Abstract
This chapter examines the development of the African Peace and Security Architecture and how China has sought to devise approaches to security within and outside of that institutional framework. The heritage of colonialism and its impact on the viability of the African state system, coupled by efforts to develop institutions and enhance security, are reviewed. The evolution of African security arrangements to a position of ‘non-indifference’ is contrasted with the changes to China’s policies of non-intervention towards peace and security.
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Notes
- 1.
For an overview of this topic see Paul Williams (2011), War and Conflict in Africa (Cambridge: Polity).
- 2.
Commission on Global Governance (1995), Our Global Neighbourhood (Oxford: Oxford University), pp. 77–112.
- 3.
Abou Jeng (2012), Peacebuilding in the African Union: Law, Philosophy and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 157.
- 4.
See Mary Kaldor (2007), New Wars (Cambridge: Polity Press), p. 19.
- 5.
Roland Paris (2004), At War’s End: Building Peace After Civil Conflict (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
- 6.
African Union (2010), African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA): 2010 Assessment Study, report commissioned by the AU Peace and Security Department, Zanzibar, Tanzania, November 2010, pp. 8, 12.
- 7.
African Union (2000), Constitutive Act of the African Union (Addis Ababa: African Union).
- 8.
Alex Vines (2013), ‘A Decade of African Peace and Security Architecture’, International Affairs, 89:1, pp. 90–91.
- 9.
Ibid., pp. 91–93.
- 10.
Judith Vorrath, ‘Imbalances in the African Peace and Security Architecture’, SW Comments 29, September 2012, p. 2; Also see African Union, African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA).
- 11.
Vorrath, ‘Imbalances in the African Peace and Security Architecture’, pp. 1–2.
- 12.
Engel, Ulf and Joao Porto (2010), ‘Africa’s New Peace and Security Architecture: An Introduction’, in Engel, Ulf and Joao Gomes Porto, eds., Africa’s New Peace and Security Architecture: Promoting Norms, Institutionalisating Solutions (Farnham: Ashgate), p. 4.
- 13.
Interview with South African diplomat, Pretoria, 19 July 2013.
- 14.
According to one report, 75% of all UN peacekeepers are operating in Africa in 2013. Mark Paterson and Kudrat Virk (2013), ‘Africa, South Africa and the United Nations Security Architecture’, Policy Brief 17, Centre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town, June.
- 15.
This was cemented formally through the Chinese response to the Brahimi report and subsequent inclusion in the Chinese Defence White Paper in 2000. Pang Zhongying (2005), ‘China’s Changing Attitude to UN Peacekeeping’, International Peacekeeping 12:1, pp. 88–89; Mark Lanteigne and Miwa Hirono (2013), China’s Evolving Approach to Peacekeeping (London: Routledge), p. 48.
- 16.
See Pang Zhongying (2005), ‘China’s Changing Attitude to UN Peacekeeping’, International Peacekeeping 12:1. pp. 87–104.
- 17.
‘China embraces peacekeeping operations’, The Diplomat, thediplomat.com/china-power/china-embraces-peacekeeping-missions/, 9 August 2013, accessed 10 August 2013; People’s Daily online’, China to send peace forces to Mali’, 15 July 2013, www.english.people.com.cn/09786/8325863.html, accessed 28 September 2013.
- 18.
Shaun Breslin (2013), ‘China and the Global Order: Signalling Threat or Friendship?’ International Affairs, 89:9, p. 616.
- 19.
Interview with Wang Yizhou (2012), Beijing 9 May 2013. Also see Wang Yizhou, ‘Creative Involvement: A New Direction in Chinese Diplomacy’, in Mark Leonard, ed., China 3.0 (London: European Council on Foreign Relations); Pang Zhongying (2013), Presentation at London School of Economics and Political Science, January 2013.
- 20.
Presentation by N Dehong (2013), Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, Shanghai, 5 May 2013; Gaye Christofferson (2009), ‘China and Maritime Cooperation: Piracy in the Gulf of Aden’, Institut fur Strategies-Politik-Sicherheits-und Wirtsschaftsberaturn, Berlin, pp. 3–4, 18, www.mercury.etherz.ch, accessed 30 September 2013.
- 21.
Li Dongyan, ‘China’s Participation in UN Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: prospects and ways forward,’ Foreign Affairs Review 3:12, Beijing, Foreign Affairs University, 2012, translation David Cowhig, www.gaodawai.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/cass-scholar-on-chinas-participation-in-un-peacekeeping-and-peacebuilding-prospects-and-ways-forward.htm
- 22.
Li Dongyan ‘China’s Participation in UN Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding: prospects and ways forward,’ Foreign Affairs Review 3:12, Beijing, Foreign Affairs University, 2012, translation David Cowhig, www.gaodawai.wordpress.com/2015/11/06/cass-scholar-on-chinas-participation-in-un-peacekeeping-and-peacebuilding-prospects-and-ways-forward.htm.
- 23.
See the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Action Plan (2013–2015), 23 July 2012, which states that China and Africa will ‘strengthen cooperation in policy coordination, capacity building, preventive diplomacy, peace keeping operations and post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation on the basis of equality and mutual respect to jointly maintain peace and stability in Africa.’ (at 2.6.1) On this initiative, ‘[t]o enhance cooperation with Africa on peace and security issues, the Chinese side will launch the “Initiative on China-Africa Cooperative Partnership for Peace and Security” will provide, within the realm of its capabilities, financial and technical support to the African Union for its peace-support operations, the development of the African Peace and Security Architecture, personnel exchanges and training in the field of peace and security and Africa’s conflict prevention, management and resolution and post-conflict reconstruction and development.’ (at 2.6.3)
- 24.
FOCAC 5 Beijing Declaration, 23 July 2012.
- 25.
Interview with a South African diplomat, Pretoria, July 2013.
- 26.
Cited in Tadesse Debay (2012), ‘Sino-African Cooperation in Peace and Security in Africa’, Seminar Report, Institute for Security Studies, Addis Ababa, 22 May 2012.
- 27.
Chris Alden and Gillian Chigumera, ‘China and African Regional Organisations’, SAIIA forthcoming.
- 28.
Jia Qinglin (2012), Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, speech presented at 18th summit of the African Union, China Daily, 30 January 2012, www.englishpeopledaily.com.cn/90883/7714450/htm, accessed 12 September 2013.
- 29.
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (2011), ‘Cooperation with China’, 21 November 2011, www.igad.int.
- 30.
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (2011), ‘IGAD and German Government Sign a New Phase of Development Cooperation Agreement’, 22 November 2011, www.igad.int.
- 31.
‘When African countries are hit by natural disasters or war, China always promptly offers humanitarian aid to them.’ See China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation (Beijing: Information Office of the State Council, People’s Republic of China, December 2010).
- 32.
See Daniel Large (2012), ‘Between the CPA and Southern Independence: China’s Post-Conflict Engagement in Sudan’, SAIIA Occasional Paper No. 115 (Johannesburg: SAIIA). In January 2011, for example, Beijing supported the G77 draft UNGA resolution on ‘International Cooperation on Humanitarian Assistance in the Field of Natural Disasters, from Relief to Development’, which stresses that ‘Emergency assistance must be provided in ways supportive of recovery and long-term development.’
- 33.
UN Peacebuilding Fund, unpbf.org/contributions/donors, accessed 3 October 2013.
- 34.
Breslin, ‘China and the Global Order, p. 631.
- 35.
Interview with senior AU researcher, Addis Ababa, May 2013.
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Alao, A., Alden, C. (2018). Africa’s Security Challenges and China’s Evolving Approach to Africa’s Peace and Security Architecture. In: Alden, C., Alao, A., Chun, Z., Barber, L. (eds) China and Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52893-9_2
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