From my initial reading of the established narrative, there are several preliminary constructs that were examined in the literature review on the American and Chinese discourses. These serve as a method to explore how the competing forms of knowledge on China in Africa serve as a reflection of wider issues. These initial constructs often vary with the origin of the discourse and have formed the basis of the assumptions regarding the official corpus, which is rooted in the established literature on this subject. It is these constructs that were applied to the two case studies.
In the Anglophone discourse on Chinese engagement, I have identified several potential constructs of China’s African policies. Due to the apparent universalisation of American values at the end of the Cold War, the themes and language of democracy and human rights were expected to be prevalent in much of the American discourse. The constructs related to the depiction of China in the Anglophone discourse are often related to the more dubious actions of Chinese foreign policy in Africa. China has often been perceived as an exploitive power in its approach towards Africa and acts as a facilitator of despotic regimes in their abuse of human rights throughout much of the Anglophone literature on the subject (Paradise, 2009, pg. 651). This stands against the prescribed American and Western values of human rights and democracy which China ignores or abuses. It is these perceptions that play a notable role in the creation of the American constructs of China in Africa.
A result of this focus on the less palatable aspects of Chinese policy is the construct of China as a rival for influence and economic objectives in Africa. This is often portrayed in the terms of a zero- sum game where one state’s loss is another’s gain. When this construct is invoked, it is often to encourage nations to challenge China’s influence in the continent. It is this very idea of conflict and rivalry that also raises the primary experiences that influence the creation of the American narrative on this subject. The first of these is the experience of 19th
century European imperialism, which is reflected in terms such as the “new scramble for Africa” and what Said (1994, pg. 24) terms as the “Heart of Darkness” mentality. This initial choice of words that highlights the influence of this experience on the creation of the American constructs in that perceptions of Africa are couched in language and terminology from this era. It is possible that this form of discourse perceives China to be a neo-imperial power in Africa since the American experience of imperialism assumes that others will follow the same path as
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the European empires. The second experience that also influences the creation of the American narrative on Chinese policy in Africa is that of the Cold War. This contributes to the zero- sum interpretation of this competition since this approach was dominant in the political and strategic discourse of the era (Klare and Vohan, 2006, pg.305).
In the Chinese narrative on the subject, there are several different themes. This depicted Chinese engagement as being a mutually beneficial equal partnership as opposed to the American construct of Chinese exploitation. The claim over the exploitive nature of Chinese policy made in the American narrative is a potential response to the American constructs in the Chinese discourse. It is the construct of China as an exploiter and the Chinese construct of mutuality which serve as an illustration of the interaction between the two different types of construct regarding China’s African policies (Pang, 2009, pg. 126). As opposed to the American ideals of universal rights, other key themes in the Chinese discourse include respect for state sovereignty as well as justifications for China’s policy of non-intervention.
The Chinese discourse was influenced by different events and historical experiences. Firstly, the discourse on China’s foreign policy strategies in Africa is partially influenced by those followed by imperial China along with the associated ideological totems from this era. This can be seen in the prevalence of culturalism in Chinese soft power strategies as well as the revival of Confucianism in modern Chinese discourse. The influence of the latter can particularly be seen in the choice of language made in the Chinese discourse that contains Confucian terminology (Li, 2011, pg. 42). China in the Chinese discourse is perceived to be the latest manifestation in the unbroken line of Chinese civilisation as opposed to the harbinger of communist revolution in the Maoist era. The second experience that influences the creation of the Chinese discourse is China’s experiences of the “Century of Humiliation”. It is this period that contributes to the theme of a mutual experience between China and Africa since both were victims of American imperialism, something that China has been able to utilise to cement its ties with the African states (Hannover and Morris, 2014, pg. 58).
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