Tanzania-China all-weather friendship from socialism to globalization: a case of relative decline
Date
2016-05
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
How close is the Tanzanian-Chinese partnership today? Bi-lateral trade and Chinese economic
activity in Tanzania today is far more significant than in the 1970s; China’s “no strings attached”
policy is still attractive and political solidarities and military co-operation have remained relatively
strong. However, this bi-lateral relationship does not have the importance, nor the exclusiveness it
enjoyed in the heydays of socialism. Today, China must compete economically, politically and
culturally with the activism and soft power of a larger group of countries, particularly the United
States. Although both in Dar es Salaam and in Beijing this relationship is still presented as
“special”, it has lost the structural role that it had until the late 1970s in shaping Sino-African
relations. Growing Sino-American and Sino-Western competition in Africa has increased
Tanzania’s option and helped it, to some extent, to better defend its own interests. This paper
examines Tanzanian-Chinese relations over the past half century and more particularly since 2005,
highlighting how global political, strategic and economic shifts have affected and on the whole
reduced, in relative terms, the importance of this bi-lateral relationship
Description
Includes bibliography
Keywords
Globalization -- Economic aspects -- China, Globalization -- Economic aspects -- Tanzania, International trade, International relations