Tokyo and Beijing to vie for influence in Africa

Subject

China-Japan competition in Africa.

Significance

At the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) in August, Japan pledged 30 billion dollars in public and private support for African development over the next three years. This forms part of a wider shift in Tokyo's foreign policy to rebrand itself as a partner for sub-Saharan Africa, leading to speculation about rising competition with China in the region.

Impacts

• France gradually will lose its 'preferred bidder' status for many West African state contracts due to East Asian competition.
• Chinese training for political party officials may heighten authoritarian tendencies, particularly around information control.
• Japan's lack of an equivalent to China's Confucius Institutes will limit knowledge of Japanese language and culture in Africa.
• Tokyo's small peacekeeping force in South Sudan will increase its military presence on the continent, exacerbating Beijing's anxieties.