Spatiotemporal analysis of China’s water infrastructure development in Africa

Keywords: China, ; water infrastructure, geopolitics, infrastructure diplomacy , Africa
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

Deploying David Harvey’s theory of spatiotemporal fixes and the hydrocapital flows framework, this paper examines the complex entanglements between hydrological infrastructure, geopolitics and geoeconomics through an empirical analysis of China’s contemporary investments in dams, ports, and municipal water systems in Africa. Our fine-grained geospatial and temporal analysis of Chinese-financed projects derived from the AidData database shows heterogeneous patterns contradicting prevailing notions of China as either authoritarian-seeking or neocolonial domain-seeking. Instead, we argue that Chinese hydrocapital flows primarily trace the contours of profit-seeking, accumulating in states with durable stability, strategic centrality, and high resource reserves. Specifically, Beijing leverages its remarkable infrastructural capacities to remedy domestic overaccumulation crises and project influence overseas. Thus, we conceptualize Chinese infrastructure diplomacy as a hydrological technology of power that reworks ecologies and territorialities to China’s geopolitical advantage.