China's Diplomacy in Eastern and Southern Africa

In contemporary discourse on China-Africa relations, there are three differing perspectives. On one hand Sino-pessimists view China as a giant, feeding on Africa’s resources to fuel its own industrialization. On the other hand, Sino-optimists see China as a benevolent state capable of ’developing’ the continent. In the middle sit the Sino-pragmatists who remain unsure of what Africa might gain from China-Africa relations. This book introduces a regional approach to the study of China-Africa relations by focusing on Eastern and Southern Africa; and it puts forward a disciplinary framework - disciplinary in both senses of the term - for interrogating the burgeoning literature about China-Africa relations by conceptualizing the three schools of thought mentioned above.