The European Union, China and Africa: cooperation in the field of international development assistance (Problems and Perspectives)
As a multipolar world is emerging, the study of the nature of relations between individual international players - states, groups of states, international and regional organizations, etc. - is becoming increasingly important. Typically, scholars in International Relations and Global Development focus on bilateral and multilateral cooperation; trilateral relations have not yet received sufficient attention in domestic and foreign literature. One of the impetuses for the development of trilateral relations, as well as for their careful examination, was the emergence of the phenomenon of «emerging countries», which in various contexts include China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and even Africa's Angola, Ethiopia and some other states. In many respects such as population size, economic growth rates, increasing influence on global political and socio-economic processes, the scale of cooperation with African countries, including in terms of providing official development assistance (ODA), China occupies a special place in this group of states. As the role of the Celestial Empire on the world stage grows, the expansion and deepening of contacts in various fields between China and other key global actors - the European Union, the United States, Russia, etc. - rise to the forefront of the international agenda. The article explores the nature and dynamics of trilateral relations between China, the EU and African countries represented by the African Union in the field of international development assistance. China's current intensive engagement with African states was provoked by Beijing's search for the resources needed for its booming economy and commodity markets. The European Union's perception of China's activities in Africa as a threat to European interests on the continent has prompted it to take steps to expand trilateral relations, but there remain substantial differences in terms and formats of the provision of development assistance to Africa by Brussels and Beijing.