1. African infrastructure key to China’s growth Glencore CEO says
2. Angola is China’s second biggest supplier of oil in first quarter of 2012
3. Group urges US and China to help resolve Sudan crisis
4. China expels Al-Jazeera English reporter
5. Chinese dissident Chen says officials must face justice

[Read the full Weekly China Briefing here -->]

Sustainability as a topic: Preparing for FOCAC V

 

Issue 71 – May 2012

This month, the AEAA | The China Monitor looks at the issue of sustainability in the run up to the earlier than expected occasion of the fifth Ministerial meeting of FOCAC in Beijing this year. We often hear that mutual learning is a key element in South-South Cooperation, in which China-Africa relations are one element. We want to explore where learning does or could take place in the relationship, and we are interested in truly mutual learning, i.e. both sides, China and African states, learning from each other. Learning never is a one-way street; we can testify to this, not least as a University institution. One of the elements under discussion in FOCAC is the sustainability of the relationship. More than ten years into the revived China-Africa relations, the perspective opens up from the immediate cooperation towards longer-term issues.

Sustainability is a broad concept and can include many things, from political and social to economic or ecological aspects. In this edition of African East-Asian Affairs, we focus on the ecological aspects of China-Africa relations. The topic of how to engage in ‘greening’ FOCAC will also be the topic of a workshop that the CCS organises in mid-May in Stellenbosch, in cooperation with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the People’s Republic’s embassy to South Africa. We are expecting high-level speakers from China, Africa and elsewhere and are looking forward to this opportunity to engage with Chinese and other African scholars on a topic area that is crucial for future relations.

The two pieces here draw from work the CCS is undertaking on the issue of sustainability, which falls under one of our three work strands. Also included are a selection of our Commentaries from the last month.

As FOCAC approaches, we will be preparing and publishing more work on the Forum, and important topics the policy-makers and decision-makers attending should probably be au fait with going into such a high-level and diverse international forum.

Download Issue 71 of African East-Asian Affairs | The China Monitor here.