China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and Cameroon established

bilateral relations Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

on March 26, 1971. Cameroon is an adherent to the

One China Policy The term One China may refer to one of the following: * The One China principle is the position held by the People's Republic of China (PRC) that there is only one sovereign state under the name China, with the PRC serving as the sole legit ...

.Backgrounder: Relations between China, Cameroon
People's Daily Online, March 23, 2010

Political relations

In the 1960s, China supported armed struggle by the Union des Populations du Cameroon (UPC) against the government of

Ahmadou Ahidjo Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo (24 August 192430 November 1989) was a Cameroonian politician who was the first List of Presidents of Cameroon, President of Cameroon, holding the office from 1960 until 1982. Ahidjo played a major role in Cameroon's inde ...

. In 1970, the Ahidjo government defeated the UPC. In 1971, Cameroon established relations with China. In the 2000s, leading politicians paid

state visit A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter also acting as the official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking for the host ...

s to and from each country; these included Cameroonian President Paul Biya's visit for a conference in 2006 and

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...

's visit to Cameroon in 2007. Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi visited Cameroon on 12 January 2014. Cameroon was one of 53 countries, that in June 2020, backed the Hong Kong national security law at the United Nations.

Economic development

Since the first Forum on China Africa Cooperation in 2000, Beijing has successfully delivered $2.4 billion in development finance to Cameroon. $87 million of that total falls under the OECD-DAC criteria for Official Development Assistance. Major projects executed by the Chinese government in Cameroon include: *Construction of the Kribi Deep Seaport funded by a FCFA 207,270 billion loan from the Exim Bank of China *A FCFA 243 billion loan from China Exim bank for construction of the Memve'ele hydroelectric Dam in Nyabizan Fleuve Ntem

*Construction of a malaria research center at Yaounde's Hospital of Gynecology, Obstetrics, and Pediatrics Yearly trade topped 854 million US dollars in 2008, before dropping to 813 million US dollars in 2009 due to the global recession.

Criticism

In the 2000s, some in Cameroon considered the economic relationship to be a form of neo-colonialism; this was mainly due to a perception that Chinese traders flooded the Cameroonian market with cheap but extremely fragile manufactured goods, which stymied the development of local industries.China Invades Country With Cheap, Fragile Goods
AllAfrica.com via postnewsline.com, 28 August 2008

References

* Amin, Julius A. (2015)
"Sino-Cameroon Relations: A Foreign Policy of Pragmatism"
''African Studies Review''. 58 (3): 171–189. . * Anatole, Daka; Yijie, Wang; Liang, Hu; Vanessa, Mbajon Chimi Tuatsop (2021-12-01)
"China-Cameroon Agricultural Cooperation: Challenges of Agricultural Development in Cameroon"
''Journal of African Foreign Affairs''. 8 (3): 49–72. . * Assembe-Mvondo, S; Cerutti, P O; Putzel, L; Eba'a Atyi, R (2016)
"What Happens When Corporate Ownership Shifts to China? A Case Study on Rubber Production in Cameroon"
''The European Journal of Development Research''. 28 (3): 465–478. . * Cabestan, Jean-Pierre (2015)
"China–Cameroon relations: Fortunes and limits of an old political complicity"
''South African Journal of International Affairs''. 22 (1): 67–91. . . * De Prince Pokam, Hilaire; Hall, Jonathan (2011)
"Chinese Medicine in Cameroon"
''China Perspectives.'' 3 (87): 51–58. . * Khan, Sunday Aninpah; Baye, Francis Menjo (2008)
"China-Africa Economic Relations: The Case of Cameroon"
Report Submitted to the African Economic Research Consortium. * Khan, Sunday A (2014)
"The Emergence of China in Cameroon: Trade Impact and Evolution of Trade Configuration"
In Moyo, Theresa (ed), ''Trade and Industrial Development in Africa: Rethinking Strategy and Policy'', pp. 99-120. CODESRIA. * Ndjio, B. (2014). "'Magic body' and 'cursed sex': Chinese sex workers as 'bitch-witches' in Cameroon". ''African Affairs''. 113 (452): 370–386. . . * Nguepjouo, Diderot (2017). "The spatialisation of China's presence in Cameroon: The case of the mining sector". ''The Extractive Industries and Society''. 4 (3): 513–524. . . * Nordtveit, Bjørn H. (2011). "An emerging donor in education and development: A case study of China in Cameroon". ''International Journal of Educational Development''. 31 (2): 99–108. . . * Tsounkeu, Martin (2011)
''Mapping Chinese development assistance in Africa: An analysis of the experiences of Cameroon''
Harare: African Forum and Network on Debt and Development. . * Vanessa, Mbajon (2019)
"The Economic Cooperation between Cameroon and China: Hub on Infrastructure and Investment Projects 2007-2018"
''Journal of African Union Studies''. 8 (3): 95–113. . * Vanessa, Mbajon Chimi Tuatsop; Zou, Xiaolong (2020)
"China's Foreign Aid to Cameroon: Perception from Non-Governmental Organizations 2007-2017"
''Journal of African Foreign Affairs''. 7 (1): 49–70. . * Weng, Lingfei; Margules, Chris (2022). "Challenges with formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining in Cameroon: Understanding the role of Chinese actors". ''The Extractive Industries and Society''. 9: 101046. . . * Weng, Lingfei; Sayer, Jeffrey A.; Xue, Lan (2017). "Will China redefine development patterns in Africa? Evidence from Cameroon". ''The Extractive Industries and Society''. 4 (3): 506–512. . . {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameroon-China relations

Bilateral relations of China

Political relations

Economic development

Criticism

References

Further reading