Local Histories, Global Imagination: The Tributary Face in China’s Africa Policy

• In Event: 3555 - Section on the Political Economy of the World-System Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 4. Uneven Development, Revolutions, and Global South

Abstract

The rise of China after the Cold War has led scholars from different fields to ponder over the global impact China would have on the existing political and economic order created by the West. Especially, the debate over China’s involvement in Africa has drawn unprecedented attention. The China-Africa relation, as some scholars have argued, is a seemingly win-win cooperation with a neo-colonial essence and it can be inferred that China’s investment and ‘aiding’ in Africa does not differ greatly from that of the core countries. On the opposite, some scholars focused more on the anti-colonial and anti-imperial ties between these two continents in that they both shared a colonized past. However, I would argue that both propositions implied a Eurocentric language, yet a more historical, regionalized ‘Asian’ view is needed in delineating the picture of a Chinese world order. Through critically reviewing J.K.Fairbank’s and Takeshi Hamashita’s tributary theory, I propose that the tributary ideology, though not in the form of ancient etiquette, is still guiding China’s global layout.

To be specific, I would reexamine the concentric tributary structure from both the economic and political ends. In conclusion, the Chinese tributary system was an imbalanced trade system but not a Sinocentric one. The tributary relation was not determined by central authority over the dependencies but supported by the trade relations along with the practice of Chinese formality. To compare the ancient tributary relationship with China’s involvement in Africa, I would mainly analyze from these four aspects: 1) China’s trade and investment patterns in Africa; 2) the tie of economic aids with specific political interests; 3) the transmission of Chinese culture and values; 4) the legitimization of a Chinese-led global order.

Author

• Mingwei Jin, Binghamton University