Китайский «Один пояс, один путь» в арабских странах северной и восточной Африки

For their part, the conflicting parties dis-cussed China's role in finding a peaceful solution to the Libyan crisis and its contribution to the re-construction of Libya [89]. In fact, the Libyan expe-rience has become another step in shaping a funda-mental change in China's foreign policy towards a more `active` approach to protecting China's global interests [1, p. 12].

7. Application of the Chinese Model in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie established diplomatic rela-tions with the PRC in 1970, but the 1974 revolution, which led to the emergence of a regime close to the SU, provoked a distancing of Addis Ababa - Beijing links until the late 1980s [78, p. 54]. China needed Ethiopia and other African countries at the UN, and Ethiopia, ruled by Emper-or Haile Selassie I, was the diplomatic leader for African independence and could no longer ignore the most populous third world country, involved in solidarity and material support in the anti-colonial struggle [16]. It was not until the armed opposition victory in 1991, the fall of the Mengistu regime, and the rise to power of the Ethiopian People’s Revolu-tionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) led by Meles Zenawi that bilateral relations began to experience real growth. The EPRDF, which came to power with the support of the US, advocated a market economy (with the exception of issues such as land ownership and the maintenance of state monopo-lies) and declared its readiness to establish a feder-al and democratic state. It was only in 1995 that the regime decided to change the balance of its for-eign policy in favor of Russia and China. The main EPRDF leaders wanted to learn about China's "socialist market economy" and agricultural devel-opment [78, p. 54].

Ethiopia's growing interest in China is at-tributed to economic aid, an alternative partner to the West and an example to follow. For China, the important role of Ethiopia in the political history of Africa and its strategic position as the seat of the Af-rican Union, the United Nations Economic Commis-sion for Africa, various international and regional organizations and diplomatic missions — a country that is the diplomatic capital of Africa [69, p. 16].

Ethiopia is a source of attraction for China more so with a population of about 90 million and a potential access for other regional markets such as the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). With the introduction of liberali-zation policy in 1992 in Ethiopia, China poised to exploit this opportunity by investing in various economic sectors. Notable among others are road construction, electric power generation and tele-communi-cation [94, p. 7].

Ethiopia views China as a source of economic aid and invest-ment, as well as low-cost technolo-gies that can lift millions of small entrepreneurs out of poverty through access to agricultural machinery and transport, as economic growth cannot be achieved without sustained technological and industrial modernization and structural transfor-mation. Ethiopia also sees China as a vast market for its agricultural products and therefore a means to improve the lives of farmers, who make up about 80% of the population [16]. In Ethiopia, Chi-na has developed special trade and economic coop-eration zones, which allow for the improvement of poor infrastructure, inadequate services, and weak institutions by focusing efforts on a specific geo-graphical area [90, p. 85].

Commercial ties were institutionalized most rapidly. In 2006, the Ethiopian government signed a major financing framework agreement with Chi-na EXIM Bank, which led to a rapid increase in the number of Chinese infrastructure projects. The framework agree-ment requires that all exports to China be controlled by the Com-mercial Bank of Ethiopia, the largest public financial institution. Ethiopia intends to receive export earnings to help pay off Chinese loans (36). In 2010, a MoU was signed between the EPRDF and the CCP. Economic ties also increased rapidly. According to a 2012 World Bank survey, Chinese FDI increased “from virtually zero” in 2004 to US $ 74 million annually in 2009 [51].

China has invested more than US $ 20.6 bil-lion in Ethiopia since 2005 to 2017, most of which has been focused on infrastructure projects such as roads, rail lines and telecommunications [112]. Chinese companies have invested around US $ 4 billion during the last two decades in Ethiopia, em-ploying 111,000 Ethiopians on permanent and temporary basis [44]. Ethiopia is China's main eco-nomic and strategic partner in East Africa [95, p. 12]. China is Ethiopia's largest trading partner, bi-lateral trade between the two countries reached US $ 6.37 billion in 2015 [61].