A influência dos interesses geopolíticos da China e dos EUA na segurança marítima da Costa Oeste Africana : desafios e oportunidades para a Marinha do Brasil

Abstract

The South Atlantic has attracted the attention of extra-regional powers for its natural resources, for being an alternative route to the Suez Canal and for the threats to activities related to the Blue Economy, such as piracy and other transnational crimes, mainly in the Gulf of Guinea. The growing presence of China on the African continent, in pursuit of its strategic interests, intensifies the dispute with the United States of America for the establishment of spheres of influence, with the potential to spill over tensions from the Indo-Pacific region to the maritime space declared by the United Nations as the Zone of Peace and Cooperation of the South Atlantic (ZOPACAS). From the identification and analysis of the geopolitical interests of China and the US on the West African coast and their relationship with the maritime security of the South Atlantic, this work will establish the Naval Diplomacy actions that the Brazilian Navy (BN) can develop, according to its capacities, to strengthen ZOPACAS as an instrument of cooperation for maritime security on the west coast of Africa. The relevance of this work is evidenced by the fact that its results constitute important subsidies for the employment of Brazilian Navy’s assets and formulation of a future BN maritime strategy for the South Atlantic