China’s engagement in Africa is sometimes wrongly perceived as a new form of ‘colonialism’ in the African continent. 

China is not a newcomer to Africa in general and in particular to the Maghreb region in North-Western Africa. China has for many years had strong ties with the Maghreb countries and supported their struggles against French colonialism all along, especially the Algerian revolution.  China was the first non-Arab and non-African country to recognize the Algerian interim government in 1958. That year China also established diplomatic relations with Morocco, followed by Tunisia in 1964 and Mauritania in 1978. 

The driving force of China’s engagement in Africa and in the Maghreb region was ideological anti-imperialism. China provided development aid after independence; the first Chinese medical mission to Africa was sent to Algeria in 1963. The Maghreb countries were leading African supporters of the People’s Republic of  China within the United Nations. 

Today, China is promoting more pragmatic relations with Maghreb and other African regions. China has become the first trade partner of several African countries, including Maghreb countries. Algeria is the first African country with a majority of Chinese contractors in infrastructure projects. China’s investment in North Africa has increased dramatically in recent years, and exceeded one billion USD in the Maghreb region. Today, there are more than 75 Chinese companies registered in the Maghreb region. 

China’s Maghreb policy can be seen as a combination between China’s policies towards Africa and those towards Arab countries. Since 2000, China has established two important mechanisms of cooperation with Africa and the Arab world: the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF). 

 In 2006, the Chinese government issued a paper on ‘China’s African Policy’, aiming to enhance cooperation with Africa based on five principles of peaceful co-existence: 8i) mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, (ii) mutual non-aggression, (iii) non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, (iv) partnership equality, and (v) mutually beneficial co-operation. 

The policy paper includes cooperation in the political, economic, cultural and social, as well as peace and security fields. In the political side, it highlights high-level visits, the exchange between parliaments and political parties, consultation mechanisms, cooperation in international affairs and exchanges between Chinese local governments and African countries. This is similar to China’s policy towards Arab countries. 

This policy is very attractive for Maghreb and other African countries as it shows that China is looking for a completely different kind of cooperation than the Western model. 

Unfortunately, the Maghreb countries have not responded by formulating a clear policy of their own for cooperation with China. Maghreb countries adhere to some principles of cooperation with China, which can be seen also as Chinese conditions for cooperation with foreign countries: the ‘One China’ policy. 

The good mutual relationship that China and Maghreb countries have built during the last decade has helped both sides to develop stronger relations, as illustrated by the increasing number of visits by high level political officials from both sides and by the growing economic cooperation. In 2010, China became the Maghreb region’s third major trade partner. China is also investing in many vital sectors in the Maghreb region, such as the infrastructure, energy, telecommunication etc. 

Today, China and Maghreb countries are facing some challenges to enhance further cooperation in the political and economic levels due to the changing global situation in general and the Maghreb internal changes in particular:

• EU and US competition with China in the region: the EU and US engagement in the Maghreb economic markets has a much longer history than the Chinese economic engagement in the region. 
• Security and the wave of change in Maghreb: the problem of security and instability, especially after the uprisings that have taken place during the last year or two, is one of the major issues that Maghreb countries are addressing today. This issue has also impact on China-Maghreb economic relations, especially on the economic relations between China and Libya where the Chinese companies have lost a huge amount of investments during the war in 2011. 
• New emerging powers’ competition with China: other emerging countries like India and Brazil are also competing withChina in the  Maghreb region.
   
• Maghreb countries’ perception about China: the perception of the Maghreb people about the products ‘Made in China’, as low quality products, has not changed. Chinese products’ competitiveness is lower than European products in the Maghreb Markets. Moreover, the recent issues such as the involvement of Chinese companies in corruption in Algeria and the conflicts between the Chinese workers and Algerian locals, had a bad influence on China’s image in the Maghreb.

However, some of the challenges that China and the Maghreb region are facing today can be turned into opportunities to enhance further cooperation between both sides: 

ŸThe wave of political change in the Maghreb region has influenced the economic relations between China and Maghreb negatively in the short term. But in a longer perspective, the political change is an opportunity for the Maghreb countries to build up stronger economies. China is one of the most important emerging powers that could help Maghreb countries to achieve this goal.

ŸThe global financial crisis and the Euro zone crisis have deadly infected the developing countries’ economies, not least in the Maghreb, where European investments have decreased and the unemployment rates have increased dramatically.  This is an opportunity for both China and the Maghreb region to enhance further economic cooperation and it’s also an opportunity for the Maghreb countries to learn from the mistakes of their Euro-Mediterranean cooperation experience, and to build up real equal economic relations with China.