Author(s): Natasha Mwila
There has been growing interest in the continued increase of Chinese foreign direct investment across the globe. At worst, Chinese investment in Africa has been viewed with suspicion and likened to an era of neo-colonization. China’s foreign direct investment has been amplified by the “one-belt-one-road” or “belt and road initiative”. This has opened an academic debate on what internationalization practices are at play in the context of Chinese foreign direct investment under the “one-belt-one-road” or “belt and road” initiative. This paper seeks to contribute to the academic discussion by investigating whether there is merit to the neo-colonial argument based on the case of current Chinese internationalization practices in Zambia, a country included in ‘one-belt-one-road’ or “belt and road” initiative. The investigation finds that there is merit for a contrasting theory, a gateway theory of internationalization, which casts a different perspective on the intentions of China in “one-belt-one-road” or “belt and road” countries.