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The China Challenge: Cameroonians Between Discontent and Popular Admiration

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China and Africa

Part of the book series: The Palgrave Macmillan Asian Business Series ((PAMABS))

Abstract

Cameroon’s relationship with China has been studied from the perspective of the cooperation between the two countries and the development projects that resulted from this collaboration. This chapter examines the interaction between Chinese and Cameroonian traders and businesspeople, the organisation of their trade, and the strategies that the different traders develop to make a living. It evaluates the experiences of Cameroonians with the Chinese presence in their country and the advantages and disadvantages that the growing number of Chinese projects and migrants entails for Cameroonians. Based on field research in Cameroon and in China, this chapter argues that the cooperation with China and the high competition in the domain of trade provides short-term benefits and opportunities for Cameroonians but might entail insurmountable challenges for consumers and businesspeople in the long run.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, Ikhouoria (2010), Kamau (2010), Khan Mohammad (2014); see also the special issues 43, 1 and 44, 1 of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, edited by Karsten Giese, and several studies listed by Konings (2011: 179).

  2. 2.

    The research was carried out in the framework of the project “Africa’s Asian Options” (AFRASO), which is supported by the Goethe University Frankfurt and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We are also grateful to Diderot Nguepjouo for his comments.

  3. 3.

    The People’s Republic of China already played a role in Cameroon’s struggle for independence from France, when it supported the Marxist inspired revolutionary movement Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC).

  4. 4.

    Much more than Taiwan, Pakistan and Indonesia were involved in the trade of consumer goods since 1982. They were competing in this field with Bamileke traders.

  5. 5.

    AFRODAD (2011: 19); Konings (2011: 2–3, 14–15); Nyamnjoh and Geschiere (2000); see Konings for an analysis of why the Structural Adjustment Programmes did not work in Cameroon due to ignorance of the heterogeneity of social interest groups and the specific role of elites, the youths, and civil society organisations in the country.

  6. 6.

    For a list of agreements, see AFRODAD (2011: 17). Regular visits of Chinese officials to African countries and African officials to China intensified from 1996 onwards; for a list of the state visits, see Chinese foreign ministry (2006) and Medeiros (2009: 157).

  7. 7.

    For different figures of scholarships, see Amin (2015), Chinese Foreign Ministry (2006), AFRODAD (2011: 21), Konings (2011: 199). The Cameroonian government grants fellowships for doctoral studies in China as well.

  8. 8.

    For the realization of the optic fibre network the Chinese contracted a Vietnamese company that was working on it in 2014 (conversation with Vietnamese workers in Yaounde, June 2014).

  9. 9.

    MINMAP (2015); US Department of State (2013); the government-near newspaper Cameroon Tribune regularly reports about foreign investments, for example in 2013, on Brazil (26 February, p. 7; 4 March, p.3), China (22 February p.12; 11 March, p. 3, 13), Japan (11 March, p. 32; 30 May, p.10; 5 June, p. 3), Morocco (26 February, p. 3), Turkey (1 April, p.8–9; 5 June, p. 29; 11 November, p. 5).

  10. 10.

    It has been noticed that Asian traders use Cameroonian networks that are composed of their employees to have relevant information on Cameroonian traders’ stocks and order lists of products.

  11. 11.

    Such a behaviour of the political authorities is not new. Indeed, in the mid-1980s, Cameroonian businessmen accused the regime of Paul Biya of having “introduced the Indo-Pakistani wolf in sheepsted of the Cameroonian economy” (Geschiere and Konings 1993: 338, our translation).

  12. 12.

    Obviously, Chinese traders carefully observe this game to develop their own strategy. Further studies need to be carried out on the “appacheurs” of both groups.

  13. 13.

    There is a growing number of scholarly studies on the situation of Africans in China, especially in Guangzhou and in Yiwu; for an overview on this literature, see Cissé (2015), Marfaing and Thiel (2015), and other articles in the special issues of The Journal of Pan African Studies 7, 10, 2015, edited by Adams Bodomo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany

    Ute Röschenthaler

  2. University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon

    Antoine Socpa

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  1. Ute Röschenthaler
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Correspondence to Ute Röschenthaler .

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  1. International Business and Economics, University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

    Young-Chan Kim

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Röschenthaler, U., Socpa, A. (2017). The China Challenge: Cameroonians Between Discontent and Popular Admiration. In: Kim, YC. (eds) China and Africa. The Palgrave Macmillan Asian Business Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47030-6_6

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