GAME CHANGE IN THE GULF OF GUINEA: THREE INTERTWINED PERSPECTIVES ON SINO-EQUATOGUINEAN COOPERATION

Authors

  • YU MA
  • FRANCISCO JOSÉ LEANDRO

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.14.1.10

Keywords:

Republic of Equatorial Guinea, People’s Republic of China, Belt and Road Initiative, Portuguese-Speaking Countries, Forum Macao

Abstract

The Republic of Equatorial Guinea (EG) joined the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese speaking Countries (Forum Macao) in 2022, becoming the tenth member-state. This occurred during the 2022 Extraordinary Ministerial Conference, after it acceded to the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) in 2014. Since 2015, China and EG have been intensifying their bilateral cooperation after establishing a comprehensive cooperative partnership (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, 2015). In 2019, the two countries signed a Belt and Road Initiative (B&RI) MoU during the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, and initiated a strategic approach for bilateral cooperation. Consequently, considering the uniqueness of EG as a Portuguese-speaking Country (PSC) and as the newest member of Forum Macao, this paper poses and answers the following research question: What will be the impact of Sino-Equatoguinean cooperation in light of EG’s recent accession to FM? Methodologically, the research uses qualitative data supported by triangular referencing, including official and non-official sources, namely official statistics, academic papers, and media reports, to look into the bilateral Sino-Equatoguinean relations under the B&RI Lusophone framework, as well as the fact that EG is a CPLP member- state. Accordingly, the methodologic rationale focuses on the uniqueness of EG as one of the Lusophone countries and relates it to the Chinese B&RI at three levels: domestic, regional and global. This paper is organized as follows: (1) Introduction; (2) The uniqueness of EG as a PSC; (3) The B&RI and the Lusophone Countries; (4) Cooperation between Equatorial Guinea and China; (5) Conclusion – The Future of Sino-Equatoguinean Cooperation.

Author Biographies

YU MA

Ph.D. candidate at the Institute for Research on Portuguese-speaking Countries, City University of Macau (China). He has received a master’s degree in Chinese-Portuguese Interpreting from the Macau Polytechnic University and a Bachelor of Portuguese language and literature from Beijing Foreign Studies University. He is currently working as a Chinese-Portuguese translator and interpreter in the Supporting Office of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Forum Macao). Previously, between 2012 and 2018, he worked as a Foreign Affairs manager and Portuguese language translator in the Department of International Cooperation of the China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC) headquarters (Beijing). His current main area of interest and research is the Portuguese-speaking countries

FRANCISCO JOSÉ LEANDRO

Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the Catholic University of Portugal in 2010. From 2016 to 2017, he took part in a post-doctoral research programme on state monopolies in China — One belt, one road studies. In 2014, 2017 and 2020, he was awarded the Institute of European Studies in Macau (IEEM) Academic Research Grant, which is a major component of the Asia-Europe Comparative Studies Research Project. From 2014 to 2018, he was the Programme Coordinator at the Institute of Social and Legal Studies, Faculty of Humanities at the University of Saint Joseph in Macau, China. From 2018 to 2023 he was the Associate-Dean of the Institute for Research on Portuguese-Speaking Countries at the City University of Macau. He is currently Associate Professor with Habilitation in International Relations at Faculty of Social Sciences at University of Macau (China). His most recent books are: Steps of Greatness: The Geopolitics of OBOR (2018), University of Macau; The Challenges, Development and Promise of Timor-Leste (2019), City University of Macau; The Belt and Road Initiative: An Old Archetype of a New Development Model (2020), Palgrave Macmillan; Geopolitics of Iran (2021), Palgrave Macmillan; The Handbook of Special Economic Zones (2021), IGI Global; Disentangled Visions on Higher Education: Preparing the Generation Next (2023), Peter Lang Publishers; and The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization with Chinese Characteristics (2023), Palgrave Macmillan. Leandro is a member of OBSERVARE (Observatory of Foreign Relations), which was established in 1996 as a center for studies in International Relations at the Autonomous University of Lisbon, Portugal

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Published

2023-05-30

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023)

Section

ARTICLES