Book Review | China’s Second Continent

China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa. Howard W. French. New York: Penguin Random House, 2015. ISBN 9780307946652. pp. 1, 304. $18.00.

Looking back ten years from its publication, China’s Second Continent is a prescient tale and subtle warning about China’s expansion beyond the Pacific. Even in 2014, author Howard W. French noticed how the rising power was already pulling Africa away from the West’s orbit “while few in that part of the world were paying attention.” To be sure, awareness grew as it was hard to ignore what some are labelling a new scramble for Africa. Yet even a decade ago, French was onto something, and his work did not get the attention it deserved in defense circles. Policymakers and practitioners should have a closer look and grapple with the question as to how—and to what consequence—increased Chinese presence in Africa affects U.S. foreign policy and strategy.

China’s Second Continent is an intimate account of Chinese settlement in Africa told through the eyes of immigrants and the local Africans it affects. As a journalist with familial ties to the continent, French travels through West and Southern Africa to interview local Africans, Chinese entrepreneurs, immigrant families, and government officials. While scholars usually explain China’s expansion as the product of its centuries-old strategic culture or simply the tragic way that great powers behave, French’s on-the-ground perspective paints a holistic portrait that belies these simple theories.

French mentions that at a broader level, it’s a story about the rise of the East and decline of the West, and the international competition for soft power (or “influence” if the former term is no longer popular today). The tools of influence differ: China builds physical infrastructure like stadiums, hospitals, railways, and bridges, while the West invests in less tangible advances in health and education. China and the West also part ways on the expectations of the African partner receiving assistance: Chinese officials seem unconcerned with partners’ levels of corruption or adherence to liberal values, while the West generally demands it. Surprisingly, China’s soft power doesn’t appear to be undermined by the consistent racism, paternalism, or sense of a “Chinese burden” that French records in nearly every interaction with Chinese migrants. This gives the reader the impression that large, concrete symbols of generosity may be more effective to increase one’s influence than invisible investments like training and vaccines.

From a strategic perspective, the book’s most interesting question is whether this phenomenon is driven top-down or bottom-up. In other words, is the push for overseas immigration and subtle domination orchestrated by Chinese state leaders, or propelled by individual economic incentives? Most of his interviews indicate that this wave is largely bottom-up, as Chinese immigrants advance the narrative that they are frontiersmen “eating bitter” (i.e., enduring hardship) to escape the poverty, cutthroat competition, and corruption of China. Yet, French drops hints that something from above is setting the conditions for more presence. For instance, his interaction with a former Zambian finance minister reveals how Chinese Communist Party officials would point out China’s generosity to ask for the removal of immigration controls on Chinese settlers.

Another central question for strategists is whether China’s economic activity in Africa is threatening or calming. From one perspective, the West is engaged in a zero-sum game on the continent where interests clash and China’s advance must be confronted. Conversely, if China’s aim is to lift its population out of poverty and grow its middle class, international trade may provide stability by developing a region ripe for terrorism. Here, French doesn’t paint Chinese activity on the continent as harmful but observes that China is playing the long game while the West is short-sighted.

Tellingly, French concludes with a discussion about whether China should be considered a modern empire. Throughout the book, the Chinese government officials he engages distance their efforts from any imperial ambitions, instead arguing the relationship is “win-win” to such a degree that French recognizes it to be the party line. Reflecting on what he’s learned, French believes China’s efforts are more comparable to migration-led empires of Portugal in the sixteenth century and Japan in the 1930’s, rather than the administrative empires of Britan or France during the nineteenth century (acknowledging that any comparison is imperfect, especially one with a militant Japan).

At some points throughout the book, it is easy to get lost in the details of the author’s intimate interactions with taxi drivers, restaurant servers, or embassy officials. However, French is at his best when he matches his fact-gathering on the ground with the strategic shadow that hangs over his conversations. For instance, he realizes through interviews that China was beginning to cultivate future markets for its export-oriented industry when demand from the West would eventually fade (again, prescient). Yet French ultimately concludes in the epilogue, “There was little hint of a grand or even deliberate scheme, but in the end, that’s not so important…it is the outcomes that count.”

However, for American foreign policy, the driving force matters. If settler expansion is merely the pursuit of a better life, then there is little to worry about. On the other hand, if it’s the first chapter of a master plan, then U.S. statecraft should prioritize Africa. Since its publication, China’s presence on the continent has only increased and on all fronts: not only economically through control of telecommunications,  commercial ports, and critical mineral mining, but also militarily to shape the environment in its favor. Perhaps the approach has shifted from bottom-up to more top-down over time. But since the truth lies on a spectrum somewhere between the two, any coherent policy response is challenging but also perilous for the West to ignore.

Thoughtful and even-handed, the book raises more questions than answers, and maybe that’s okay. (French continues to explore China’s grand ambitions from a broader perspective in a second book. Overall, policymakers and practitioners should read China’s Second Continent to better understand the human terrain of this phenomenon that foreshadowed the current competition on the continent.

(The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Department of the Army, US Africa Command, or Department of Defense)