by Mamoudou Gazibo and Abdou Rahim Lema
Abstract
China’s growing focus on African peace and security has generated discussions on its longstanding foreign policy principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of African countries and most of that growing body of research have argued that China is doing away with its foreign policy principle. Drawing its conclusions from a careful analysis of China’s security engagement with African countries, this paper argues that, forced to deal with various African crises, China has been pragmatically adaptive. This adaptive pragmatism has allowed Beijing to get involved in Africa’s peace and security landscape without overtly compromising its traditional posture on non-interference.
Mamoudou Gazibo is professor of political science at the University of Montreal, Canada. His research focusses on democratization and international cooperation in Africa.
Abdou Rahim Lema is a PhD candidate and a 2022 Vanier Scholar at the University of Montreal. His PhD dissertation focuses on development-security nexus in China-Africa relations.