In a country where politics often drives economics, are these purely ‘economic’ investments or are there political strings attached?

Wednesday, December 2, 7:30pm

“Goods Instead of Weapons: Investment as a Tool of Chinese Foreign Policy”

Frank Sieren, Columnist, Handelsblatt

Beijing International Society

Luxembourg Embassy Residence | 60RMB, 30RMB (Students) | Foreign Passport Holders Only

China is the foreign power vastly present on the African continent today. It was the first to recognize the opportunity on the continent, and for close to thirty years China has been investing with breath-taking speed in local infrastructure. Today many African economies are booming and China’s contribution to economic growth and development in Africa has been steadily increasing.

Not only in Africa. In Latin America also the Chinese strategy of “goods instead of weapons” has been working extremely well. And now China hopes to try the same thing on the Asian continent, through initiatives like the Silk Road fund amongst others. But in a country where politics often drives economics, are these purely ‘economic’ investments or are there political strings attached?

Frank Sieren, bestselling author, documentary film maker and Asia specialist, is senior Asia columnist for Handelsblatt, Germany’s leading business daily. He has been living in China since 1994. The London Times calls him one of the “decisive China authorities”. Sieren, who studied political science with a focus on economics in Berlin, is one of the few German journalists who has reported on China’s rise first hand as he accompanies this remarkable process from his unique Beijing vantage point.

With his bestseller The China Code – How the Booming Middle Kingdom is Changing Germany, Sieren kicked off a literary trend looking not only at how China itself is changing, but how China is changing the world. His newest book The Africa Boom – the Big Surprise of the 21st Century deals with Africa’s economic development. It was published in March 2015 in the Hanser publishing house. Frank Sieren wrote it together with his brother Andreas who lives in South Africa for already 15 years.

This event is open to foreign passport holders only. It is off-the-record. Advanced registration is not required.

Event information courtesy of Legation Quarter.