by Kyle J. Wolfley
China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. Howard W. French. New York: Penguin Random House, 2015. ISBN 9780307946652. pp. 1, 304. $18.00.
Looking back ten years from its publication, China’s Second Continent is a prescient tale and subtle warning about China’s expansion beyond the Pacific. Even in 2014, author Howard W. French noticed how the rising power was already pulling Africa away from the West’s orbit “while few in that part of the world were paying attention.” To be sure, awareness grew as it was hard to ignore what some are labelling a new scramble for Africa. Yet even a decade ago, French was onto something, and his work did not get the attention it deserved in defense circles. Policymakers and practitioners should have a closer look and grapple with the question as to how—and to what consequence—increased Chinese presence in Africa affects U.S. foreign policy and strategy.
China’s Second Continent is an intimate account of Chinese settlement in Africa told through the eyes of immigrants and the local Africans it affects. As a journalist with familial ties to the continent, French travels through West and Southern Africa to interview local Africans, Chinese entrepreneurs, immigrant families, and government officials. While scholars usually explain China’s expansion as the product of its centuries-old strategic culture or simply the tragic way that great powers behave, French’s on-the-ground perspective paints a holistic portrait that belies these simple theories.
French mentions that at a broader level, it’s a story about the rise of the East and decline of the West, and the international competition for soft power (or “influence” if the former term is no longer popular today). The tools of influence differ: China builds physical infrastructure like stadiums, hospitals, railways, and bridges, while the West invests in less tangible advances in health and education. China and the West also part ways on the expectations of the African partner receiving assistance: Chinese officials seem unconcerned with partners’ levels of corruption or adherence to liberal values, while the West generally demands it. Surprisingly, China’s soft power doesn’t appear to be undermined by the consistent racism, paternalism, or sense of a “Chinese burden” that French records in nearly every interaction with Chinese migrants. This gives the reader the impression that large, concrete symbols of generosity may be more effective to increase one’s influence than invisible investments like training and vaccines.
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