| Summary: | China’s three decades of unbroken growth, transforming it from an economic backwater
to the world’s second largest economy, has fuelled an ever-expanding demand for energy,
strategic minerals and new markets (Downs, 2004: 21-41; Oliveira, 2008: 83-109). The
promulgation of the government’s ‘going out’ strategy, whereby over a hundred
restructured state-owned enterprises have been given the legal and administrative means,
preferential access to finance, and diplomatic support necessary to break into markets
outside of China, has been the main policy response to this need. Given the financial
resources of what by 2006 had become the world’s largest holder of foreign reserves
(over US$3 trillion as of mid 2012) and applying these to the problem of carving out a
position in the energy and strategic minerals markets was, in retrospect, fairly straight
forward solution to this dilemma in a capital-starved African environment.
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