When Thabo Mbeki’s NEPAD infrastructure initiative failed in 2001, because the US and the UK needed the envisaged NEPAD funding for their incredibly costly war in Iraq, a golden opportunity presented itself for China.
Until 2010, China invested in Africa the amount that Europe and America would have raised. Ever since, all relevant airports, conference centres, 5-star hotels, government and parliament buildings as well as railways, bridges, roads and urban renewal projects have been built in Africa by Chinese companies with Chinese finance.
Is the accusation true that the fundamentally different approach of China to its international relations could be nothing but “neocolonialism” in disguise? This lecture will invite to reflection and debate on this question. It is presented by Johannesburg’s Society of German Language and will be in German.
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