Author: Jonathan Holslag.

China’s Evolving Behaviour in Africa and the Options of Cooperation with Europe Jonathan HOLSLAG A Bumpy Journey From all accounts, China’s return to Africa has been a bumpy journey. Not only was it one of the most scrutinized recent events in international politics, but it also tested China’s traditional diplomatic premises such as non-interference, equality and mutually beneficial cooperation. This thematic issue of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs will not judge the degree to which these principles were upheld. Rather, it will present new insights into how China’s presence on the African continent has evolved, what challenges it has encountered, and how this all affected the pro- spects for Chinese cooperation with Europe in Africa. It is clear that China has seen its economic presence and its diplomatic manoeuvrability in Africa become imperilled, not least by bad governance, lack of region- al stability, and piracy. Most contributors to this issue also recognize that this makes cooperation with Europe impe rative. Yet, they also find that pressing common interests have not been sufficiently converted into synergies – neither bilaterally between China and Europe, nor in a trilat- eral setting with African stakeholders. This volume is of relevance to scholars and policymakers with an in- terest in the evolving Sino–African an d Sino–European rela tions. It pre- sents five papers. Bert Jacobs first investigates the differences and com- plementarities between China’s and Europe’s trade relations with sub- Saharan Africa. Interestingly, the analysis of an extensive dataset reveals that neither corruption nor democracy significantly influences European and Chinese commodity imports from different African countries. In a detailed case study, Lucy Corkin debunks the idea that China is the mer- cantilist antipode of free trade Europe. She demonstrates that China’s Africa offensive is becoming increasingly diffuse and that commercial interests are as important as political strategies.