African East-Asian Affairs

Power and Justice in International Investment Law: China’s Rise and Its Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations vis-à-vis the African Host State Population

Anna Hankings-Evans — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 17:02:00 +0000

The increasing economic engagement of emerging states such as China raises concerns, especially in Western scholarly work, as to the growing influence and negative impact of China on international law. South-South investment relations are especially being put under heightened scrutiny. In this regard, it has been argued that the rise in economic legalisation efforts, for instance the signing of BITs, would politically alter the balance of power between developed and developing states. The present article intends to take a closer look at the human rights implications of Chinese investment agreements with African states. It, therefore, firstly identifies a lack of justice-based provisions that hinders the systemic integration of human rights law and international investment law. Secondly, it suggests that China’s human rights approach when engaging in investment relations does not necessarily differ from investment approaches of traditional partners since China utilises the underlying power implications by Westernising its investment treaties. Yet, the overall failed integration of justice considerations into international investment law must rather be considered a result of both structural deficiencies and colonial legacy, a legacy that till today hinders essentially the implementation of policy space, human rights and the right to development.

Situating Somali Piracy in Japanese Security Policy

Robert Attwell — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

This paper examines Tokyo’s engagement with Somali piracy and discusses what it reveals about Japan’s overall security posture. I argue that Japan’s response to Somali piracy highlights the continued salience of domestic political processes and em-bedded anti-militarist norms in moulding Tokyo’s responses to emergent threats, of which piracy is a prime example. This is evidenced by the fact that the Japan Coast Guard (JCG), rather than the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), is primarily responsible for Japan’s anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. Additionally, I draw attention to the economic logic underpinning Japan’s approach to security and posit that the defence of sea lanes links maritime security issues to continued economic security to explain why combatting maritime piracy is important to Tokyo.

‘With those views, you should work for the Communist Party of China’: challenging Western knowledge production on China-Africa relations

Liam Michael O'Brien — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

China’s relations with the African continent continues to be misrepresented within the Western (North American and European) academe. This is due, in part, to the methodological and epistemological assumptions underpinning many research agendas. These agendas are founded upon a range of histories, theories and frameworks that have been produced in the West, by the West, and for a particular end within a particular location, or, event.

This paper brings forward some original empirical data - from five months field research in South Africa which questioned power and agency (participation and self-determination) in response to Chinese Development assistance to support, and bring into conversation, emerging literatures which focus upon the ‘uneven production of knowledge’ on and about China. It works with critiques of historicism and emerging concepts such as Sinological-orientalism and Sinologism, to explain how the continued measuring and representation of China through Western concepts, understandings and logics, come to reduce, in an Orientalist manner, accurate relations between China and Africa.

Conclusions join calls for more balanced and disinterested scholarship on the China-Africa relationship and argue that this can only be achieved through greater geo-graphical and temporal specificity within writing. Within current work on China-Africa relations there is a lack of empirical qualitative data being collected, or, arguments are being extrapolated from limited cases. This paper represents a critical case that introduces new voices and alternative narratives from (South) African’s themselves.

China’s Public Diplomacy in Zimbabwe: perceptions, opportunities and challenges

Simon Matingwina — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Contemporary Chinese engagements in Africa have been described in many terms by scholars and media practitioners. One of the threads in the China-Africa discourse is the role of public diplomacy and the desire by the Chinese government to engage African governments and citizens. Using insights from the concept of public diplomacy and new public diplomacy, this study seeks to understand China’s public di-plomacy in Zimbabwe by analysing news stories from the Chinese Embassy Website in order to discern the key actors and instruments used. Furthermore, the study uses the media reports from the private and public media as a barometer to form valuable insights on how the Chinese engagements and public diplomacy initiatives are perceived. Focus is particularly placed on convergences and departures between official Chinese public diplomacy narratives and the local media perceptions. The study finds that China has maintained the traditional state-centred public diplomacy model and that it has extensively focused on relationship building in its public diplomacy approaches in Zimbabwe which is in line with new public diplomacy. However, there are divergences between the themes prioritised by China and those prioritised by the local media which points to a possible communication gap. The study, therefore, proposes a proactive approach by China for effective public diplomacy in Zim-babwe.

South Korea’s changing political environment and the impact on its Africa policy

Yejoo Kim — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

While political and economic self-interest retains its primacy in South Korea’s foreign policy towards Africa, recent domestic constraints have negatively affected its Africa policy. This article sheds light on the subtle differences between Roh and Lee’s stances towards Africa on the one hand and that of Park on the other hand; whilst further looking at the origin of those differences by examining the political environment of the current administration. The deterioration of inter-Korean relations has led to South Korea’s returning to a foreign policy in which security is primary. Simultaneously, resource diplomacy has faced growing criticism from the public and has lost its legitimacy as a basis for engagement with the continent. These two processes have had an impact on the re-orientation of South Korea’s foreign policy towards Africa. Africa has, again, been placed at the periphery of South Korea’s foreign policy.

Deborah Brautigam’s Will Africa Feed China?: A critical media-centric review

Bob Wekesa — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000

One of the recent noteworthy books in the Africa-China field is Professor Deborah Brautigam’s Will Africa Feed China? The central argument of the paper is that the book is as much a media critique as it is a critique on Chinese investments in African agriculture. Using the book as a springboard, the author begins by commenting on Africa-China/China-Africa scholarship and Brautigam’s place in it. The paper then delineates and analyses the media dimensions of the book. After unpacking the media aspects, the paper concludes with a discussion on further research considerations.

AEAA 2016 (4)

AEAA AEAA — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00:00 +0000