Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Institute of Asian and African Studies

After more than two years of living through a debilitating COVID-19 pandemic, new and renewed questions have to be addressed with regard to many aspects of life, including government policies. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as launched by China since 2013 cannot be an exception. For over a period of almost a decade now, China has conceptualized,
developed, and implemented the BRI as a massive signature infrastructure programme. It is also called One Belt One Road (OBOR) (in Chinese 一带一路) but the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) seems to be more popular globally. Through the BRI, China has constructed or is constructing about 2000 infrastructure projects, including roads, railways, seaports, and many more not just only within China but in the three continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa. In this paper, the focus is on analysing how the BRI plays out in Africa – China - Europe relations. What major BRI projects are in Africa, and how have the perspectives on the BRI changed in an era of the COVID pandemic? What new issues do various actors in Africa raise about the BRI, what is the EU’s response to these BRI engagements in Africa, what are the arguments for and against China’s massive infrastructure engagement with Africa in an era of pandemics? Can China itself stay committed to such an innovative and a massive infrastructure programme even in an economic downturn caused by the pandemic? In the talk these and other questions are addressed and then some proposals are made regarding how Africa – China - Europe cooperation can be enhanced for a win – win - win outcome under the BRI despite the world living through a pandemic.