INTRODUCTION

This chapter asks if a China model defines or guides China's economic and diplomatic offensive on the African continent, and whether there is any evidence that Africans themselves see deepening Africa–China ties in this light. We argue that it is indeed possible to speak of a China model in this context. It is possible to discern a China model in two different ways. First, Chinese leaders and many African leaders work deliberately to construct a vision or overarching idea of China's growing involvement in Africa that stands in juxtaposition to the IFI model of economic-cum-political engagement that most countries of sub-Saharan Africa came to know in the mid-1980s. Direct beneficiaries of deepening China–Africa ties have vigorously embraced the opportunity to transcend the IFI model that not only pressured African governments into political, macroeconomic, and sectoral reforms for which most African leaders and technocrats had little enthusiasm or confidence, but also produced little by way of direct stimulus to economic development and growth. Second, it is possible to recognise a China model in the actual patterns of government–business relations and state–society relations that are promoted by Chinese involvement, and with Chinese resources, in Africa.