Impediments to Uncovering the Human Rights Dimension of Sino-African Engagement

Abstract

Speculation around China-Africa relations has grown in recent years, particularly since 2006 when these relations were formalised in the first form of the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing, China. Since then, the scholarly field of China-Africa studies has bourgeoned, becoming a field of inquiry unto itself. In this regard China-Africa studies have been particularly interested in the political, economic and environmental dimensions of these relations. Due to geopolitical shifts and increased interest in developments in the global South, commentary and policy by international actors on Sino-Africa relations has been rife. As a result a large part of the scholarly field has focused on interrogating myths that have surrounded these relations. Shifting international frameworks and relations has additionally popularised the topic of China-Africa engagement in international discourses external to the relationship itself. For this reason the ‘demystification’ of China-Africa relations has increased in scholarship and become a large part of China-Africa studies. Nevertheless, one area that remains highly speculated albeit understudied is the human rights dimension of this relationship. It is here where this research seeks to fill a void, as it sets out to explore this dimension at the intersection of international relations and international human rights. Precisely due to the lack of rigorous scholarly inquiry into the human rights dimension, this aspect of these relations remains mired in assumption and speculation. This research is therefore a fundamental step in exploring this dimension by firstly demarcating, establishing and problematising the existing discourse on the human rights dimension of Sino-African relations (or what it terms the HR|SAr discourse). It is specifically concerned with the western discourse of this topic as it remains a particularly influential, dominant and widely circulated discourse with far-reaching implications for both international relations and human rights. By using a discursive approach, this research bridges the gap between discursive representations of this dimension of the relationship and reality. Furthermore it points to the constructed nature of the discourse, highlighting how its’ constructions are problematic and at times misleading. It specifically problematises the discourse’s representations of human rights, the nature of the relationship and actors through a postcolonial lens, whereby the discourse is analysed in light of its’ processes of ‘othering,’ its’ use of exclusionary frameworks and its’ colonial impulses. As such these representations are problematised insofar as they constitute impediments to uncovering or holistically understanding the human rights dimension of Sino-African relations. A critical discursive approach (CDA) is used which allows the researcher to challenge some of the fundamental assumptions and representations that characterise the discourse. This is deemed a necessary step in establishing a scholarly and informed basis for understanding the human rights dimension of Sino-African relations. Not only is the discourse problematised in so far as it impedes understanding the human rights dimension of Sino-African relations, but it additionally looks at the policy implications of the discourse’s representations. The research concludes that while the discourse reproduces exclusions, hierarchies and processes of ‘othering’ that are problematic in light of principles of equality and inclusion, the HR|SAr discourse equally challenges the fundamental universality of human rights by impeding their resonance worldwide.