SAGE Publications Los Angeles/London/New Delhi/Singapore DOI: 10.1177/000944550704300303 The Strategic Entry of China’s Emerging

China’s relations with Africa have grown exponentially over the past decade. During the 1990s, Sino-African trade grew by 700 per cent and many high-level visits occurred from 1995. China’s heightened political interest in Africa has paved the way for the entry of Chinese companies of all sectors into Africa’s economies. The entry of Chinese companies into Africa, largely state-directed in nature, is spurred on by the need for energy security and new markets, as well as specifically political objectives. Their en-gagement in Africa, though not without its challenges, has the potential to benefit both African countries and Chinese commercial interests. THE RISE OF THE CHINESE MULTINATIONAL According to UNCTAD, by end of 2003, there were 7,400 Chinese enterprises invest-ing in 160 countries. Collectively these enterprises held $33.2 billion in contracts. This is a far cry from 143 Chinese enterprises worth $170 million in forty-five coun-tries recorded in 1985. The intervening eighteen years had seen a decisive change in Chinese foreign investment strategy. Initially, the only Chinese international ventures, apart from non-trading state-owned ventures, were the ubiquitous Chinese take-away shops and restaurants. Until 1985, the only heavy-weights which had legal foreign dealings were the state-owned import-export companies, as well as provincial and municipal enterprises which fell under the auspices of the Commission of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade. Between 1985 and 1990, the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade became a legal entity, with sufficient capital to officially encourage overseas expansion. By 1990 there were 620 Chinese enterprises worth $860 million in ninety countries, predominantly from metallurgy/minerals, petro-chemicals, electronic/light industry