Legal and Economic Implications of China’s Utilization of the Right to Development (RTD) In Africa to Further its Debt-Trap Diplomacy
Abstract:
This article investigates the nuanced interpretation of the Right to Development (RTD) in Africa within the dependency theory framework and China's expanding impact through debt trap diplomacy. The discourse on development rights in Africa has transformed and is influenced by historical, political, and economic factors. Dependency theory, which postulates that exploitative relationships with the Global North perpetuate the underdevelopment of the Global South, has provided a critical perspective through which Africa discerns its development challenges. China’s engagement in Africa, primarily through infrastructure projects and loans, has sparked worries about debt trap diplomacy. Africa's response to this issue is often perceived as helpless due to its failure to address it with a proactive and multifaceted approach. Africa perceives the Right to Development as the right to infrastructural development for its people, representing progress, competition with the global north, and overall development. The authors contrast China's approach with that of the Bretton Woods institutions, which impose structural adjustment programs that do not align with Africa's development priorities. The authors further use dependency theory to analyze the unequal and exploitative dynamics between China and Africa and provide examples of how China has threatened or undermined the sovereignty of several African nations by seizing or controlling their strategic assets and resources in case of debt default or distress. The authors believe that China's loans to Africa have both positive and negative effects. While they have improved Africa’s infrastructure, they have also trapped African countries in perpetual debt and made them vulnerable to losing their independence and sovereignty
