to which other analysts add the advantage of the gray area and the lack of transparency that has allowed these Chinese companies to start projects more quickly, but sometimes with collateral damage on the social and financial plan.
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