Conclusion

Abstract

AbstractThe Conclusion focuses on the likely future relations between China and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This involves analysing key trends at the global level, within China and in SSA and LAC. At the global level these include the future of globalization in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased tension between China and the West. Within China key aspects include the ‘new normal’ of slower economic growth, a more assertive foreign policy and the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, and the domestic impacts of COVID-19. Developments in SSA and LAC have also been affected by the pandemic, the US-China trade war, and the extension of the BRI to the two regions. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the continuing tensions that derive from the asymmetric economic relations between China and the two regions and whether steps will be taken to resolve them.