THE GAMBIA – CHINA RELATIONS AND ITS STRATEGIES TO RESTRAIN THE WESTERN INFLUENCES IN

Thesis This is submitted to meet the requirements of obtaining a Bachelor degree in Social Sciences

By: Fanna Conteh 11161130000125

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES UNIVERSITAS ISLAM NEGERI SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH JAKARTA 2020

PANEL OF EXAMINERS APPROVAL SHEET

THESIS THE GAMBIA – CHINA RELATIONS AND ITS STRATEGIES TO RESTRAIN WESTERN INFLUENCES IN THE GAMBIA

By: Fanna Conteh 11161130000125 Has done her thesis defense oral examination at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah UIN Jakarta on 30th June 2020. This thesis was assessed and approved as partial fulfillment of the requirement for Bachelor of Sciences in International Relations.

Head, Secretary,

Muhammad Adian Firnas, M.Si Irfan R.Hutagulung,LLM NIP. NIP.

Examiner I Examiner II

Khoirun Nisa, MA., Pol Teguh Santosa, MA NIP. NIP.

PREFACE

The basis for this research is to earn myself an undergraduate degree in international relations with research topic on the Gambia and China relations, its strategies to gain influence in the Gambia and counter the western presence. As we live in a globalised world, where countries cooperate with each other for the benefit of its people and for the development of its economies. China, as a growing super power enforces strategic measures and policies with the aims of achieving its long term goals. Therefore, writing this research project comes with better knowledge and benefits as it will enlighten readers about the presence of China and other western countries in the Gambia. Furthermore, I would like to give special thanks to all the people that supported me and gave me advises throughout the work and most importantly, my supervisor who helped me through the process and it could not have come to this realisation without his guidance. Moreover, I thank each and every one for the consistent love and support.

ABSTRACT

This thesis analyses the strategies the Chinese government uses in the Gambia in order to strengthen the bilateral ties, increase its influences and counter the Western presence in the country. As international relations research is carried out through the study of literatures and interviews, many researchers have written papers on the relationship of China and Africa as a whole with the motives behind its presence relating to its economy and its political ambitions. Moreover, the bilateral relations between the Gambia and China has seen a rapid growth and in depth in recent years, with Chinese aid, grants and infrastructural projects which is said to assist the development process of the country. The Gambia government adheres to the ‗One China Policy‘ and promises its support to China in International forums and meetings which China appreciates a lot. Therefore, China as a growing super power, has cultivated its soft power in the course of developing its foreign agendas both bilaterally and multilaterally. Its main driving force is seen to happen through the use of diplomatic efforts, development assistance, institutional support and the state owned enterprises that operate in energy and natural resource sectors. This has made more economic engagements possible for China and as a result, its government is more willing to use development aid and concessionary loans to help its state owned enterprises to secure business deals in the Gambia and other parts of the continent. The China Exim bank has facilitated the credits and funds for the business transactions and infrastructural projects involved. However, the Chinese diplomacy goes with a careful constructed foreign policy and a comprehensive approach that places the country on a part with the long established Western powers for the competition and influence with the aims of securing its national interests in the Gambia and all around the world.

Keywords: The Gambia, China, Taiwan, Policy, Western powers, One China policy, Africa, diplomacy, Infrastructure, national interest, competition, influence,economy, soft power , aid, forums, development ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all the people who have supported me during the process of writing this research project. I particularly give a special thanks to the Islamic State University (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta for giving me the opportunity to study and earn myself an undergraduate degree in the International Relations field with all the opportunities that comes with it. I also want to express my sincere and distinct appreciation to my supervisor, Ahmad

Alfajri MA., who has the strength of a genius and has convincingly, guided and encouraged me to do the right thing even though the road got tough. Without his persistent help, the goal of this project would not have been realised. Moreover, my respect and appreciation goes to all my university lecturers who have always taken their time to teach to the best of their abilities and make the class as conducive as possible. Most importantly, being an international student, they have showed me much love and support and have always been welcoming. I am extremely grateful to my wonderful parents and my beloved aunt Haddy for their love, support, prayers, and sacrifices for educating and preparing me for my future. I also appreciate the people that have helped me greatly like Madam Fatou kinneh Jobe, Deputy Head of mission of the Gambia in Beijing, Ebrima J. Barry at MoFA Gambia, Mr Cherno Jallow, Professor Gomez, Mr Amadou Jallow, Mr

Ousman Sanyang and Momodou Barry. I would want to thank all my friendly and amazing classmates that have been supportive and so nice to me all the time of our study. Finally, i thank all the people who have helped me to complete this research work directly or indirectly for their constant encouragements. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AU African Union EU UN UK United Kingdom USA United States of America GDP Gross Domestic Product PRC People‘s Republic Chins ROC Republic of China SDG Sustainable Development Goal IUU Illegal Unreported Unregulated NIA National Intelligence Agency ICC International Criminal Court EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone NDP National Development Plan HRM Human Resource Management IEC Independent Electoral Commission FDI Foreign Direct Investment LGA Local Government Area DPP Democratic People‘s Party ITC International Trade Centre TTM Taiwanese Technical Mission CPC Communist Party of China AFD Agence Francaise de Development OBOR One Belt One Road FOCAC Forum on China Africa Cooperation DFID Department for International Development ICDF International Cooperation Development Fund NAWEC National Water and Electrical Company MSME Micro, Small Medium Enterprises UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNSC United Nations Security Council SFPA Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement YALI Young African Leadership Initiative CSIS Centre for Strategic International Studies ICAO International Civil Aviation Organisation AERC African Economic Research Consortium AGOA Africa Growth Opportunity Act CIIE China International Import Expo CAADP Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Process NEPAD New Partnership for Africa‘s Development GAMTEL Gambia Telecommunication ASTAGAM Agricultural Science Teachers Association Gambia

LIST OF PICTURES

(A) 1.1 The Gambia Map

(B) 1.2 Basse – Wulli Bridge and Fatoto – Passamass bridge

(C) 1.3 Basse – Fatoto – Koina road

(D) 1.4 International Conference Centre in the Gambia

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ...... I THESIS SUPERVISOR APPROVAL ...... II PREFACE ...... III ABSTRACT ...... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...... VI LIST OF PICTURES ...... VII CHAPTER I ...... 1 A. PROBLEM STATEMENT ...... 1 B. RESEARCH QUESTION ...... 3 C. RESEARCH PURPOSES AND BENEFITS ...... 3 D. LITERATURE REVIEW...... 4 E. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 8 F. RESEARCH METHOD ...... 12 CHAPTER II ...... 15 THE GAMBIA AND CHINA BILATERAL RELATIONS ...... 15 A. Historical Relationship between the Gambia and China...... 15 B. Diplomatic Shifts of the Gambia from Taiwan to Mainland China ...... 18 C. Current Relations between Gambia and China ...... 23 CHAPTER III ...... 32 THE GAMBIA RELATIONS WITH THE U.K, U.S AND ...... 32 A. The Gambia – UK relations ...... 33 B. The Gambia- France relations ...... 38 C. The Gambia and U.S. Relations ...... 43 D. The West presence in the Gambia as a threat to China‘s dominance ...... 46

CHAPTER IV ...... 53 CHINA‗S STRATEGIES TO DOMINATE THE GAMBIA AND PREVENT WESTERN INFLUENCES ...... 53 Economic Engagements ...... 55 A. Infrastructural Development Aid ...... 57 B. Agricultural development assistance ...... 62 C. Education sector development ...... 63 D. Duty Free exports ...... 66 E. People to People Cooperation ...... 67 China‘s efforts in maintaining influence in Gambia ...... 70 CHAPTER V ...... 73 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 73 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 78

CHAPTER I

A. Problem Statement

The Gambia and the People‘s Republic of China resumed diplomatic relations on

March 2016 after the country maintained ties with the Republic of China ‗Taiwan‘ for nearly two decades. As Taiwan transited from a president who has deepen links with China to one that is far more cautious with the cross-strait relations has signalled resumption of the contest between China and Taiwan to woo the countries all around the world1.

The Gambia and China have seen rapid development in their relations in all fronts since the resumption of diplomatic ties which includes the continued visits of high level diplomats from both countries. The resuming of ties has conforms to the fundamental interests of the Gambia and its people, the consensus on the one china policy and the aspiration for unity and cooperation of China and Africa. The establishment of China and

Africa relations was promoted after the first Asia-Africa conference, the Bandung Conference in 1955 Indonesia, as it endeavour to assert its leadership over the Third World ‗developing countries‘ and the nonaligned movement. At first, China‘s involvement was centred on building ideological solidarity with the underdeveloped countries and it supported independent movements in Africa to fight against the colonialists. The China- Africa policy then was seen in two main purposes: not to recognise Taiwan as representative of China and to counter the West influence.

1 Godbole, A. (2016). Gambia ‘ s Diplomatic Switch : Significance for China -Taiwan Relations. 8–12. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/9744522.shtml

1 The time of political orientation, economic aid was provided to Africa for free even though its own economy was not really strong and by the western standard, the aids of China to the African countries at its early stage of engagements with the continent was too small. As

China‘s main driving force into Africa is the synergy between diplomatic effort, development assistance, institutional support and as well as state owned enterprises especially in the energy and the natural resources sector, therefore, its government gives loans and development aid in order to secure business deals. The Gambia and the Western countries such as the U.K, France and the U.S have established bilateral relations since independence and have been involved in various economic activities including trade in goods and services, aid packages and the promotion of democracy. However, the Chinese presented development projects in terms of infrastructural development, training programs and aid packages for the

Gambia to enhance its fragile economy (Wioletta Nowak: 2015, 201-209).

For the Gambia, support was important as it wanted to reverse many of predecessor‘s most controversial decisions and rehabilitate Gambia‘s image abroad. The Gambia re-joined the commonwealth after it was approved by the Member States. Boris Johnson‘s visit to the

Gambia in 2017 was to further strengthen and develop the relationship of the two countries for the benefit of both sides. His visit opens opportunity form both countries to explore areas of mutual interest like in the fields of trade, education, health, tourism sectors and the promotion of democracy (Franco Modigliani, Point Newspaper Gambia: 2017).

China‘s return to Africa has been phenomenal. It is worthy to pointing out that

China‘s intensified engagement with Africa is neither unique nor isolated. It is a part of

China‘s overall foreign policy that focuses on forging economic relations with developing region. It also reflects China‘s shifting priority in pursuing international relations that secure energy and natural resources.

2 This has a strategic importance to Beijing in sustaining domestic economic development.Such a shift doesn‘t imply a dramatic change in China‘s foreign policy, the principles of China‘s Africa policy have been a continuation to the past, just in a less ideological but more pragmatic form. Rather, Chinese multi-dimensional approach in the region reflects its evolving transformation in world affairs, as China plays a more active international role by expanding bilateral, regional and multilateral involvements.

The country‘s reviving interest offers opportunities as well as challenges, because together with investment capital and development assistance, China also brings in Chinese competition and Chinese immigrants. But more importantly, China brings back the West‘s attention to the continent as well as their competitions for influence.The challenges China faces require China to adapt itself to the African concerns while pursuing its broad agenda in the continent, so that its presence continues to be well received by the people. China has played this advantage over the West well in the past and it is an advantage China certainly doesn‘t want to lose (Emmanuel Ma Mung:2008).

B. Research Question

How is China using its strategies to restrain the Western influences in the Gambia?

C. Research Purposes and Benefits

The purposes of this research is to understand the following reasons:

 What are the motives behind China‘s involvement in the Gambia  To what extend has china gone in terms of cooperation with the Gambia  What are the possible outcomes that we can see with Gambia-China relation  How China is trying to gain control over the West in the Gambia  To obtain a degree in Social Sciences (International Relations)

3

Research Benefits  To provide an understanding of China in the Gambia  To be a source of future reference of Gambia – China relations  To know the strategies China uses to dominate the country over the West  To improve the author‘s research knowledge  To contribute to the development of social and political sciences, International Relations in particular D. Literature Review

The article written by Avinash Godbole published on the 8th April 2016 by the Indian

Council of World Affairs entitled ‗Gambia‘s Diplomatic Switch: Significance for China and

Taiwan Relation‘. In this article, the author explains the important points that triggered the re- establishment of the Gambia and China ties after the severed relations with Taiwan. The

Gambia might be one of the smallest countries in Africa but its move had implications to the

China Taiwan relations. As the Gambia resumed ties with the People‘s Republic of China on the 17 March 2016, it may be a new beginning of the Gambia- China relations and it has raised questions on the relations between China and Taiwan. The Gambia had first withdraw ties with Taiwan in 2013 which happened under the influence of Beijing and since then it became the test case of the diplomatic truce China and Taiwan had. There are a number of variables that lead to the development, first, during the Chen Shui-bian presidency, Taiwan had lost its recognition to china from six countries, second, the Chinese perceptions of the

President Tsai Ing wen and third, the increase in economic power and influence .The victory of the Democratic People‘s Party (DPP) convinced Beijing to isolate Taiwan and send message to its people that Beijing preferred the status quo that was under the ex-president Ma

Ying Jeou (who was a Chinese friendly leader) than the one under Tsai Ing wen.

4 Tsai responded to the development by saying ‗Taiwan needs to protect its international space as its position was not very strong‘ and she hoped that the establishment of ties with the Gambia was not a target by China.

The research project entitled; 2006 – 2016; ‗The Gambia‘s Foreign Policy, The

Gradual Shift Towards China and The Gulf‘ written by the author Amat Jeng explains about what state level and system level variables that could have led to the shift of the Gambia‘s foreign policy in between the years under the Jammeh regime. Jammeh was known for his controversial speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where he express a hostile mode towards the west. The EU was the Gambia‘s main aid donor however, with time when Jammeh grew his authoritarian nature made him target for critics with a high human rights record. The intolerant behaviour of Jammeh made the EU to withhold its aid to the

Gambia for some time as Jammeh responded by suspending their top diplomat in the country after being accused of convincing to besmirch the image of his government on homosexuality. Therefore, this paper, talks about the shift of policy of the Gambia from the west as a result of the unfriendly relation both had at that time and seek cooperation with

China and other Gulf states in the Middle East such as Saudi, Qatar and Kuwait2

The journal article entitled China – Africa Cooperation- an outstanding relationship built on Mutual Respect and common benefits by Edward H. Sandy, International Research

Journal of Social Sciences in September 2013, discussed some of the historical relations between China and Africa which established socio- political corporations and exploring cultural exchanges which have been the blueprint in their relations. China distinguished itself as a friendly partner that pursues mutual cooperation and it has marked the growing fraternity as it emerges as a world power.

2 Amat Jeng The gradual shift towards china and the gulf/ 2006-2016: the Gambia‘s foreign policy/ university of Dalarna/ 2010

5 The post-revolutionary era china witnessed a rapid economic and development growth as a result of strategic economic reforms which made it a world‘s factory and the second largest global economy.

However, this came with a cost because in order for it to maintain the status or to attain higher goals, china‘s demand for natural resources for its production capacity has increased which puts it in a position to compete with other global power for the limited natural resources. As a result, it has made China to reach out to traditional partners with

Africa seen as a strategic one in the race for the scares natural resources. The Bandung conference, was the first major conference that was organised by Indonesia to promote Asian

– Africa economic and cultural cooperation and to oppose colonialism. The conference made it possible for mapping the strategic framework of a more strong bilateral relations and regional cooperation between China –Africa and Asia as a whole. The achievement resulted to a stronger support on technical and military assistance that gave way the struggle against colonial rule even though then it had very little focus on economic partnership. Nonetheless, this marked the starting point of China relationship which was built on mutual respect and benefit that is the core of the present diplomatic ties between the two.

The article Scoping studies on China – Africa economic relations: The Gambia by

Bukhari M.S. Sillah, by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in 2007,

University of the Gambia explains The Economic growth of Gambia which is driven mainly by a strong agricultural sector, accounting about 30% of GDP and 40% of total export earnings and tourism accounts for about 20% of the GDP. The Gambia enjoys a duty free and quota free access to the European market under the Everything but Arms arrangements. The major exports of the Gambia are fish, nuts and also cotton and its main export partners are

China, United Kingdom, France, U.S and the Netherlands.

6 In the early days of the Gambia relations with China, it gave a lot of technical assistance in the areas of agriculture especially irrigated rice cultivation, health particularly the Royal Victoria in Banjul and Bansang hospital which are cities in the Gambia.(Economic,

2007)

The article entitled ‗China- Africa Relations in the 21st century: Engagement, Compromise and Controversy by Keiran E. Uchehara, Dr, Atilim University, Department of International

Relations, 2009, in this article the author talks about why china is more attracted to the Africa region in the 21st century as a result of its burgeoning industry requirements for energy, mineral resources and natural resources are the major attraction of the country‘s engagements in the region. The author also talks about the times the two came into connection which can be seen in three stages, the time when African nations became independence, the time when

China was given a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council ‗UNSC ‗in 1971 and the final phase was the post- Maoist period which characterized by the liberation and the subsequent growth of its economy. Before the 1950s, Africa was not of importance to China however, after that the Chinese sought for international recognition and also political allies to be able to strengthen international alliances against the capitalist west and the revisionist

Soviet Union. The Bandung conference which aimed at promoting the economic and cultural relations between the two continent and the agendas discussed included colonialism, imperialism and hegemonic position of the West (Uchehara, 2009).

Therefore, the conference enhanced unity and the cooperation of the two regions which was inspired by people in the colonies struggle for liberation and promoting anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist of people in both parties. However, with China‘s increased involvement in the continent has stirred controversy among academics and policy makers.

7 The nature of the opportunities and the challenges for the development of the continent whether it is a new pattern of neo-colonialism which is similar to the West was likely to be developed with the imbalance of the trade and its investment relations. Due to the economic asymmetries, its failure to stop the repressive African governments and the countries poor economies which point to a foreign economic self-serving policy.

In the literatures above, the authors have focused much on the China – Africa relations and its early stages. My research focuses on the Gambia -China relations and how it is trying to counter the presence of Western countries in the Gambia. However, the similarities between my research and the articles are that both have the same focus point which talks about the China‘s motives and interests in the region but my research focuses on the diplomatic strategies China is engaged in to enhance its relations with the Gambia, china‘s interests in the country and its ways in trying to counter the western influences.

E. Theoretical Framework

To be able to answer the research question of this topic, the author uses the theory of

Diplomacy and the concept of Soft Power for a better understanding of the topic.

Diplomacy

In international relations, the term is described as a process between actors

(diplomats, representing a state) within a system, which is engaged in private and public dialogue to pursue theirs objectives in a peaceful manner. It is helpful to understand that diplomacy as part of foreign policy because when a nation-state makes policies, it makes it for its own national interests and those interests are shaped by a wide range of factors. A state‘s foreign policy has two key ingredients which are, its actions and its strategies for achieving its goals.

8 The interaction one state has with another is considered the act of its Foreign Policy and this interaction takes place between governments through diplomacy, to interact without diplomacy would limit the state‘s foreign policy. Therefore, diplomacy is an essential tool which is required to operate successfully in today‘s international system.(Gerhart & Cohen,

2001)

In the book of Aiyub Mohsin (2010) entitled ‗Diplomacy Theory and Practice‘

Jakarta, described diplomacy as ‗everything that deals with international affairs either in the form of conduct or management in international relations, particularly the art of negotiating agreements between sovereign states3. R.P Barston in his book ‗Modern Diplomacy ‗said

Diplomacy is related with the management of relations between states and between states and other actors4. Therefore, the theory diplomacy is used in this research to explain China‘s goal and the use of the Chinese diplomacy to enhance in cooperation with the Gambia. China‘s diplomatic initiatives are part of its grand strategy to tap the emerging markets, shaping the global governance norms and most of all to expand its influences. China‘s increased diplomatic engagements with countries has contributed to a major assistance to the different developing countries. It shows its growing ability to advance its strategic interests through cooperation and inducements with the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) under president Xi

Jinping called it ‗Soft Power with Chinese characteristics‘.

The concept of soft power was adapted from Joseph Nye the American scholar from his writing in the early 1990s on the importance of culture, values and ideals to shape the global norms. However, over time, the subject stimulated intense interest in China and in

2017, Wang Huning, who is a leading proponent of soft power was elected to china‘s topmost body which is the ‗the six-member Politburo Standing Committee.

3 Aiyub Mohsin (2010) Diplomacy, Theory and Practice, Jakarta 4 R.P Barston (1998) Modern Diplomacy, Longman, p1

9 The Chinese leader has said that ‗‗China will be a global leader in national strength and international influence‘‘ and it will improve its capacity to tell their stories, present a multidimensional view and enhance the Chinese cultural soft power. The quest for regional and global leadership is the second feature of China grand strategy (Paul Nantulya: 2018

Africa Centre for Strategic Studies).

In attaining these goals, it sees the region as a key role because of its emerging markets gaining a competitive advantage in a less secure political and economic environments allow the Chinese diplomats and the state backed industries to negotiate deals for their respective companies. The Gambia and China has maintain diplomatic relations through frequent exchange of high level diplomatic visits to be able to increase the friendly relations and the long term full cooperation between the two countries. To advance their relations even further, the Gambia promised to adhere to the One- China policy firmly and support the Chinese rightful stance in the United Nations and in other multilateral occasions.

The Gambian president has remarked the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the Gambia as a good signal and China‘s good faith in strengthening the bilateral relations (Xinhua,

China daily: 2019).

The two countries set up communication and coordination to implement the major consensus between the leaders and the results from the Chinese initiative of the Forum on China-Africa

Cooperation (FOCAC). China‘s diplomatic involvement is part of the most significant development in the region. The increased aid, debt cancellation and an increase in trade have proven mutually advantageous. Offering aid without preconditions has made it an attractive alternative for the Gambia and others to the condition Western aid and have gained valuable diplomatic support to defend its international interests.

10 Concept

Soft power

Understanding the developmental procedures in the world, the politics which is based on power in the global stage will be appropriate path to follow. The concept of power is a phenomenon that forms the basis of the area in international relations as each country wishes and desires a power policy in accordance with their National interests (Kiymet Yavuzaslan &

Marut Cetin:2016)

Corresponding to the end of the cold war ‗Joseph Nye‘ (1990) book ‗Bound to Lead‘: The changing Nature of the American Power‘ was influenced all around the world the concept of

‗soft power‘ was used which gained a conceptual quality. However, before defining the concept of soft power, it is important to explain the concept of power. For example Nye

(1990) before he explain the concept of soft power, he clarify the concept of ‗power‘.

According to him, power is the ability to influence the behaviour of the opponent in order to achieve the desired results (Nye 2003). The Scholars such as Machiavelli, the author of the book ‗Prince‘ published in 1532 puts top priority on power and security of the state.

The continuation of the survival of the state forms basis of all other purposes, what is important is to get power and it does not matter how you get it. Nye (2005) proposed that soft power consists of a country‘s history, geography, cultural diversity, economic strength, and democratic development, organisations, science and technology infrastructure. He defines the soft power as a country‘s power momentum that creates by all the possibilities and the opportunities a country has and it has created the concept of soft power to explain the dimension of power. However, in short, ‗soft power‘ relies on the ability to shape the preferences of others and it is the power that is attractive to other countries.

11 Therefore, in this research topic, the concept of soft power is used to explain the role China plays in the Gambia and in the global stage by creating its agendas with use of policies and institutions as its basic tools through bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. China does that in order to get the necessary attention and support it desires to be able to gain its position in the world stage as a ‗world class power‘. For the Gambia and China have deepened cooperation with each other and have made intentions to further take its relations to a higher level for mutual benefits as both countries pursue their core interests.5

F. Research Method

Qualitative Research Method

The research method intended to use for this study is qualitative research method which put emphasis on words rather than quantity in the collection and the analysis of the data. This research method is mainly an exploratory research which tries to reveal trends, thoughts and opinions and goes deep into the problems (Bryan 2012)

This method composes of conducting interviews, observation and the use of online articles and journals to further explain the research topic. The inductive research approach will be used in this research as the approach focuses on the research question to narrow down to the scope of the research. It focuses on exploring new phenomenon and focus on previous research from another perspective. The inductive approach helps to develop and confirm theory that has concrete empirical evidence which works towards more abstract concepts and theoretical relations (Neumann, 2014).

5 Joseph Nye (2002) Soft Power ' the mean to success in world politics https://www.academia.edu/28699788/Soft_Power_the_Means_to_Success_in_World_Politics _-_Joseph_S._Nye_Jr

12 Data collection methods

The data collection method used in the research study is mainly primary and secondary data focusing on interviews and the use of already available documents such as Journal articles, articles, newspapers, online news reports and also policy documents that are already available relating to the research subject.

Interviews

In this method, it is through the use of conversation to gather information between the interviewer and the interviewee. This method is either face to face confrontation or via telephone conversation. Therefore, getting reliable primary information for this research , the author interviewed several diplomats in various departments like the Gambian Deputy Head of mission in Beijing Madam Fatou Kinneh Jobe, the Third Secretary at the Embassy of the

People‘s Republic of China in the Gambia, Mr Li Changhai, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Gambia, University of the Gambia professor, Principal Agribusiness officer in the

Gambia, Mr Ousman Sanyang and Mr Cherno Jallow Senior student in the discipline.

Data analysis

The analysis approach that is used to analyse the data is the Narrative data analysis. This process involves analysing the data that is collected through interview scripts and documents of written information that are relevant and important to the research. As the narrative data analysis is said to be a fundamental way of which we make sense of the world therefore, the interviewees of this research have emphasised that the role China is playing on the global stage is centred on achieving its long term goals as it emerges as a global leader. For it to maintain this position, requires China to be more opened and focused on its aims as its makes more friends with no political preconditions for its partners.

13 However, unlike the West that comes with preconditioned rules to its aid programs which are sometimes not favourable. Therefore, with the Chinese strategic approach with more aid and infrastructural grants gave China the chance to acquire very cordial relationships with countries especially the Gambia. Furthermore, the structure of this research is made in a way that will give readers better understanding of China and other Western countries such as U.K,

U.S and France relations with the Gambia.

The first chapter consist of the background of the relations these countries have with the

Gambia, the research aims and benefits with the theory to explain the research question and the research method used to analysis the data collected for this research project. In the second chapter consist of the historical background of the Gambia and China relations and it shifting from Taiwan to China as a result of economic reasons and the current relations between the two countries as the Gambia adheres to the one China policy issued by Beijing.

The third chapter talks about the Gambia‘s engagements with the West such as U.K, U.S and

France and how their involvement in the Gambia could be a threat to China‘s dominance in the country. The fourth chapter has the collected data from relevant sources to answer the question of how China is trying to use its strategies of development aid and infrastructural grant projects in the Gambia to be able to be the dominant foreign leader. The fifth chapter summaries the previous chapters and recommendations made by the author for a more progressive mutual bilateral relations between the Gambia and China and explains how the

Beijing approach for development takes the lead which comes with financial investments in terms of infrastructural grants and other development sector assistance unlike the Western aid that comes with promises and political conditions

14 CHAPTER II

THE GAMBIA AND CHINA BILATERAL RELATIONS

In this chapter, the discussion will be on the establishment of diplomatic ties between the

Gambia and Mainland China after several relationship shifts between Taiwan which it first had relations with, to recognising China that it still maintains ties with. The elements that have motivated these events are discussed and the issues it has caused in the relations between Taiwan and China in the time of diplomatic truce. The recent diplomatic engagements between the Gambia and China is explained and to the extent of the relations has gone by trying to maintain a more cordial relationship with the pursuance of core interests.

A. Historical Relationship between the Gambia and China

The Gambia and the People‘s Republic of China also known as ‗Mainland China‘ established diplomatic relations on 14th December 1974. However, because the Gambia government re-establish its diplomatic relations with Taiwan on the 13th July 1995, the

Mainland China had to cut its diplomatic relations with the Gambia on 25th July 1995 as the

Gambia didn‘t recognised the One China Policy (Baker and Edmonds, 2004).

The republic of the Gambia is a small country in the Western part of Africa with total area of 10 689 square kilometres with narrow strips of land on both sides of the river Gambia about 400 kilometres long on average. The country is bordered by Senegal on three areas which are the east, north and south whereas the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The population is about 2,347,706 and the population growth is relatively high at 1.99% per annum and about

40% of the population are concentrated in the urban areas of the country. In the rural area, the population is predominantly by the females while there were more males in urban areas.

15 The major ethnic groups of the Gambia are Mandinkas, Fulas, Wolof, Jolas, Serahules, Aku,

Manjagoes, and Serer. About 90% of the population are Muslims while 10% are Christians

(Enid R.A. Forde: 2018)

1.1 Map of the Gambia

The Gambia is divided into five administrative divisions, Western Region, North Bank

Region, Lower River Region, Central River Region and the Upper River Region. Over 70 percent of the Gambia‘s population are involved in agriculture and related activities. As a result, the successive government of the Gambia had the policy of linking up with agrarian countries like the Mainland China and Taiwan to emulate their modes of progress and development. During the establishment of bilateral relations between the Gambia and China, the chairman of the National People‘s Congress of China paid a visit to the Gambia likewise the resulting to a Cultural agreement signed between both countries6.

6 Bukhari M.S. Sillah Scoping studies on China-Africa economic relations: the Gambia/Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC)/ /Head of department of economics and management sciences(DOEMS)/ University of the Gambia/September 2007

16 The two countries have signed protocol of sending Chinese medical teams in the country in the beginning of their relations to help the Gambia in terms of health services. Moreover, because of the friendly relations they had, the Chinese government sends in more than 200 medical personnel that have worked in the Gambia from the year 1984 – 1995. By then,

Mainland China has accepted about 11 students from the Gambia to study in China on scholarship by the government.

During the first republic of the Gambia, the country has received a lot of technical assistance especially in the areas of agriculture and health sectors, particularly in the Royal

Victoria Hospital which is in the Capital city of the Gambia, Banjul. They government of

China assisted in terms of manpower, medical equipment and medications. The republic of

China ‗Taiwan‘ establish diplomat relation with the Gambia in 1968, three years after independence. However, Republic of China ‗Taiwan‘ cut ties with the Gambia in 1974 after the Gambia switched ties with the Mainland China. The Gambia and Taiwan resumed ties in

1995, after the 1994 July Coup d‘état (Deborah Brautigam: 1998).The Taiwanese agreed to provide assistance to the Gambia in terms of agriculture and technology advancement. There were also visits of top officials of the two nations which made the relations even closer.

There has been Taiwanese Technical Mission ‗TTM‘ in the country who has been engaged in the agricultural sector as it helped farmers to produce more than 10,000 tons of high quality rice yearly. The Gambia proceeded with a project that was aimed to turn the country into a hub for ICT development in West Africa. With the vision to be achieved, the Taiwanese

International Cooperation for Development Fund ‗ICDF‘ cooperated with the Gambia to establish e-government programs. The Gambia was assisted with Website design and agricultural surveys were added to the government‘s web pages. This has aided the country in increasing the efficiency of the government and also to facilitate participation and the access to information by the public (Sheriff Barry, Daily Observer: 2013)

17 B. Diplomatic Shifts of the Gambia from Taiwan to Mainland China

The Gambia has been shifting political ties with both Taiwan and Mainland China in

1968 after the independence of the Gambia. The Gambia first forged its relationship with

Taiwan which was then a democratic country just like the Gambia. However, in the mid-

1970s, the Gambian government thought it was wise to have a relationship with Mainland

China to benefit from the development projects, aids and grants Mainland China was giving to other nations. Also, what prompted the country to establish the relations with Mainland

China was the pressure from the neighbouring countries that already established relations with Mainland China like Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea Conakry and Guinea Bissau which were in diplomatic relations with Mainland China. The Gambia‘s relations with Mainland

China made it possible for the country to get its national independence stadium which was built by the Chinese people.(Southerland, Analyst, & Affairs, 2017)

Just after the Coup d‘état in July 1994, the Gambian government felt isolated and break its ties with China but the government did not lose from breaking ties with Mainland

China because the interest sectors of Mainland China in Gambia was taken over by Taiwan for support. It was in the year 1995, that the Gambia forged its relationship with Taiwan for its mutual recognition and also its benefits. As a result of that, the Taiwanese government pumps in grants to the Gambia for its economic, cultural, technology and infrastructural development and in return the Gambia will promote the international recognition and acceptance of the country as a sovereign nation.

The Gambian government has received both grants and loans from Taiwan because of the diplomatic ties that they shared. The main areas targeted to benefit from the Taiwanese loans and aid to the Gambia were Infrastructure, Agriculture, the water and electricity of the

Gambia‘s under the National Water and Electrical Company (NAWEC) for power supply

18 especially in the rural areas, the promotion of imports and exports goods and also the poverty alleviation. The Taiwanese aid has helped the Gambia since 1994 in agricultural development, education, industries development and transportation which made the different sectors of the country.(Matsuda, 2015)

A donation of $400,000 was made for the education of girls in the country and a number of 25 Gambian students studied at the various institutions in Taiwan. The relationship between the two countries has been cordial as it was based on common understanding and respect which has been shaping the relationship. Both the Gambia and Taiwan had common stance in justice, freedom, democracy and development which creates the foundation for a genuine relationship. The first republic of the Gambia saw Taiwan as a good example to cooperate with since it has a close picture with the case of the Gambia. Taiwan as a country that adopted democracy and free market policy was curved out of a powerful neighbour, however it had access to the sea to get to the rest of the world. Similarly with the case of the

Gambia that has been curved inside Senegal as well and it still open to the world through the sea and as well adopted the democratic free market policy. The Gambia might be one of the smallest countries in the Africa however, its diplomatic switches with Taiwan and Mainland

China had implications for the relation of both countries. As a result of the shifting of the relations it then became the testing tool of the diplomatic truce between China and Taiwan

(David Smith, The Guardian: 2013)

Moreover, there has been a range of variables that took part in the development as it has brought about fear that would end the diplomatic truce both countries had. During the regime of Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan lost diplomatic to China from six countries whereas there was no loss or gain either in the Ma Ying-Jeou era.

19 The other aspect is that, the Mainland China‘s perceptions of Tsai Ing-wen and the increased in China‘s involvement in the African continent especially the fifth meeting of the Forum for

China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).The victory of the Democratic People‘s Party (DPP) candidate convinced Beijing to make more efforts to isolate Taiwan. China sends message across to the Strait of the people of Taiwan that Mainland China Preferred the status quo that was under the leadership of Ma Ying- Jeou than the one of Tsai Ing-wen. As a result, it made

Tsai Ing-wen to react to the development saying that ‗Taiwan has to protect its international space as its diplomatic position is unstable‘ and hope that the establishment of the ties with

Gambia is not a targeted move by Mainland China (Ralph Jennings,VOA News: 2016).

The China Post, by Frank Ching argues the re-establishment of diplomatic ties between the

Gambia and China raises a return to the cross strait diplomatic rivalry diplomacy that happened before the Ma Ying-Jeou leadership in 2008. The Taipei Times also argues that

China has put pressure on the president of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen before her inauguration as president. Moreover, Beijing don‘t want to give up, even though the pro-China policies which was promoted by Ma Ying-Jeou was rejected by the Taiwanese.

In the regime of Ma Ying-Jeou, Taiwan had followed a diplomatic approach which was ‗viable diplomacy‘. Using this approach, Taiwan‘s engagement with the rest of the world based on humanitarian assistances principles, also projecting Taiwan as peacemaker and cooperation amongst other countries in the areas of culture, education, transfer of technology and economic cooperation. Taiwan was able to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). It was part of 27 international governmental organisations as associate or affiliate member and also an observer in 21 other organisation.

20 The Taiwanese government move to gain observer status in the international Criminal

Police Organisation (Interpol) was rejected by Beijing. Ma Ying-Jeou described the viable diplomacy as a means of stopping the pointless competition with Mainland China for allies in the global arena and playing important role in the community providing assistance to people and promoting peace. He also warns that any difference made may lead to Taiwan losing the global goodwill that it earned and that would strain the relationship it has with Mainland

China. However, as countries started diplomatically recognising Beijing instead of Taipei, therefore the Taiwanese government started to use all means to make sure that it saves its diplomatic relations and its stature in the international order known as the ‗dollar diplomacy‘.

Mainland China was engage on unethical diplomatically isolate Taiwan by even building more infrastructure in countries that had relations with Taiwan (Ian Taylor: 2010, pp. 125-

140).

Therefore, Taiwan was fighting a losing battle and was more desperate between the two as the resources were on the side of Mainland China. The Tsai Ing-wen leadership refused to accept the 1992 Consensus and the One China Principle which is a big concern for

Mainland China. The female Taiwanese president outlined her party Democratic Progressive

Party ‗DPP‘ position of the 1992 consensus saying that it didn‘t come to existence until 2000 and the cross strait situation was different needing new framework for cooperation.

For Beijing perspective, the pronouncement of DPP status quo is a problematic stance against the long term desire of Taiwan‘s assimilation with the Mainland China. On the other hand, under the leadership of Ma Ying, who was engaged to step down as president, has not helped matters by visiting the Itu Aba Island which is known as the Taiping in Taiwan. The country has claims in the South China Sea issue like Mainland China even though its control and activities with the issue is minimal as Beijing actions of creating artificial islands in the disputed water.

21 As a result, it was Ma Ying‘s first presidential visit to the island and it signifies the failure of his South China Sea Initiative that had called for discontinue of sovereignty disputes and the exploration of resources. Taiwan and China were on the spree of winning the allies in the early 21st century, Taiwan was in a better position compared to Mainland China (Chih-Chieh

Chou, China Review: 2018 pp. 121-148).

However, during the last decade, Mainland China proactive foreign policy with its financial capacity means that it has surpassed Taiwan which made it attractive for developing country like the Gambia. As a result, the 5th FOCAC meeting in South Africa, Johannesburg in

December 2015 when Mainland China made various commitments with a sum of $60 trillion for host of projects is a testimony for this phenomenon. Therefore, it could be said that the

Beijing‘s initiative for financial assistance is highly attractive to countries that are developing, especially African countries and other developing countries in other parts of the world.

The Gambia is basically an agricultural country with approximately 70 per cent of its population depending on agriculture for its livelihood. It accounts for about 32 per cent of the

GDP of the country and 90 per cent of export earnings made up of groundnut and the fisheries sector is also an important part in income generating for the country. The Gambia‘s tourism sector, an important sector of the country‘s income generating process which account for 12 percent of GDP and it is a fast growing sector contributing to the foreign exchange earnings (Bukhari M.S Sillah:2013).

The tourism sector provides employment opportunities for an increase number of people and also having links with the agricultural sector. Moreover, the struggle for independence of African countries and the immediate post-colonial Africa which mostly

22 favoured the socialist perspective, the non-align movement which china played an important role for the independence of the African states.

The development assistance they gave to these countries contributes to establishing ties with China. The Gambia, being developing countries with poverty primarily a rural phenomenon as 60 percent of the household in rural areas are poor. Incidence of poverty is highest in the rural groundnut growing areas especially in the East and the North. Therefore, as Mainland China and Taiwan experienced poverty and food security just like the Gambia faced gave the country reasons to link its foreign policy with Mainland China or Taiwan so as to learn lesson from these countries in order to remove poverty among its people. The

Gambia is a net importer of food as the country produces about 50 percent of its national requirements of food. However, the yields of staple foods crops are relatively very low to meet the year round household food demand of most of the rural household demands.

Food security in rural areas depends primarily on farm household and the income obtained from it. The farming households do not grow enough food that will support their own consumption needs for the year and the marketable surplus it can get. The income generated from agriculture to buy food is insufficient and the opportunities to diversify the income generating process is limited. The household food security in the urban area in general has deteriorated in the recent years due to the inadequate supplies from the local production which made the prices of foods to increase and the currency of the country to depreciate making the imported foods more expensive to get.

C. Current Relations between Gambia and China

The Gambia and China have made great achievements in deepening their ties which the two heads of states of both countries have committed themselves to. They have increased high level mutual visits and enhanced mutual trust. The president of the Gambia has the

23 strong will to promote cooperation with China as he has made state visits to China and have attended the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).The desire to promote and strengthen ties of friendly relations and cooperation between the two was to benefit their peoples.

The signing of a Joint Communiqué which states that ‗ the two countries agreed to exchange diplomats with the provision of the 1961 Vienna convention on Diplomatic

Relations, to provide the necessary assistance for the establishment of embassies and the performance of each part‘s duty on a reciprocal basis. The communiqué provides that

Mainland China supports the Gambian government in terms of safeguarding national sovereignty and the development of the economy of the country. In return, the Gambia recognises that there is only one China and Mainland China is the sole legal government who represent the whole of China which includes Taiwan (New York Times, Austin Ramzy:

2016).

The Gambia ought not to establish any official relations or involve in any engagement with Taiwan in which the Chinese government appreciates the position of the Gambian counterpart. Both countries has signed cooperative agreements on the ‗Belt and Road‘ project initiative which is a foreign policy and economic strategy of the People‘s Republic of China involving infrastructure development and investments in Africa, Asia and some parts of

Europe. The Gambia found it useful for its infrastructural development, Economic and technical cooperation, and culture to enhance the modernization of agriculture in building capacity through the trainings of professionals and higher education7.

7 China-Gambia resume diplomatic ties/embassy of the people‘s republic of china in the republic of south Africa/17/03/2016

24 The Belt and Road Initiative has been the Chinese leadership strategy which is an important component of the communist party‘s objectives in achieving its national rejuvenation to restore China as a great power The aim is connecting with countries through the energy and transportation infrastructure, trade, education, tourism and culture.

These key drivers create a foundation of interlocked transportation corridors to enhance trade and security, and assist in strategic penetration of market. The China – Gambia cooperation in various areas is already impressive as there have been many projects coming in the country like the construction of roads and bridge projects aided by China (Ziromwatela & Changfeng,

2016).

The Forum of China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) eight major initiatives are in line with the National Development Plan of the Gambia government. The National

Development Plan ‗NDP‘ (2018 – 2021) of the Gambia signifies the government‘s commitment to implement projects and programs which will contribute to transforming the country to a more vibrant, progressive and inclusive society for its citizens. The successful implementation of the NDP will make sure the achievement of the government‘s medium term development aspirations and the contribution to the realisation of the regional and global commitments such as the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable

Development Goal (SDG). Relating to the Gambia‘s membership of the FOCAC, would add great value to the country‘s quest to attain the goals and objectives of its National

Development Plan. The President of the Gambia attended the 2018 FOCAC summit in

Beijing and noting that the country stands to gain great benefits from the immense experience of the member countries as well as the progress in the trade relations between China and

Africa.

25 President Barrow of the Gambia mentioned that the theme of the Summit reflects platform for strategic alliances and basis for national development. The Gambia and China cooperate in different sectors which include the fisheries, agricultural, technology advancement and timber logging.8

The Gambian fisheries resources can be identified in the marine, brackish and freshwater regimes. The country owns an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles and a territorial and sea extending to 12 miles from the geographical coast area with continental estimated shelf area of 4000 square kilometres and EEZ of about 10,500 square miles. The main river Gambia has its source in Fouta Djallon in the highlands of Guinea

Conakry. Fish is an important part in dietary consuming and it supplies about 40 percent of the total animal protein consumed in the Gambia. Despite the main part of fishermen are targeting fish for supplying to the local market demand, a number of them are also engaged in fishing high value spices for processing in facilities for exports or for the tourism internal market (Asberr Natoumbi Mendy: 2009).

The artisanal sector of the Gambia creates jobs for about 200,000 Gambians, 70 percent of which depends on the small pelagic species for their livelihood. The total production of this species was estimated to have 45,294mt in 2016 with sardinella spices which accounted for 88 percent of the total. The small pelagic fish and other fishes within the

Gambian waters come across from Moroccan waters. The pelagic fish in the waters ranged from 101,000 to 510,000mt from the year 1992 – 2011. The catches or the supplies of the pelagic on the other hand ranged from 3,420mt to 45,294mt from 1981 to 2016 which indicate an unexploited potential of about 172,000mt.

8 Li Anshan Origin of the FOCAC / /reflection on China‘s Africa strategy/ foreign affairs reviews/no.3, 2012.The formation and development of Chinese foreign assistance administration system/Journal of international economic cooperation, no. 5, 2009.

26 Therefore, licence of fish processing factory that stimulate the demand for the pelagic species was an option to make sure to maximise the benefits of the fish resources for the alleviation of poverty and increase the fisheries development sector of the country. The fish consumption per capita was estimated 25kg per person and 9kg for the inland communities averaging it 17kg per person giving it a high demand for fish at 32,432mt (72% of supply in

2016).

However, the scenario changed since the registration of the Golden Lead Import and

Export Company, a Chinese owned fishmeal plant operating in the Gambia to process

Sardinella species with an annual average demand about 108,000mt from 2015 onwards which takes the annual demand for fish close to the capacity of 191,000mt per annum. This shows that Golden lead has outsource 88 percent of its processing demand from the sub region to operate at optimal level. Claims in the social seems to suggest that Golden lead

Company that is registered to fish in the Gambian waters has been dumping the excess waste all over towns in the Gambia in Gunjur and Kartong area of the country. The company has been operating in the Gambia since 2015 with minimal dumping polluting the environment.

The increased in the environmental pollution is caused by the increase number of fishing boats which are targeted to supply the factory. Gunjur is an hour drive from the city of

Gambia Banjul and the beach is a parade of fish seller, fish driers, fish smokers, net mender, boat builders and painters. Villagers had hope that Golden Lead would deliver jobs on area reliant on tourism which it did for some but at a cost for many. The company processes shad,

Gambian staple food known as bonga fish into animal feed for export to China. The importance of the fish cannot be underestimated in the Gambia, a population over two million people as Gambians consume 25kg of fish per capita compared on average African of 8.2kg.

27 The Gambian fishes small pelagic catching is the bonga according to the Food and

Agricultural Organization and makes a third of the total artisanal catch. About 90 percent of it goes to the local Gambian population for consumption which has been jeopardized by the presence of more profitable alternative like the fishmeal says ‗Dyhia Belhabib‘, a fisheries scientist at the non-profit group Ecotrust Canada. Mustapha Manneh a Gambian journalist, campaigns through his Facebook page ‗Kartong Weekly News, against a company JXYG the

Chinese run fishmeal factory in his village of Kartong with almost half of the Gambian living below the poverty line of $1.25 a day and many of the people depend on the fish since it was cheap to buy.

The price of the bonga and sardinella has raised up to 50 percent of its normal price since the presence of the Chinese fishmeal factories in the Gambia according to the 2017 report on fishmeal factories issued by the Senegalese group Association for the promotion and

Empowerment of Marine Fishers alongside the local Gambian groups and Mauritania.

Therefore, the fisheries sector of the Gambia has been very important sectors for the Chinese businesses since it fishes a very large amount of the natural resources processed and send to

China to satisfy its domestic demands and needs.

Rosewood logging

The Rosewood or timber has become a fast and hot commodity in the far east region especially in China where it is used to construct the classical Chinese furniture and décor and the value of the rosewood into China reached $2.6 billion in 2014, which doubled the value a year earlier and according to the ‗Ecosystem Market place publisher Forest Trends‘, drive a very huge amount of the illegal deforestation which contributes to the smuggling, corruption, fraud and ethnic and political strife. The rosewood species which grows in the most bio diverse forests of the Southeast Asia and Africa with China‘s explosive demand of it has put the forests at a very high risk along with the forest communities which depends on the species

28 for their livelihood, medicine and fuel. ‗Naomi Basik Treanor‘, the report author and

Manager in Forest Trends‘ Trade and Finance program said ‗There is a strong evidence that the booming demand of the rosewood that has been illegally harvested with dire consequences for complex ecosystems in some of the world‘s most diverse forests. Tracking the impacts of the activities are difficult but Basik finds that Chinese demand for rosewood is driving a very bad practice across the several forested nations. The 95% of rosewood coming from the Gambia is actually coming from its neighbouring country Senegal and its harvest contributes to separatist movement along the southern border of the country.

Senegal and Gambia have logging bans on the rosewood in place but they are constantly violated not only in those countries but other African countries like Mali, Nigeria, Togo and many other countries. Between the years 2014 to 2017 the Gambia has exported nearly $163 million worth of rosewood to China. West wood, the Gambia Company allegedly owned by

Swiss national ‗Nicolae Bogdan Buzainu‘ and the former president of the Gambia Yahya

Jammeh had the exclusive licences to export rosewood. The timber that it exports was illegally brought in from neighbouring Casamance which is in Senegal locating in the southern part of the Gambian borders with Senegal. In Casamance, there were separatist armed groups who were fighting with the Senegalese army as they wanted their independent as a state free from Senegal. TRAIL international filed a complaint with the Swiss Attorney

General‘s office against Mr Buzainu accusing him of pillage conflict timber. Both Jammeh and Buzainu had monopoly on the exports of the wood from the Gambia but for the Gambia‘s rosewood nearly depleted since 2014, which resulting to importing from Casamance. Senegal losses the equivalent of 40,000 hectares of forest per year and some of it which are due to the illegal exploitation of rosewood in Casamance. Even though measures are taken to stop the illegal logging, the activity continues to take place (James Court right, Equal Times: 2018).

29 It is obvious that officials of both countries facilitate this process as they also benefit from the illegal activity. The illegal activity has been longstanding and nothing is being done as yet.

Internet Broadband

The National Assembly of the Gambia in its first extraordinary session ratified the framework agreement between the Gambia and China on the provision of concessional loan of $26 million to the Gambia. The loan was used for the implementation of the Gambia

National broadband Network project. The loan agreement is signed between both parties in

2017 and the Gambia Telecommunication Company Limited (GAMTEL).

The country has now entered the digital society era, which enable families and companies in the country to have access to the high speed internet services, enjoy the digital services and to develop the digital economy of the Gambia. The officials of both countries described the broadband as one of the most important cooperation projects so far. According to the Vice President of the Gambia Dr. , The national broadband is very important for the people of the Gambia which not only extends the country‘s 400km fibre optical but also act as an important role of the national development plan of the Gambia. The project has succeeded in making the original national optical network making the households and enterprises easy access to internet at cheaper prices and enjoying the digital services. The government of the Gambia is committed to accelerating the social transformation with the digitization to increase the country‘s GDP by the use of ICT technologies and hope the two companies Huawei and Gamtel strengthens the cooperation with the government.

30 The Gambia’s sea port extension

The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) was created in 1972 by the Ports Act to operate the ports of the Gambia for commercial basis. The port was given mandate to manage and provide all the necessary marine and harbour facilities, cargo handling and storage as well.

It stands at a core of trade gateway project which is intended to enable the Gambia to establish itself as global competitive exports and processing centre which makes up to almost

90% of the Gambia‘s total foreign trade. The port is located on the mouth of the Gambia

River and is one of the world‘s busiest shipping lanes. In 2018, the Gambia exported

$356.8million and imported $677.8million which resulted in a negative trade balance of -

$321.0million. The Gambia exports peanuts and peanut products, fish, cotton, wood and palm kernels while it imports foodstuff, manufactured goods, machinery, transport equipment and many more and its main export partner is People‘s Republic of China.

As the sea port of the Gambia calls for redevelopment, a subsidiary of a state owned China

Communications Construction Company (CCCC) has sent a bid of $159.91million contract to redevelopment the sea port. Bollore a French company also showed interest in the project and submitted an offer to develop the port, a project that officials hope will see the port rivalling the neighbouring port in Dakar, Senegal. The Banjul port was run by state agency during the time of for 20 years which ended when the new president came into Power in January 2017.The Port is being lined up to be part of the first major development area of the new era as Banjul is considered to have major strategic potentials as it has easy access to the Atlantic shipping lanes which attracts major interests from foreign investors. The Banjul port experienced problems delivering its undoubted potential which includes ‗space‘ as the port is exposed to the different parts of the world for trade and find it difficult to have all the spaces it needs to accommodate more storage (Reuters: Emma

Farge,2017).

31 Therefore needs to be restructured and adjusted, any arriving cargo ships to the port often have to wait at anchorage before entering the port to dock and this is something that the redevelopment will address with major works planned. This project and many other project tends to straighten the relationship between both countries even further with the new government in place that is willing to work fully with Chinese government in all sectors of development for the country.

CHAPTER III

THE GAMBIA RELATIONS WITH THE U.K, U.S AND FRANCE

In this chapter, it will explain the Gambia‘s relations with the United Kingdom (UK), the

United States (U.S) and France. These countries have had close relations with the Gambia since independence and post-independence and have built closer ties with the country through multiple frameworks. This includes the signing of trade agreements, bilateral and multilateral economic and political development forums and the provision of aid packages for development purposes. The Gambia depends on major resources such as agricultural production, fisheries, the beautiful climate, beaches, tourism and national parks and reserves for its development.

As the country is on the verge for development, its economy is still fragile, therefore, needs all the support it can get to realise its development agenda and maintain its processes.

The institutions such as the Commonwealth, the France and Africa Summit, The Africa

Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are major initiatives that are presented by UK, France and US with the aim of strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the African continent. This acts implemented by these countries are as a result to further develop a more friendly relations and to gain influence.

32 Therefore, The Gambia with active trade activities and its strategic geographical location is seen as a significant and easy access route to the rest of the world and it sought to establish good relations with countries or international organisation that could assist the country‘s development processes.

A. The Gambia – UK relations

The Gambia and the U.K established relations since Independence on 18th February

1965 as the country was under the British colony. Shortly after, the national government held a referendum which led to the country to become a republic in 1970. The country was led to independence by the first President Sir Dawda Jawara who ruled the country for about thirty years. The U.K helped the country with financial aid to be able to develop and maintain democracy in the country. Moreover, talking about any economic diplomacy of the Gambia must begin with its relations with Britain. The country was not only the Gambia major international contact after its independence but has remained the Gambia‘s main trading partner. The country has been the most important source of aid to the Gambia and have supported the Gambia‘s recurrent budget and grants from the early years of independence.

The UK aid to the Gambia went towards agricultural development where they helped in building central food stores in various towns in the country and also financed the village based farmers trading programme. There were investments in land resource projects which was aimed to develop the cereal and cash crop production and livestock for people that were living in rural areas of the country. They contributed to the development of the Engineering and construction unit of the Gambia Field Force and the rural electrification and water supplies.9

9 United Nations Development Program ,Annual report on Development Assistance: The Gambia/Banjul: UNDP,1977/p.5 United Nations Development Programme, consolidation Report on Development Assistance: The Gambia/1976-1977/Banjul/UNDP,1978/p.7

33 U.K maintained a substantial technical cooperation program with the Gambia which consisted of the provision for experts‘ services and voluntary services which benefitted in the sectors of education, fisheries and forestry industry. President Jawara has led the country until 1994 when his rule was brought to an end by a bloodless coup by Gambian soldier

Yahya Jammeh who was 29 year at the time. Yahya Jammeh ruled the country for 22 years with the first two years of military rule under the Armed Forces Provision Ruling Council

(AFPRC) and was later changed to civilian rule. Even though Jawara‘s regime was criticised by some for nepotism and corruption, it was under his leadership the Gambia became one of

African parliamentary democracies, champion for international peace, justice and also human rights (Janneh, F. 2017 pp 23-43)

The Gambia was Britain‘s last and oldest colonial country in West Africa after

Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. However, the political reforms which were never far reaching as the economic reforms, deepened political arguments removed the government legitimacy which resulted to a toxic political environment. These factors and also the fallout of the Senegambia confederation led to President Jawara‘s ouster by the army in 1994.

President Jammeh invited the media and also Gambians to serve as watchdogs for the revolution. However, Jammeh and his ruling council soon began to use repressive measure on people in order to contain challenges to his rule. He formed Armed Forces Provisional Ruling

Council ‗AFPRC‘ which faced pressures domestically and also internationally to restore democratic norms and an end to the military rule which opted the council to design a two year timetable to transit back to the civilian rule and a draft constitution was adopted. The new constitution showed several key faults which included the absence of presidential term limits despite a popular support for term limit, lowering the presidential age requirement from

40 to 30 years. The keeping of military rule laws that imposed the limitation of press freedom and also restoration of death penalty. Jammeh also imposed criteria for on potential president

34 candidates that they make money deposits and at least have a number of signatures to be considered eligible to run for elections which proved to be unattainable just to stop the presidential candidates‘ aspirants not to contest.

For Jammeh he enjoyed the political unrivalled and economic power as a consequence of the new constitution. As a result, the opposition political parties were side-lined and were allowed a very little political space in a one sided electoral contests where the Jammeh party was always assured victory. His hold on power was aided by the poor financial base, personal, political and also ideological difference among the oppositions (Amusan, 2018).

The opposition political parties were always subjected to arrests, intimidation and also legal harassment and they use the little money they have to fight legal battles resulting to them losing the elections long before the cast on the Election Day. The repressive environment aided by security agencies like the National Intelligence Agency ‗NIA‘ involved in making of cultural silence that reinforces compliances and attacks against media houses, attempted killings and assassination which resulted to the disappearing of citizens and also Journalists.

Jammeh manipulated the population including the civil servants and regime supporters with false coup attempts just to get them arrested, firing and detentions at the Mile II, the notorious prison of the country. The Electoral laws of the country exist on paper which guarantee the universal rights for the people to vote on free and fair elections through secret balloting which will be supervised by an Independent Electoral Commission ‗IEC‘ and will be monitored by the domestic and also international observers. However, the second presidential elections in 2001, where Jammeh won his second term in of office as President of the

Gambia, he went on to amend the constitution of the country to a ‗first past the post‘ electoral system which was to replace the required 51 percent margin of victory needed to ascend as president. Jammeh was not politically threaten but uses the new laws to limit the chances for political change, leadership and also the opposition parties‘ grievances.

35 His campaign finances are boosted by foreign governments as well as the domestic business contributions. For example, Taiwan quest for international recognition as a state needed support from countries to obtain its request and its representation at the UN. It was critical for its decisions to provide financial support for the Jammeh regime. Libya as well under president Muammar al-Gadhafi was driven more by the desire to acquire the continent wide power and influence. This made Jammeh to have the power and means to further weaken the opposition parties

His decision to withdraw the Gambia from the Commonwealth is linked with the argument that the organisation has brought a very little or even no development for the country for the past years. He said that developing countries serves a dumping ground for the manufactured items by the west with no added value for the goods that were produced in Africa.10

The Eurocentric international trade regimes, slave trade and misguided ‗good governance‘ concepts are as prerequisites for the economic aid. Therefore, Jammeh was critical of the diplomatic manoeuvring of the developed states relations with Africa. He decided to withdraw from the Commonwealth in October 2, 2013. The economic gains from the relationship between the two was considered failures as he stated that the publicised advantages of membership of the organisation in form of free trade was much more favouring the Western countries.

President Jammeh‘s Pan Africanist solutions to these problems has raised concerns in the West as he was accused of human rights violations and that homosexuality is not encouraged in the country. His dislike for the genetically modified organism has raised

10Lere Amusan Gambia‘s defensive foreign policy towards the Commonwealth of Nations under Yahya Jammeh /1994 – 2017/ /Journal of African Foreign Affairs/ North West University, South Africa/ August 2018.

36 debates in the West because of their commercial interests of developed countries companies.

The food aid which was the most used tool to control the developing countries was under consideration in the Jammeh regime so as to move away from the colonial imposed cash crops. The then President described homosexuality as irritating and introduced strict laws.

This raised concerns in the West and the human rights movements (Bekele & Smith; Sowe,

2010). His treatment program which he made remedies for some kinds of sickness like high blood pressure, asthma and also HIV/AIDS was criticised by the West.

To further strengthening his stance with anti-colonialist, he changed some of the popular sites in the Gambia that were under the British like the James Island to Kunta Kinteh which was from a movie called ‗The Root‘. The Gambia foreign policy under his regime focused on Pan- Africanism. The cases of coup attempts which he believes must have been backed by the West and their multinational companies mainly from UK and the US.

Accusations in 2013 that came to light after a failed coup attempt over the Jammeh‘s regime that US based Gambians staged a coup against Jammeh in 2014 and their plan was to remove

Jammeh in power.

The plans were made in the US and the weapons they were to use were shipped to the

Gambia prior to their arrival in the country from the US while the other mercenaries were recruited from UK to carry out the mission. However, in 2016 presidential elections, a coalition party was formed where it won the elections over Jammeh‘s regime led by Adama

Barrow, who was made president of the Gambia. Upon transition from dictatorship to democratic way of governance, the Gambia was made to re-join the Commonwealth after the

37 new regime resumed office. The Secretariat of the association confirmed the application after it was approved by the Member States of the Commonwealth.11

The Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said ‗The Gambia‘s return to the Commonwealth is a fantastic news that when he visited the country and saw the huge enthusiasm for the values and opportunities offered by the modern diverse Commonwealth which shows that when a country commits to strengthen its democracy, good governance and the rule of law, it is welcomed to the international family and the Commonwealth family‘.

It has been many years since the Gambia received a high profile British personality since the relations between the two countries was not very friendly during the second regime of the country.(Wood, 2017) As a result, both parties worked to restore the excellent relations they had during the first republic. Mr Boris Johnson‘s visit to the Gambia opens big opportunities for both countries to explore the areas of mutual interests especially in the field of trade and economic relations, education, health and in the tourism sector since 50% of the tourists coming to the Gambia comes from the U.K. All of these are needed to help the new regime in reforming the system of the previous government giving the security forces the training and equipment they need.12

B. The Gambia- France relations

The Gambia and France have a cordial relationship and values which includes, Trade and

Investment, Security cooperation and aid packages. The Gambia was given an observer status in the International Organisation of the Francophone (OIF) which is created to facilitate cooperation between its members ‗French speaking countries‘ as France wants to extend its

11 David Perfect/The Gambia‘s return to the Commonwealth/the commonwealth Journal of International Affairs/ /18 April 2017 12 Abdur Rahman alfa Shaban The Gambia re-joins the commonwealth after 2013 exit/Africa news/ /February 8,2018

38 influences in the Anglophone countries as well. The French government helps the Gambia in different sectors of development which includes, the increase in agricultural commercialization and mechanization, emphasizing the value addition in agricultural production will contribute greatly to food security in the country, the offer of scholarships to the Gambia and also the transition process of the Gambia to democratic rule. The Gambia has supported the candidature request from France, the issuance of non-reciprocal visas to the

French nationals that visits the Gambia as France has freed all Gambians of Airport Transit visa since 2012.

France has had a long standing allies with the continent Africa as it hosts the France – Africa

Summit on peace and security in which the Gambia is a member.(Barrios, 2010) It has helped the Gambia in areas of youth unemployment and entrepreneurship and the assistance in the protection of the marine resources of the Gambia. The cooperation in the sector of education through the training of French teachers in the Gambia‘s educational system and extension to the tourism and the environmental sector of the country. There is a draft convention of the

Minster of Europe and Foreign Affairs of the French Republic and the Minister of Interior of the Republic of the Gambia on cooperation project which is entitled ‗Support for the modernization of the Gambia Internal security forces‘.

The French government signed grant agreement with the Gambia to support the National

Development Plan of the country as it undergoes a democratic transitional process from the dictatorship rule under Yahya Jammeh for the past 22 years. After the Jammeh rule that brought the country close to bankruptcy, the Gambia remained fragile with considerable weakness in terms of development, infrastructure and also social services. However, the country adopted reform agenda to stabilize the economy and to restore the people‘s trust in the central government by strengthening democratic institutions.

39 The growth rate in the country suggests that the economic recovery is on the right path, however, the heavy public deficit leaves little budget for executing the 2018 – 2021 national development plan which was adopted in the February 2018. Under the leadership of President

Adama Barrow, the Gambia was back on a democratic rule which attract more friends to the country especially its ally, France. President Barrow attended the France Africa Summit which was held in Mali in January 13, 2017.

The theme of the summit ‗partnerships, peace and security‘ and its aim is to strengthen the cooperation between France and the continent Africa. The Gambian government attended the summit to further strengthen partnership with France. After the summit, President Barrow visited France in March 2017 as a result of an invitation from the president of France

Hollande. He had the chance to meet with business leaders during his visit and had discussions with them on investments in the Gambia. A communique was signed called the

‗Franco – Gambian Joint Communique and during his time in France, President Barrow was able to meet with various Ministers of France ranging from Foreign Minister, Economy and

Finance and also Defence with the aim of strengthening the diplomatic, security and economic development ties. 13

In the meeting, President Hollande congratulated President Barrow for his victory on recent elections and he commended his determination to make sure that the choice of the people of the Gambia was respected and that power was handed over peacefully from ex-president

Jammeh. The two Presidents decided to reinforce ties between the two countries so as to strengthen democracy and the rule of law in the country. France supports the mobilization of donors to help the economics and financial programs of the authorities of the Gambia.

13 President Adama Barrow‘s visit to France/Foroyaa online newspaper the Gambia/published on the March 17, 2017

40 The French companies that met with the President in his visit are willing to seek opportunities in the Gambian market so as to provide their capital and also workforce to the process of furthering the country‘s development agenda. Jean Yves Le Drain, the Minister for

Europe and Foreign Affairs visited the Gambia to express France support to the new government of the Gambia for democratic consolidation of the country.14

Jean Baptiste Lemoyne, the Minister to state attached to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign

Affairs meeting with the Gambian Foreign Minister Mamadou Tangara offered the opportunity to reaffirm the solid relations between the two countries. France has been one of

Gambia‘s leading bilateral funds provider which is part of the 50million euros in assistance for the period of 2018 – 2021. With the support makes it possible to develop the agricultural projects and the access to water and electricity and support in strengthening the security system. The amount of 500,000 euros project was presented to support the teaching of French language in the Gambia making a stronger stance of the country‘s place among the French speaking countries.

The promotion of Francophonie was part of the agenda to develop the teaching of the French

Language in the Gambia society especially in the schools. The French public agencies like

‗Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) expressed desires in the support and the investment of projects in the Gambia. The Ambassador of France to the Gambia Christophe

Bigot also held a meeting with some of the government officials of the Gambia devoted to the economic relations between the Gambia and France. The event had brought about so many business representatives from both countries where the Gambia authorities and the private sector representatives discussed about the country‘s economic situation, its development processes and the Government‘s new policy that are in place which supports the openness to

14 France grants help to the Gambia and Central Africa pushes regional clout /voice of Africa news/November 05,2018

41 foreign investment and the opportunities of the market of the Gambia. Some of the French companies‘ objective was to gather the information on the business climate in the Gambia and the opportunities it could get there and the sectors that were highlighted are the

Infrastructural developments including ports, roads and electricity, agro-food, tourism, energy sector and equipment. The Gambian authorities welcomed the French companies to explore the market and to invest and establish partnership.

However, there are a few French companies that operate in the Gambia like ‗Total has network of service stations, CFAO a vehicle dealing company, CMA CGM and AGS

‗transports and logistics‘, Eiffage ‗ the French civil engineering construction company‘ and

Bollore in logistics. The Ambassador of the France stresses the potential of the economy of the Gambia for Investment and placed the context of the political relations the two countries has in full expansion and the interest expected from the French companies for the Gambia.

He expressed the need for the companies in neighbouring Senegal to further invest in the country because of the close ties and convergent interest they both share and to increase the number of the already present French businesses that were operating in the Gambia. The cultural cooperation between the Gambia and France aims at promoting bilingualism in the

Gambia with a view to regional integration. Even though the Gambia‘s official language is

English, French language has an important place given the country‘s geographical location.

Having bilingual in English and French contributes to factor of economic development and as a result, the Gambian government has made it an objective of the education policy in the country. The Banjul French School in the Gambia has about 100 students which includes 20

French nationals. The Alliance Francaise branch in Banjul has been the only French cultural centre in the Gambia and has a library of more than 3,000 books, a multimedia centre and an educational resource centre in which the French teachers can use for free.

42 In order to increase cooperation between the two the French government thought it was wise and important enough to increase the teaching and use of the French language for easy communications.

C. The Gambia and U.S. Relations

The Gambia and the United States had established diplomatic relations since after

Independence of the Gambia from British colony, when Ambassador Merek Cook presented his credential to the Gambia authorities. He was accredited to Senegal and resident in Dakar,

Capital of Senegal before the establishment of the American embassy in the Gambia. The relationship of the two countries was very cordial as the US helped the Gambia in its efforts to strengthening democratic institutions and also improvement in its governance implementing significant economic reforms which was focused on economic growth. The US assistance to the Gambia supports democracy, capacity building, human rights, security, education, rural development, media freedom and also agricultural expansion.

The relationship between the two countries has improved since the third regime of the

Gambia came to power led by President Adama Barrow. The U.S government under Donald

Trump reinstated the Gambia‘s eligibility for trade benefits under the African Growth and

Opportunity Act ‗AGOA‘ which is a trade program that was meant to establish stronger commercial relations between the United States and the Sub- Saharan Africa.

The act establishes a preferential trade agreement between the U.S and the selected countries in the region which was approved for ten years in June 2015 and will last until September 30,

2025. It is important to note that AGOA is a preferential trade agreement not a free trade agreement. Where in free trade the goods and services can be exchanged without tariffs or hindrances but in the preferential trade agreement, the exchange of goods and services is done but with the tariffs are reduced for the countries that signed the agreement which is

43 different from the countries that are not part of the agreement.(Mpondo, Karba, & Mbugua,

2017).

The USAID, an independent agency of the U.S federal government that administers civilian foreign aid and development assistance has also being giving assistance to the Gambia on activities that promote economic growth, youth empowerment, health facilities, energy and peace and governance. USAID has a good relationship with West and also Central African countries councils that are engage in agricultural research and development in which includes the Gambia, in order to coordinate research and development in these countries.

They are involved in partnership to strengthen the institutions, to scale up technology and to improve and increase the productivity and the availability of quality of the agricultural seeds and its fertilizers. The agency is helping the Gambia to implement the Economic Community of West African States ‗ECOWAS‘ fertilizer regulation by supporting the creation of competitive, inclusive private sector regional markets for fertilizer.

The Gambia participates in the regional fertilizer stakeholder forum which aims to increase the private supply of appropriate and affordable fertilizers to help develop private – public partnership and increase the demand for the fertilizers .In the process of helping the agricultural sector of the Gambia through the USAID it supported the Permanent Inter-state

Committee for Drought Control in Sahel ‗CILSS‘, researchers and the members of the

Gambian seed committee to be trained in registering plant species and managing its databases.

They receive help for their participation in the Food Security Early warning System. The

USAID in the Gambia has helped the country in many ways in the agricultural sector by implementing its National Agricultural Investment Plan, ensuring that it is compatible with the continent-wide African Union ,New Partnership for Economic Development ‗NEPAD‘

44 and also the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development ‗CAADP‘ process. As the

Gambia underwent a significant democratic transition in 2016 – 2017, the USAID in the

Gambia is working to rebuild and strengthen democratic norms and institutions.

The new regime under Adama Barrow has shown strong political will to continue in building a system of sustainable democratic governance in the country. The country recently amended key electoral laws in order to level the role the political parties play and to increase the participation of the marginalised groups in the electoral processes. The organisation gave support to the Gambia to lay the foundation for a competitive, democratic and responsive political parties that improve the country electoral and its political processes. It aided the electoral cycle through constitutional, legal and regulatory reform and as well increase the capability and the performance of the Independent Electoral Commission ‗IEC‘.

The U.S supports Gambian youths in terms of furthering education. The Gambian Youth participation in the Young African Leaders Initiative ‗YALI‘ which is a US- government initiative that supports young people to develop growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance and also enhance peace and security across the continent. The YALI initiative

Regional Leadership Centre in Accra, Ghana offers interactive training to participants of the event from the nine West African countries: The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cote d‘Ivoire, Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Togo. The program has three fields of study Civic

Leadership, Business& Entrepreneurship and Public Management.

The centre is managed as a public – private partnership with Master Card, Microsoft and also the Pan African Bank, Eco bank. About 131 young Gambian has participated in the training courses in Accra, Ghana in August 2018. The U.S is firmly committed to its relations with the Gambia as the country strengthens democratic institutions and focuses on economic growth after two decades of dictatorship under President Yahya Jammeh.

45 They provide advisors and capacity building programs in numerous government institutions in the country as it partners with all sectors in the Gambia to empower the majority youth population to actively participate in the development agendas of the country. The Gambia currently hosts over 90 Peace Corps volunteers who work with the Gambian community to make sure that it meets the country‘s need for the experienced trained workers in the agricultural sector, education and the health sector respectively. The Peace Corps have been working in the Gambia for a long time and over 1,800 volunteers have served in the Gambia, making the Gambia one of the longest running Peace Corp programs in the world.

United States government provides technical assistance to the Gambia government in security sector reform, debt management and budget creation. The international Republican Institute

‗IRI‘ conducts training programs to the National Assembly members and the civil society with the U.S grants to the country. There was also a $1million dollar grant that was issued by the U.S government to the Gambian civil society organisations that are working in Truth,

Reconciliation and Reparations Commission ‗TRRC‘ that is responsible for gathering facts about the two decade dictatorial rule of the Gambian ex-president Yahya Jammeh.

U.K, FRANCE AND U.S PRESENCE IN THE GAMBIA AS A THREAT TO CHINA’S

DOMINANCE

The Gambia‘s development plan aims to foster a strong and competitive private sector that will remove poverty, improve the quality of life of Gambians and helping the country to achieve the sustainable development goals. Therefore, it recognizes the role that investment which includes Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) plays very vital role in achieving the objectives. As a result, the Gambian government adopted an open regime for investment whereby most of the laws and regulations apply to Gambian and foreign companies to operate in the country.

46 Given the numerous free trade agreements in which the Gambia is a party to, gives the potentials for export-oriented foreign direct investment ‗FDI‘ in the country. The government of the Gambia acknowledged the vital role that investment which includes FDI plays in attaining the country‘s objectives and in promoting sustainable development. The increased in investment and the private sector development are the feature prominent objectives in the

Vision 2020.The Private sector development strategy aims to make the Gambia the investment haven of the region and recognises that a growing private sector allows investments which creates the flow of goods and services, creating more employment and increases the income values of the country. As The Gambia and UK had a cordial relationship since independence, however, in the second regime under Yahya Jammeh made it to suspend all activities within the country as he was accused of the violations on human rights. With the new democratic transitional government in place under Adama Barrow in 2017, the Gambia regained its partners and friends like the UK. The Gambia and UK relations was said to go to another level when the commonwealth Secretary General Boris Johnson visited the country in

2017 after the democratic transition of the Gambia. He emphasized that the British embassy in the Gambia would soon became a High Commission because the Gambia was going to re- join the commonwealth as it was removed from the association by the former Gambian

President Jammeh in 2013 calling it a neo colonial institution. The decision raised concern in the UK and was part of the general anti west stance Jammeh adopted who also withdrew the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling it a Caucasian court. The Gambia has returned to international institutions that it was removed from including the

Commonwealth. According to a Gambian analyst ‗Jeffrey Smith‘ re-joining the

Commonwealth was one of President Barrow‘s top priorities as it is part of rebuilding the friendly ties it had. The Membership of the commonwealth brings certain prestige to its member states as they are given the status of ‗High Commission‘ and they receive political

47 and economic support like the Commonwealth Secretariat assists its members with election monitoring, it markets itself as equal opportunities body which does not regard the size of the member countries giving all members equal say at the Commonwealth Heads meeting which takes place every two to three years. The Gambia is known to be the popular holiday destination for most British people because of the nice sunlight and the sandy beaches and about 50% of the Gambian tourists come from the U.K.

Therefore, the U.K government works with the Gambian government to help in improving the Gambia‘s tourism sector by allocating funds for the country to maintain the development of the sector. The security sector is another important opponent of cooperation with the

Gambia by helping in the security sector reform and the promotion of democracy and the rule of law in the Gambia. The UK offered the Gambian students full time Masters and PhD scholarships as a way to welcome the country back to the commonwealth family funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The commonwealth Master‘s and

PhD scholarships enable the talented and motivated individuals to gain the knowledge and the skills required for the sustainable development and cannot afford to study in the

UK.(Clapham, 2014) The French government‘s aid package to the Gambia was to support the

Gambia in its transitional period. The Foreign Minister ‗Le Drain‘ was the first French official to visit the Gambia for a long time. He agreed that the French government was happy and also willing to cooperate with the Gambia in all sector of trade and development needed in the country by offering (50 million euros) aid package to the Gambia As Paris also has major interests in Senegal and wants to ensure that the rebel groups in the southern

Casamance area, which is separated from the affluent north of the Gambia does not increase after Jammeh broke ties with Dakar.

48 As the Gambia was coming from a very conducive environment of governance, almost all the wealth of the country was used and taken by the former president of the country Yahya

Jammeh upon his defeat in the 2016 election. Financial support from donor countries was very crucial for the new government to make sure that it rehabilitates Gambia‘s image abroad.(Sıradağ, 2014)

The French government wants to keep the continuity and maintain the progress of its companies and people that operate abroad, therefore, it is need to make sure that it maintains the relationship with the countries in a friendly environment. The multibillionaire French company Bollore logistics, a global leader in international transport and logistics and a highly diversified, independent industrial group which ranks among the top 10 world transport and logistics in 2008, created brand called ‗Bollore Africa Logistics‘ which units all its activities in Africa with the countries it has commercial relations with in the region. The company operates in 45 countries in Africa and accumulates about 25,000 workforce. The Bollore

Africa logistics Gambia is the leading logistics company in the country and has been involved in carrying lots of heavy equipment especially the ‗NAWEC‘ Generators which is the supplier of water and electricity in the country. Bollore Africa logistics Gambia is the only that is involved in serious bonded ware housing in the country. Its aims and objectives are promoting imports and export market by air or by sea which is the key figures of economic growth and is ready to invest in any development projects to move the Gambia‘s economy forward. The Total Energy Group in the Gambia is a multinational French company which is committed to bring innovation and initiatives in making sure to provide a sustainable response to growing energy demand. The company is the 4th largest international oil and Gas

Company and operates in more than 130 countries and employees more than 96,000 people.

The company is a key player in the oil market sector for decades and as a result manifests in the recognition of Total brand among the consuming Gambian community.

49 It is well represented across the country and has very comprehensive products particularly the range of lubricants which is as a result of extensive technological research by its group. It is not by chance that it operates in the country and that it is an indication of the confidence the company has in the economy of the Gambia -.As the French government has interests in the

Gambia, initially it has helped to support the democratic transition in the country. The liaison with the IMF, the new Gambian government adopted a reform programme in order to reinforce the democratic institutions and stabilize the country‘s economic situation. After contributing to the stabilization of the economy, the French Agency for Development (AFD) contributes to the food security for the country mainly the rice production.

The policy officer for Macro –Economics and Financial Governance at the AFD in Dakar

‗Alexandra Diaby‘ said that studies in the possibility of work on development and the extension of small irrigated rice growing areas was observed. The objective is to roll out the demonstrator project in small scale irrigation in developing the rice growing mechanism in the eastern part of the country. The other support was given to the National Water and

Electrical Company (NAWEC) of the Gambia with distribution of drinking water in the country‘s capital Banjul. The aim of the project is to improve the services the company provides and restore the financial balance of the sector in Banjul. France also cooperate with the country in the fisheries sector. The Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) network in West Africa is a tuna SFPA with a limited demersal fish component and it is a six year period agreement. Under the six year, fishing opportunities are allocated to 28 purse seiners and 10 pole and line vessel from Spain and France to fish highly migratory species of

3,300tonnes per year. In return, the EU pays an annual contribution of 550,000 euros, half of which covers the access rights of the EU vessels while the other half represents sectorial support for the Gambian fisheries policy for the measures relating to sanitary and the quality management to develop the exports capacities, the control of the fisheries and the fight

50 against the illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) in its waters. In addition to the EU contribution, vessel owners are estimated to pay 315,000 euros every year for the fees of fishing authorisations by the country. French offshore vessel have been deployed to the west coast of Africa and its mission is to conduct routine maritime exercises on waterside country on the Gulf of Guinea in protection of French interests in the area and reducing the maritime insecurity. They cooperated with the Gambian navy to strengthen their capacity in maritime security and surveillance. The commander of the naval vessel ‗Birot‘ said among their challenges is to give reports to foreign vessels that fish in the Gambian waters illegally. The

Gambian navy has a good relation with its French counterparts for the past year as they have cordial welcome they deserve when they arrive in the country. Their maintenance team assist the Gambia navy with maintenance work on their radio antennas and engines and build the capacity for the Gambian counterpart. The Gambia is faced with illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing by the foreign vessels in the Gambian waters therefore, the presence of the

French naval patrol vessel is a deterrent of this act. The US supports the Gambia strongly in the promoting democracy, strengthen the democratic institutions and improve good governance. In 2017, the Gambia was reinstated to the African Growth Opportunity Act

(AGOA) which has preferential trade benefits. Some U.S citizens have also set up businesses in the country and several US brand companies are represented in the country like Western

Union, MoneyGram, UPS and FedEx. The Americans that reside in the Gambia are provided services by the U.S embassy in the Gambia such as passport renewals and certificate of birth abroad as they engage in the Gambia in various activities which includes working in international organisations that operates in the country. Limited number of U.S businesses often led by Gambian – American are engaged in the economy of the country and some

American franchised companies like Coca cola.

51 According to the World City analysis of the latest U.S. census Bureau data, the Gambia and

U.S trading partner with goods is about $42 million in 2018.

The U.S goods exports to the Gambia in 2018 was $41million, up to 5.6% ($2million) from

2017.The top exports were vehicles, meat, miscellaneous food, plastic, furniture and bedding.

The total exports of agricultural products to the Gambia totalled to $20million in 2018. The

U.S goods imported from Gambia total to $565 thousand in 2018. The top imported items are fish and seafood, animal and vegetable fat and oil. The total imports of agriculture products from the Gambia sum up to $71 thousand in 2018. The U.S goods trade surplus with the

Gambia is $41million in 2018 which is a 6.7% increase ($3million) over 2017. UK, U.S and

France cooperate with the Gambia to maintain cordial bilateral relations and to achieve common goals. The UK under the commonwealth established to facilitate economic cooperation between the U.K and its member states which includes the Gambia. France, as it wants to broaden its influence in the region has been targeting English speaking countries and the Gambia in particular because of the trade relations, the French private companies that operates in the country and the government‘s willingness to increase trade with the Gambia as a means to secure a good and friendly relations. The U.S has interest in promoting the existence of democratic governance, the rule of law, assist in the development process of the country and the bilateral trade cooperation it has with the Gambia. These countries trade with the Gambia mainly in the agricultural, fisheries and the tourism sector. The tourism sector is also another important reason for the cooperation with the Gambia as many foreigners mostly from the UK, US and France choose to come to the Gambia during their holidays to enjoy the wonderful sunlight and the nice beaches with the very friendly people of the Gambia. The

Gambia may be the smallest country in Africa but its people are said to have the biggest hearts and the map of the Gambia resembles a smile and as a result it is called ‗the smiling coast of Africa. The country‘s strategic geographical location as well is very crucial for trade

52 across the world having the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the country with beautiful beaches attracting foreigners to the country every year making it a frequent destination for many around the world.(Tull, 2008)

CHAPTER IV

CHINA‘S STRATEGIES TO DOMINATE THE GAMBIA AND PREVENT WESTERN INFLUENCES

China‘s growing economic and political influence has become an attractive alternative for the African governments (Robinson, 2009). The Chinese policies are guided in principles by equitable strategies that the West failed to devise, with the ‗China returns to

Africa in the 21st century not only a need for the economic resources but with the cash to play the game dramatically and competitively‘.

The rise of china has been subject to growing interest due to the strengthening of the South-

South relations and its importance for the international system. The Chinese strategy in economic diplomacy has been in the forefront and it is compounded in the fact that China has an African strategy while on the other hand most African countries do not have a China strategy to balance the asymmetry in the economic relations (Tiboris, 2019).

The Chinese objectives are political, economic and geostrategic in nature and it can be explained by a Chinese proverb that says ‗if you want to prosper, first build roads‘ which refers to the spectrum of its activities in the region where it has built roads, bridges railways and ports. To accomplish its objectives, china acts as both a financer and an infrastructure builder while promising in return to assist the population to grow out of poverty.

53 Economically, driven by China‘s economic needs for the demand and supply, the demand is basically to support its industrial and economic growth as a major world power. As part of

China‘s geo- strategic requirements, which are parts of its strategic plan on its One Belt One road initiative projects, it seeks to use the maritime routes found in the region of West Africa in which the Gambia has an important strategic location to facilitate the Chinese exports to the wider continent.

As a result of the strategic position, Chinese commercial fishing vessels use the fertile waters for fishing activities to the extent of becoming the largest fishing power in the region as a whole. The economic diplomacy of china is multidimensional and complex. Flu (2012) defined it is as a ‗patriotic art of lying for one‘s country‘ and with accordance to this definition, diplomacy these days can be largely reduced to economic gains in which cooperation and national interest gets to a degree that they learn the importance of working together. Therefore, in order to compete overseas every rising power needs to flex its muscles and help its domestic corporations in the foreign countries by engaging with the government of those nations to ensure the economic security for its domestic firms (Bodomo, 2014).

Substantial part of the Chinese diplomacy today is concerned with its economy, natural resources, establish new markets for its burgeoning domestic industries and the security in energy sector. Therefore, it has led china to successfully target business opportunities at the global stage in the big and the small countries.

China‘s rise has the focus of media attention and the engagement has been with so much disapproval and fear from western nations. The western countries views the presence of

China as a neo-colonial stream consisting of pessimism unstable and very asymmetrical. It was pointed out that China‘s FDI, aid and trade are not related to good governance conditions however, linked to profit making and leaves very little opportunity for the poor. (Asongu,

Nwachukwu, & Aminkeng, 2014)

54 Economic Engagements

The Gambia and China resume bilateral ties in March 2016, after the Gambia had ties with

Taiwan for almost two decades, both countries have seen rapid development on all front in their relationship. The desire is to promote and strengthen ties of friendly relations and cooperation between the two for the benefit of their peoples. The decision by the Gambia to re-establish ties with China was motivated by the perception that the country was missing out on the overseas investments and aid packages that China has been distributing across the continent.

By deciding to maintain the diplomatic decision , both countries signed the Joint

Communique which states that ‗ the two countries agreed to exchange diplomatic missions with the provision of the 1961 Vienna convention on Diplomatic Relations, to provide the necessary assistance for the establishment of embassies and the performance of each part‘s duty on a reciprocal basis. The communique provides that Mainland China supports the

Gambian government in terms of safeguarding national sovereignty and the development of the economy of the country. The Gambia recognises that there is only one China and

Mainland China is the sole legal government who represent the whole of China in which includes Taiwan. The country ought not to establish any official relations or involve in any engagement with Taiwan which the Chinese government appreciates the position of its

Gambian counterpart.15Both countries have signed cooperative agreements on the ‗Belt and

Road‘ project initiative which is a policy and economic strategy of the People‘s Republic of

China involving infrastructure development and investments in Africa, Asia and some parts of Europe. The Gambia found it useful for its infrastructural development, Economic, technical cooperation, cultural exchanges and enhancing the modernization of agriculture in building capacity through the trainings of professionals and higher education. The Belt and

15 China-Gambia resume diplomatic ties/embassy of the people‘s republic of china in the republic of south Africa/17/03/2016

55 Road Initiative seems not to only be economic initiative but a foreign policy priority for the

Chinese leadership strategy in achieving the national rejuvenation to restore China as a great power.

The Gambia – China cooperation in various areas is already impressive as there have been many projects coming in the country like the construction of roads and bridge project aided by China. The Forum of China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) eight major initiatives are in line with the National Development Plan of the Gambia government.

The National Development Plan ‗NDP‘ (2018 – 2021) of the Gambia signifies the government‘s commitment to implement projects and programs which will contribute to transforming the country to a more vibrant, progressive and inclusive society for its citizens.

The successful implementation of the NDP will make sure the achievement of the government‘s medium term development aspirations and the contribution to the realisation of the regional and global commitments such as the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and the

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

Relating to the Gambia‘s membership of the FOCAC, would add great value to the country‘s quest to attain the goals and objectives of its National Development Plan. The President of the Gambia attended the 2018 FOCAC summit in Beijing and noting that the country stands to gain great benefits from the immense experience of the member countries as well as the progress in the trade relations between China and Africa. President Barrow of the Gambia mentioned that the theme of the Summit reflects platform for strategic alliances and basis for national development.

56 A. Infrastructural Development Aid

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of both countries have been engaged in a review of the

Chinese projects and programmes in the country. The Foreign Minister of the People‘s

Republic of China Wang Yi has exchange diplomatic visits to the Gambia as part of strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries.

1.2 Basse – Wulli Bridge and Fatoto – Passamass Bridge (250 meters)

In the infrastructural development area, the Chinese government invested over $75 million dollars for the construction of the Basse – Koina road, bridges at Fatoto–Passamance and the

Basse- Wuli crossing in the Upper River Region of the Gambia. The Basse-Koina roads and bridges project is a welcome development in a region as it has been neglected by successive governments. Considering its remoteness, it has been left behind as infrastructure development took place in other parts of the country mainly in the urban regions. The citizens in URR had limited access to markets and public services and the remoteness is a function of not that of distance but lack of transportation connections to the capital city and the coast.

57 Moreover, rural roads projects contributes to the inclusive development and the reason being that rural road projects will focus on providing access and to open up new opportunities and a markets for rural places where the local people suffer from the costly, time consuming and inconvenient transportation. Therefore, the Basse-Fatoto-Koina roads and bridges will boost the transportation sector in the region, ease the connectivity, facilitate economic activity and also make the movement of people and goods easier and faster.

The Bureau of Statistics in the Gambia have stated that the Basse Local Government Area is the most populous region after areas of Brikama and Kanifing which are cities in the Gambia.

The size of Basse is about 2,070sq km which is the second to Kerewan with the size of

2,256sq km. As a result, the infrastructural development in the Basse area should not be neglected if it serves with the region of higher in population size. For developing country like the Gambia, the infrastructural development is very crucial as it contributes to the economic activities of the country by lowering costs of investing in businesses, improving the competitiveness of the local production and the facilitation of trade and the foreign direct investments. The development of road infrastructure has added benefits to the economic output and in addition, being the factor of production that influences production and decision making. The construction of the bridges in the region is necessary and important but it is not sufficient to drive economic development of the country. To further make the region an economic hub, requires the government to make the road a catalyst to drive the economic activity in the region. In the Gambia, agriculture has been the main source of the livelihood of the rural population in general and this region is no exception because there was time that cotton was the second export cash crop in the country, which brings in the valuable foreign exchange into the country with the production all coming from the upper river region with the prices per ton higher than the price of groundnut.

58 Therefore, the roads and bridges constructed by the Chinese would contribute greatly in the road economy and can be used to revive the cotton production in order to diversify agricultural production.

1.3 Basse – Fatoto – Koina road (50km)

The Basse-Fatoto Road project is a grant from the Chinese government for the Construction of the 50km road from Basse through Fatoto and Koina. The Gambian President Adama

Barrow said the project marks a significant milestone in the development process of the

Upper River Region ‗URR‘ and the entire country. President Barrow made mention of his past experience as he grew up and lived in the region with the hours of waiting to secure transportation from one point to another in the region because of the bad roads conditions.

However, with the good road network, the travelling to other places like schools, hospitals and the creation of an increase environment for business to enhance the economic conditions of the rural population will become easier to be achieved. Many of the towns and the villages have been isolated for some time in a poor infrastructure so the people of the part of the country will stand to gain social and economic benefits from the project. This project provide

59 easy access and connectivity to the towns in the region and other communities in the Senegal region. The good roads facilitate the movement of the people and goods and services. The agricultural goods will flow freely which will enable an increase in the market opportunities for the farmers and the consumer of the products.

1.4 The Gambia’s International conference Centre

The Gambia secured a $50million grant from the People‘s Republic of China for an international conference centre in the Gambia. The signing of the grant took place in Banjul, the country‘s capital between the Gambian Foreign Affairs minister and the

Chinese ambassador to the Gambia Zhang Jiming which was witness by the president of the

Gambia President Adama Barrow. The Project of constructing the international conference centre in the Gambia was the first major engagement of the Chinese government in the form of grant in the Gambia since resumption of bilateral ties between both countries in March

2016. The conference centre which is named after the first president of the republic of the

Gambia ‗Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara‘ is said to be the biggest international conference centres in West Africa which occupy a gross floor area of 14,000 square meters, a 1,000 seat major

60 conference hall, four 200 themed meeting rooms, one lounge, four press rooms and news centres, banquet halls and other accessory rooms.

The Gambia government emphasized the presence of the project will elevate the ongoing bilateral relations between China and the Gambia to a different level. The Chinese ambassador to the Gambia Ma Jianchun recognised the willingness of his government to help the Gambia‘s need for infrastructural development which is in line with the Chinese leader‘s promise of creating more development projects in the African region. The Gambian president

Adama Barrow expressed the belief that centre was going to do for the country‘s development plan by creating more jobs for the citizens, open up the tourism industry market, exposing the diversities and cultures of the country to the world, attract and host meetings, encouraging travels as many different people will be able to move easily to different places to attend programs of national matters, conventions and exhibitions. The securing of jobs with social benefits and fair pay offer a way out of poverty, which explains why employment is a key pillar to development process.

Creating jobs and incomes is crucial for development and most developing countries struggle with high unemployment or underemployment. Many can barely live from what they earn, that is why creating new jobs and also improving income and working conditions for existing jobs is very important. The Pro development integration into global trade as well as foreign direct investment can be able to facilitate the process. Therefore, the inauguration of the conference centre in the Gambia will contribute greatly to the country‘s economic grow and facilitate development process as it can host both domestic and international conferences and meetings generating revenue for the country which will be included in the development process of the Gambia community.

61 B. Agricultural development assistance

The Agricultural Technological Assistance Agreement signed between the Gambia and China has made China to send technical experts to the Gambia specializing in agronomy, agriculture, machinery operation and maintenance, the training of local agricultural technicians in order to carry out demonstration on the whole industry chain of paddy rice and vegetable crops as well as certain agricultural machinery materials for the Gambia. The members of the Chinese Agricultural Technical Cooperation Project in the central river region of the country embarked on the first phase of rice transplanting with the workers of the

Sapu agricultural station situated in the country. The aim was to strengthen the communication and the discussion between the Chinese group and the Gambian counterpart in the rice planting technology, the purification of conventional rice and provide experimental planting data for the later demonstration plant. The Chinese experts and technicians also held demonstrations on how to master the technology of dry seedling cultivation.

The training was held on agricultural skills for Agricultural Science Teachers

Association of the Gambia (ASTAGAM) the training by the Chinese experts was meant to enhance knowledge and skills of agricultural sciences teachers across the country.

Agriculture does not only employ Gambian but also contributes greatly to the country‘s GDP.

It was financed by the Gambia – China Cooperation with intention of increasing agriculture science teachers with agronomy and other farming skills including breeding vegetables, the seedling technology, the use of compost fertilizers and modern agricultural practices. The principal agricultural officer of the Central River Region of the Gambia with participants in the training willingness to utilise the skills they learned to better develop the agriculture and the food security in the Gambia.

62 The Vice president of the Agricultural Science Teachers Association of the Gambia and the public relations officer of the association reiterated the importance of the capacity building of teachers as they guide the students into future agricultural entrepreneurs.

C. Education sector development

In addition to agricultural support, China is also active in the education sector of the country.

The report of Confucius Institute Headquarter in Hanban, president Xi Jinping held talks with the Gambian president Adama Barrow on a state visit emphasized that the two countries should strengthen non-governmental exchanges in various fields such as culture, education, media, youth, women, health and also tourism sectors. Joint efforts made to build the

Confucius institute and cement foundation of public opinions for furthering the friendly relationship between the two countries. In the meeting, the two head of states witnessed the signing of Agreement on the Establishing a Confucius Institution at the University of the

Gambia by Ma Jianfei, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters and Fye K. Ceesay, the Gambian Ambassador to China.

The University of the Gambia was established in 1999 and is the highest seat of learning in the Gambia with 250 faculty members and staff and over 4,000 enrolled students in three different campuses. The University consist of 11 schools which include School of Business and Public Admin, School of Arts and Science, School of Information Technology and

Communications, School of Agriculture and Environment Sciences, School of Education,

School of Journalism and Digital Media, Faculty of Law, School of Medicine and Allied

Health Sciences, School of Nursing and Reproductive Health, School of Public

Environmental health and the School of Engineering and Architectures.

63 The Confucius institute at the University of the Gambia would be the first of its kind in the country and its Chinese cooperative partner in Guizhou University. The Vice president of the republic of the Gambia, Dr Isatou Touray inaugurated the Institute in the University of the

Gambia at the University‘s Kanifing campus which is in partnership with Guizhou University in China. She made mention that the establishment of the Confucius Institute clearly manifests of the cordial relations between the Gambia and China. The setting of the Institute was significant in many ways as it avails Gambians the opportunity to learn the language and the culture of China. Over 100 Gambian students are studying in various universities in China on Chinese government scholarships and the Confucius centre will promote cultural exchange between the two countries. The embassy of China in the Gambia held farewell to

12 Gambian students who obtained scholarships to study in China in 2016. The batch of students were the first batch of Chinese government scholarships for Gambian students since the reestablishment of ties in March 2016.

The Ambassador Mr Zhang emphasised the importance of education as part of the key bilateral cooperation and a promising area with implementation of China – Africa Culture and People-to-People Plan which was put forth by the Chinese president Xi Jinping at the

FOCAC summit in Johannesburg December 2015. The two countries have witnessed numerous human resource capacity building program trainings for Gambians. It has sponsored the training of some Gambian workers on ‗human resources development for the

Gambia‘ in the People‘s Republic of China for a three weeks program. The rational of the trip to China is for knowledge sharing and to look for the benefits of the emerging concepts in the area. Knowledge is recognised as the first step towards understanding how to organise and improve the Gambia‘s Human Resources with the lessons learned and the recommendation made that aims at developing the public servants through capacity building.

64 The three weeks training for the Gambian staff in China were conducted through lectures, exchanges and discussions, field trips, case studies and also video films. The training object is characterised into five points which are first, to examine the role of Human

Resource Management in achieving development, second, examining the current performance measurement as the enabler of sustainable development, third, the facilitating on innovative approaches in the HRM strategies for sustainable development, fourth, aligning the HRM policies with the country and the continent wide development blueprints and lastly prioritizing human capital as the core asset for sustainable development. The seminar served as platform for Human Resources Management Practitioners from the Gambia and the experts, scholars and the researchers from institution in China to share ideas, experiences, lessons and practices in the Human Resource Management field. The lessons learned in the seminar is grouped under two categories which are, Human Resources and Recruitment and the Chinese Culture and Work Ethic.

There is a growing number of companies that recruit high level talents for enterprises and the Chinese recruitment process in very fair and transparent to all citizens and it includes examinations, background checks and the vetting of the potential employees. The HR companies such as Golden Finger implement new strategy which includes recruitment and the training of workers for companies and their salaries and commission is paid to the recruiting organisation and it was not possible to be employed in China civil service through political influence but all the appointments have to follow the right procedures. The Gambia delegates were provided with the opportunity to learn about the Chinese culture also work ethics. The learning about the Chinese language, the culture and philosophy of patience and respect for authority which made it possible to understand the Chinese behaviour throughout the training.

65 Learning about the reform of China including its openness and development as an economic power with a span of 40years that has given the delegates to deepen their understanding of China‘s Belt and Road Initiative. The Chinese government also offered the

Gambia with 400 short term study programs as part of bilateral relation support and the beneficiaries are trained on information and communication for mainstream media and the government officials. There was Forty six fully funded government scholarships awarded to

Gambian students by China for bachelor, masters and doctorate. Two scholars from the

University of the Gambia are offered scholarship package with Guizhou University which is in partnership with the Gambian university. The major areas chosen by awardees includes clinical medicine, transportation, architecture, biological science and information. The package was as result of the Gambian president Adama Barrow‘s visit to China at the invitation of the Chinese president Xi Jinping and described the scholarship package a significant part of the fruitful cooperation and leading to a much stronger bilateral ties.

D. Duty Free exports

The government of the Gambia has invested greatly in the agricultural sector of the country since three quarter of the population of the country depends on agriculture for its livelihood and agriculture provides one third of the GDP of the country. However, the small scale manufacturing activity features the processing of cashews, groundnuts, fish and also hides. The country re exports trade accounts for almost 80% of goods and China has been the largest trade partner for both its exports and imports for many years. The economic progress of the country depends on sustained bilateral and multilateral aid on responsible government economic management and continued technical assistance from donors.

66 Chinese products have now has an easy access to the Gambia market with the free trade agreement signed by both countries. The Gambia‘s main exports to china are groundnut, cashew, sesame, cassava and fish and therefore, the Chinese government has offered the Gambia with duty free treatments to those exported goods to China that were from Gambia but the Chinese imports to the Gambia will not be duty free.

The Point Newspaper of the Gambia on July 26, 2017 stated that the information

Attaché at the Embassy of the People‘s Republic of China to the Gambia ‗WAN Peng‘ expressed happiness of the agreement between both nations and that the products from China will not be on duty free as his country wants to remain a true friend of the Gambia. Therefore, it will do anything to support the growth of the Gambia‘s economy as they would be paying taxes for their imported goods into the Gambia while products from the Gambia will be duty free he said. The president of the Gambia Adama Barrow who is also a businessman expressed his gratitude for the initiative and said with the agreement of duty free trade for

Gambian exports would remove the need for the costly trans-shipment of Gambian exports to

China. He mentioned that the Gambians exercising of their rights at the December 2016 elections has ushered the Gambia that is more open to the world and having a country that would benefit from greater openness through international trade and tourism. This would make the Gambian goods more competitive and boost the export potentials of the country to the world‘s largest market.

E. People to People Cooperation

The Chinese government under Xi Jinping has approved the Gambia as a tourist destination for the Chinese citizens. Both parties has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People‘s Republic of China and Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the republic of the Gambia which is aimed at promoting Gambia –

67 China tourism cooperation. China extended an invitation to the Gambia to participate in the first and the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November 2018 and

2019. It gave the opportunity for the Gambia to showcase the Gambia products in China. The

International Trade Centre (ITC) supports the participation of one hundred micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in various developing countries to join the China

International Import Expo (CIIE). The country became the second largest consumer and importing country in the work and the CIIE has been the largest import expo in the world and as a result, it has created enormous export opportunities for the MSMEs for the developing countries.

The first edition of the CIIE in 2018, the MSMEs supported by the International

Trade Centre (ITC) initiated deals worth over $116 million. The Gambian small enterprises are given the chance to showcase their products in the event as government officials, business communities, exhibitors and professional buyers across the world participated in CIIE. The basic objective of the CIIE was to familiarize the MSMEs with the Chinese market requirements including product quality, the delivery condition, export pricing, market trends and the offers by competitors and meeting the potential Chinese and international business partners. The Gambia participated in the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition which allowed the Gambia to present its horticultural products. This is to strengthen exchanges with the other countries on economy, culture and technology and academy by organising various events as National Day and distinctive cultural shows and participating in international competitions and forums. It is made to get more opportunities for international cooperation and expand world market by the demonstration of brand image and promoting advance horticultural products and its technologies.

68 The Gambia‘s Mission representative in China Fatou Kinneh Jobe during the National

Day expressed the Expo would bring about people-to-people exchanges between the Gambia and China at all levels, the mutual trust will be cemented and cooperation in six key areas namely, agriculture and fishery, investment and trade facilitation, processing and manufacturing, infrastructure construction, the human resources development and the people- to-people exchanges will be explored the more. The Gambia‘s participation in the First China

Economic and Trade Expo that took place in Changsha in which is launched under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has established new mechanism for economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. The expo goes with the theme of Win-Win Cooperation for Closer China-Africa Trade Partnership. It focused on key areas which includes trade and investment promotion, the agriculture technology, energy and power, and infrastructure financing cooperation. Both the Gambia and China are putting in tremendous and commendable efforts in implementing the Forum on

China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit Declarations, the eight major initiatives announced by President Xi Jinping in the summit as well as the FOCAC Beijing Action Plan which is aligned with the Belt and Road Initiative, United Nation‘s 2030 agenda for the

Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union‘s agenda 2063 which would bring about economic growth for Africa through infrastructure and trade connectivity.

The assistance that has been received by the Government of the Gambia from the

People‘s Republic of China has significantly complimented the Gambia‘s efforts towards achieving its development aspirations. These are more notable in the areas of health, agriculture and education which are the key priority of the Government of the Gambia.

69 China’s efforts in maintaining influence in Gambia

As the Gambia has undergone a very fragile economy, with a poor infrastructure development, the Chinese government commits to assist the Gambia with the aims of achieving its development plan. With regards to the support from China, the new government of the Gambia has a strong political will to promote cooperation with China which it calls the country‘s most important partner. The remarks were made during the visit of the Chinese state councillor and Foreign Minister ‗Wang Yi‘ to the Gambia and the president has viewed the visit as China‘s good faith in strengthening the bilateral relations of the two countries.

The country has received several infrastructural development projects in the form of building roads, bridges and the construction of the international conference centre, which contributes to the development agenda of the country. The Gambia in which most of its people depends on the agricultural production for its livelihood has been offered several trainings on how to enhance its agricultural development with the use of technology for easy and reliable processes.

With all the development programs given to the country, the Gambia shares the view of the

Chinese side that Africa knows who their true friends are and will not allow anyone to turn that. According to the special Representative on African Affairs Liu Guinjin, China‘s relation with the region is based on three principles which are equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect. The Chinese investment comes with no demand for making democratic reforms or the promoting of human rights while the Western countries have try to impose a market economy and multiparty democracy on developing countries. China tries to separate politics from business as its development model emphasizes political stability and economic growth first. It is careful to support African efforts to develop sound governance and sustainable development as it has supported the New Partnership for Africa‘s Development (NEPAD) which is socio economic program of the African Union (AU) to promote sustainable

70 development, good governance, and poverty reduction, accelerate the empowerment of women and to stop marginalization of African economies in the increased globalized world.

Unlike the former colonizers, china has consider itself as a developing world and the new strategic partnership is based on political equality and mutual trust.(Dollar, 2016)The Chinese process to win the hearts and the minds of the African, has committed it to do long term investments in infrastructure and the training of the African workers. This has resulted many

African governments viewing china‘s efforts as a more cooperative partner than the Western countries. With the effort to further develop the cultural link, China is encouraging tourism in

Africa and have actively promoted cultural exchanges with the nations in which the Gambia is included. The quest for natural resources is not the only reason for China‘s engagement in

Africa. With Africa‘s 54 countries, it has the largest voting block at the UN and other international organisations and China‘s efforts are clearly aim at protecting its political and diplomatic interests in international institutions like in the Human Rights council.

China is given very strong support in foiling the anti-China motions that are introduce by some of the Western countries at the UN human rights commission and have helped China defeat many attempts by Taiwan to participate in the UN and other international bodies.

Preventing Taiwan‘s formal independent remains a top Chinese foreign policy objective.

China insists that all countries must follow the ‗One China Policy‘ and both China and

Taiwan have competed loyalty of the African nations since 1949. Very few African countries have succeeded by adopting to the Western models however, China sees itself as offering something different and perhaps superior to that of the Western prescription to develop

Africa.

The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report suggested that China emerged from a colonial intrusion, internal chaos and economic distress to achieve a remarkable economic growth and infrastructural development. Therefore, the Chinese leader

71 and strategists believe that its historical experience and its development model echoes powerfully with the African counterparts as a result creating a comparative advantage vis a vis the West. The West have historically placed conditions on trade and aid while for China gives fewer lectures and a more of practical help. In the Gambia, it has made it clear that it was going to increase in the aid packages that it gives the country as most of the Gambia‘s

National Development Plan (NDP) is in line with China‘s development aids mainly in the infrastructure, agriculture education and other sectors. They send in the experts from China to the country on various sectors to help in developing those areas and it has made a zero tariff treatment for the least developed countries in Africa in which includes the Gambia. The growth of Chinese investment and aid has outpaced its Western rivalry.

For China to facilitate its economic and other related activities in the region, China has opened more embassies in Africa than some of the Western countries, like the U.S. The country has received thousands of students from Africa and have experienced exchange programs, they also provide the training of government officials, the business persons, diplomats and medical professionals. Amongst all of these, China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing offers all the expenses paid training programs for the young African diplomats.

For that reason, China has understood the importance and the use of soft power in pursuing its national benefits and by countering the influences of other powers, therefore, it projects it in the African region and other places where it has interests. The Chinese are boosting in aid and support with few strings at the same time with the Western countries and the international financial institutions increasingly aid packages to the developing countries to good governance and anticorruption initiatives. Moreover, some countries China is not just a new source of investment and aid but it is also a useful counterweigh the Western influences in the region.

72

CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

In the contemporary world, the West faces challenges in the Washington Consensus being a dominant approach for development as Beijing model grows to be an unstoppable process.

Many nations in Africa are increasingly adopting the Beijing model as the western failed to deliver on number of fronts. This is strongly an evidence as the Chinese economic diplomacy has strategically devised to achieve the goal.

China as an industrialised nation, finds it important to keep and maintain the good relations with these countries as Africa is known to be a natural resources rich continent which has been so attractive to the outside world. As a result, for China to achieve its desired status as a global leader, China needs to have the best of relations with each country in the region as they have different potentials and benefits to the Chinese government agendas both economically and politically for further development achievements.

The Gambia and China over the years have strengthen their bilateral relations since they resume ties in March 2016. Initially, the Gambia had relations with the Republic of

China ‗Taiwan‘ for almost two decades before its re-established relation with China. The increase in the activities of the Chinese government in the form of aid, grants, trade and cooperation in the region has made countries like the Gambia to resume ties with China.

Due to the bilateral ties resumption, the two countries signed a Communique to work towards strengthening the diplomatic relations of the two countries. The Gambia adhered to the One China Policy which recognises that there is only one China and the People‘s

Republic of China is the sole legal government and Taiwan is a part of China.

73 Therefore, to further develop the Chinese government agendas, it created the Forum for China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is formed to increase China‘s relationship networks to the wider world for a more concentrated

China cooperation and influence. Over the course of the Chinese presidency, Xi Jinping has explicitly reorient the People‘s Republic of China from the diplomacy with the major powers to diplomacy as a major power. In other words, China emerges as a super power. The battle for political and economic influence between Chin and the West is playing out across the region with the growing presence of Beijing has troubled the West policy makers.

The fast growing urbanization of the region has placed China at the infrastructural vanguard of the new front with the Chinese firms most active in building roads, bridges, ports and other projects which underpins integration and trade developments. This is evidence in the case of the Gambia, the country with two million people was able to benefit from the major initiatives the Chinese government had to offer. The building of new roads, bridges and buildings were first initiated by China to help the development processes of the country. The infrastructural aid helped the country to facilitate activities in the process of adding revenue for the country‘s development.

The Gambia with its strategic geographical location gives it the privilege to be connected to rest of the world. Also, China‘s growing presence in the region has paved the way for more development in the bilateral relations of both parties in investments and increased trade relations. The Gambia‘s position in the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, which is one of the world‘s most busiest and important marine trading routes connects African countries to other countries which gives the Gambia an easy access to the rest of the world. The Fishing industry is a major sector in the country‘s economic development as it has wed other countries to fish in the Gambian water with licences issued as foreign trade.

74 China is one of the Gambia‘s leading trading partner in the industry together with other

Western countries like the UK, France and the US. However, with Chinese firms that operate in the country with fishmeal factories allows the Chinese to fish in very large amounts in the

Gambia waters and later exports it to China. The agriculture sector is another important economic sector of the country as it has huge areas of land basically for farming purposes most of which are situated in the rural parts of the country.

Moreover, China sends in experts to help in developing the agricultural sector of the Gambia for major production. The Gambia therefore exports peanut, peanut oil, cashew, cassava, fish and other agricultural products to countries mainly China, the U.S and other EU countries like the U.K and France. Moreover, for China to maintain its friendly relations with Gambia and other countries in the regions gives it the motivation to further increase its investments by offering financial support, aids and giving out loans. This is to help in the developing process of the developing nations with the aim of protecting China‘s long terms interest in the region.

President Xi also has a non-negotiable condition for friendly relations with China with regards to its position on Taiwan, South China Sea and other issues with concerns to the country‘s major interests and to some extent recognising the legitimacy of his party the

Communist Party.

With the current diplomacy of China, it giving economic aid to countries have resulted for them to be along with the China‘s core interests. The recent Forum on China

Africa forum (FOCAC) in 2018 has enforced President Xi major power diplomacy having almost every African leader joining the summit in Beijing which has indeed made its network of friends to expand greatly. As a result, it can be said that the strategic pivot of China is defined by the protection of its core interests with the creation of a global friendly networks by trying to make the countries to benefit from its economic success and leverage its political agenda.

75 Therefore, I recommend that the government of the Gambia to acquire stronger negotiations skills with the People‘s Republic of China in order to accord the country more economic progress while not put the environment at too much risk since the fundamental tool of diplomacy is negotiations to attain Win-Win solutions. Moreover, China being an economic super and its relations with the Gambia should be mutual only if the right deals are negotiated properly. In the second edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in

Shanghai where President Xi Jinping emphasized the need for expanding bilateral ties for the stable growth of the world economy.

This was initiated in 2017 to welcome government officials, business peoples and buyers to explore the Chinese market which opens channels to do business, strengthen diplomatic relations and promote the world economy and trade. As the saying goes ‗In life you don‘t get what you deserve but you only get what you negotiated‘ which should make the

Gambia strong enough to put on the table good deals with China. The good deals will not only give the country positive results but will also not put the country‘s environment in danger. The Gambia‘s strategic location gives it the opportunity to access the sea within its zone. However, the crash between the people of Gunjur and the Gold Lead Factory, a fish mill company over the wasteful catches and the disposal of fish in the sea, the Gambia should take advantage of providing raw materials China to demand for better and wiser deals. As

China needs to maintain its long term development agenda processes, lacks many material resources which they get from different countries in the region including the Gambia. They buy timbers and process them into finished furniture which comes back and we buy again.

76 The interests the Chinese people have are the search for business at the same time looking for the raw materials. The Gambia gives them fish and for that it is needed to ensure that we not only getting finances but the preservation of the environment. China‘s business strategy is the desire to export its goods and services all around the world and getting it done it would give loans and finance concessions to its private firms to implement. For example the grant of an International Conference Centre for the Gambia was given to Chinese company to build and in the process promoting their own companies to have wok outside of their territory or to be engaged in the supply of goods or services all around the world.

Preferably the Gambia deals more with China considering the project developmental activities in the country by Chinese firms in constructing roads, bridges and the conference centre. As China is no more an emerging economic super but an economic super power, the

Gambia needs to take the advantage to further table more development agendas for the country. The Chinese are a good partner not to just the Gambia but Africa in general as president Xi mentioned that the goal is to give more incentives to economic globalisation and remove the impediments.

77 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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