"Over the past two decades Chinese engagement in Africa has attracted an increasing amount of global attention. In November 2006, representatives from 48 African countries, consisting of over 1,500 businesspeople and 41 heads of state, attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)...

China’s special economic zones helped the country industrialize by attracting foreign investment. In 2006, Beijing initiated an overseas trade and cooperation zone program, assisting Chinese companies to invest abroad while also building China’s soft power through the transfer of a key...

type="graphical" xml:id="gpol12138-abs-0002"> <p>We estimate that Chinese banks have made commitments of approximately US$132 billion in financing to African and Latin American governments. More than 80 percent of this finance has gone to these regions since the 2008 global financial crisis.<blockFixed type="graphic" xml:id="gpol12138-blkfxd-0001"> <mediaResourceGroup> <mediaResource alt="image" href="urn:x-wiley:17585880:gpol12138:gpol12138-toc-0001"/> </mediaResourceGroup> </blockFixed>

Asian investment and economic engagement in Africa is a prominent feature of this decade. This newly prominent engagement raises many issues for the emerging and frontier economies of Africa. What are the dimensions of this engagement? Do Asian partners offer anything different from...