The Fifth FOCAC: What role for peace and security?
It has been three years since the 4th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Egypt in 2009. This briefing note aims to inform the 5th FOCAC Ministerial Conference, which will be held in Beijing in July 2012.
Over the past three years Saferworld, in close collaboration with our colleagues from the Africa Peace Forum (AFPO) and the Institute for African Studies (IAS) of Zhejiang Normal University, have hosted several conferences, roundtables and seminars to discuss China’s role in African peace and security. These dialogues have involved countless numbers of experts from think-tanks, universities, research institutes, government institutions and multilateral bodies. In addition, we have cooperated on several field research projects.
Having worked closely together on these issues over the last three years, we have jointly compiled this briefing note. In the briefing we discuss three areas which we believe to be of priority: crisis response and conflict prevention, tackling the proliferation of small arms and light weapons and reconstruction on post-conflict countries.
As we argue, China is not the answer to Africa’s security challenges, nor its wider development aspirations. Instead, solutions lie in the hands of African governments, political leaders and civil society. However, what does matter is how China chooses to involve itself in these efforts.
The briefing note is available to download in Engish and Chinese.
