Pseudo-SEZs along the New Silk Roads: Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones[De pseudo-ZES le long des nouvelles routes de la soie : les zones de coopération économique et commerciale à l’étranger]

Many articles and studies introduce special economic zones (SEZ) as the solution that would boost Africa's development . We have already raised this question here by reporting on a text by Wang Hongyi (see La Chine en Afrique et la question des parcs industriels à http://pairault.fr/sinaf/index.php/publications/1349). In this working paper we will not discuss the accuracy of this vision. We will only ask ourselves whether the model of Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones (OETCZ) that China proposes to the countries along the new silk routes (including in Africa) corresponds well – according to the Chinese authors themselves – to the definition of an SEZ. At this stage of our research, the most accurate answer could be that of Lin Yifu for whom establishing an OETCZ is above all "building a nest to accommodate the phoenix" [筑巢引凤 zhu chao yin feng] without much consideration for the needs of the countries hosting these OETCZs.