Two weeks ago, I read an interesting article on African Arguments by Alula A. Iyasu, the Managing Director of Bridge International, Corp., an investment and trade advisory group with a focus in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Iyasu provides a great insight into China’s non-interference policy and its economic relations with Africa:
Non-interference policy has been serving China well since 1954. The policy derives from the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
The policy was designed to reach out to non-communist countries in Asia as well as reflect solidarity with newly independent post-colonial states in Africa, with an emphasis on territorial sovereignty defined in the most rigid and traditional Westphalian terms. Although non-interference applies to military interventions and regime change, the principle has been China’s modus-operandi in its investment and economic interactions with Africa and the rest of the world.
Full article here.
