Expert: This is Why Africa is First for China!

By Professor Tang Zhichao*

China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi, continues a multi-decade tradition of starting the year with a tour in Africa. This week, Wang Yi will visit Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, Lesotho and attend the opening ceremony of the “China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchange” at AU headquarters. In this exclusive article, Professor Tang Zhichao explain how and why Africa is a first for China’s foreign and economic policy and how it is different from U.S., EU, and Russia’s policy towards Africa. This article was contributed by Professor Tang Zhichao to the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden.

Part one

Africa has always held a unique and pivotal position in China’s foreign policy. Strengthening solidarity and cooperation with African nations has consistently been a cornerstone of China’s independent and peaceful foreign policy, as well as a long-term, resolute strategic choice.

In 2006, the Chinese government issued its first policy document on Africa, proposing the establishment of a China-Africa strategic partnership. In 2015, the inaugural China-Africa Summit was held on African soil. On this occasion, the Chinese government released its second policy paper on Africa, setting a new policy objective: to build a China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership and advance the development of a China-Africa community with a shared future. China’s Africa policy has evolved into a systematic, long-term, and distinctive strategic framework. Its core content, salient features, and comparative advantages can be summarized as follows:

1. Core Content

China’s Africa policy can be encapsulated in two words: solidarity and cooperation, emphasizing equal, friendly, and mutually beneficial collaboration guided by the “Five Principles of True, Sincere, Affectionate, and Realistic Engagement with Africa” (hereafter “True, Sincere, Affectionate, and Realistic Policy”) and the Correct View of Interests and Justice.

Political Level

• Adherence to the One-China Principle, with mutual support between China and African countries on major international issues such as sovereignty, territorial integrity, and human rights.
• Positioning the overall China-Africa relationship as a “New-Era All-Weather China-Africa Community with a Shared Future”.
• Upholding the True, Sincere, Affectionate, and Realistic Policy toward Africa and adhering to the Correct View of Interests and Justice.

The Correct View of Interests and Justice is a guiding banner of China’s diplomacy with developing countries. It emphasizes balancing interests with justice, prioritizing justice, and valuing mutual affection. Its core tenet is to closely integrate China’s support for the independent and sustainable development of African and other developing countries with its own growth, achieving win-win cooperation and common development. This approach promotes a more balanced, inclusive, and sustainable world. China’s engagement with Africa will never follow the old path of colonialism, nor will it sacrifice Africa’s natural ecological environment or long-term interests.

Economic Cooperation

• Trade: China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years. In 2024, China-Africa trade reached $295.6 billion. China has implemented zero tariffs on 100% of tariff lines for all 53 African countries with diplomatic ties.
• Investment: Establishing the China-Africa Development Fund and the China-Africa Capacity Cooperation Fund, encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa, with a focus on manufacturing, agriculture, the digital economy, and green development.
• Infrastructure: Providing “patient capital”, China has built nearly 100,000 kilometers of highways and 10,000 kilometers of railways in Africa, and plans to assist in constructing another 100,000 kilometers of roads by 2030.

Agriculture and Livelihoods

• Starting in 2025, zero tariffs on all African agricultural products will be implemented. A “green channel” will reduce customs clearance time to 2–3 days. Financial institutions have established a $20 billion agricultural special loan to support Africa’s full value chain from resources to processing to exports.

Peace and Security

• As the UN Security Council permanent member contributing the most peacekeepers to Africa within the UN framework, China helps train African military personnel and provides support in counterterrorism, maritime security, and humanitarian rescue.

Soft Power and People-to-People Exchanges

• Operating over 60 Confucius Institutes in Africa, implementing the “20+20 Cooperation Plan Between Chinese and African Universities”, offering thousands of government scholarships annually, and establishing the China-Africa Youth Leaders Forum and joint research centers.

 

Salient Features

No Political Conditions Attached

Aid, investment, and loans do not require African countries to undertake political or economic system reforms, standing in stark contrast to the “conditional aid” of Western powers.

Demand-Driven + Infrastructure First

Prioritizing solutions to Africa’s three major bottlenecks—transportation, electricity, and digital connectivity—based on alignment with Africa’s Agenda 2063 and national development plans.

Multilateral Institutionalization

Centered on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the core platform, with triennial ministerial meetings complemented by presidential diplomacy, ministerial consultations, business forums, and financial institution matchmaking sessions, forming a “government-enterprise-financial institution” tridimensional network.

Equality, Mutual Benefit, Win-Win, and the Correct View of Interests and Justice

Emphasizing “Africa’s needs, Africa’s participation, and Africa’s benefits”, with a focus on local procurement, job creation, and technology transfer, reducing the negative perception of “resource exploitation”.

Part Two

Comparative Advantages

Historical and Political Trust

China bears no historical baggage of colonialism in Africa and supported African independence movements during the era of national liberation, laying a deep foundation of political mutual trust.

Integrated Capital-Engineering-Equipment Capabilities

China possesses the world’s largest construction capacity and equipment manufacturing system, capable of providing “one-stop” financing, design, construction, operation, and equipment, significantly reducing project cycles and costs.

Ultra-Large-Scale Market

With a 1.4 billion population and $5 trillion retail market, China offers continuous expansion opportunities for Africa’s differentiated agricultural products—such as coffee, avocados, macadamia nuts, and chili peppers—helping African nations enhance value-added and improve trade structures.

Flexible and Diverse Financing Tools

Including government interest-free loans, preferential buyer’s credit, market-oriented commercial banks, export credit insurance, equity funds, and the “resource-backed financing” model (using future export revenues as repayment sources), alleviating Africa’s short-term fiscal pressures.

Development Experience Sharing

Having achieved a leap from a low-income to an upper-middle-income country within 40 years, China can offer “replicable and adaptable” solutions for Africa, such as industrial parks, special economic zones, digital payments, and poverty reduction governance.

Multilateral Governance Coordination

Proactively advocating for debt relief, restructuring, and capital increases for multilateral development banks within platforms like the G20, the United Nations, and BRICS. China has become the largest contributor to debt relief for Africa under the G20 framework

Policy Models of the EU, US, and Russia in Africa

EU: The “Values + Norms” Model

• Core Tools: European Peace Facility (EPF), Global Gateway Initiative, Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI).
• Features: Aid is bundled with trade, investment, and security, and must adhere to “European norms” such as democracy, human rights, rule of law, and green transformation. Emphasizes co-developing standards with African regional organizations (e.g., AU, ECOWAS), highlighting “good governance” and “transparency”.
• Advantages: Comprehensive rule systems; significant influence on African legislation, environmental, and labor standards; adept at multilateral coordination and “soft power” investments (education, culture, NGOs).
• Disadvantages: Lengthy decision-making chains and slow implementation; criticized by African public opinion as “neo-colonial conditionalism”, with limited political trust due to historical associations.

US: The “Security-Aid-Market” Triangle

• Core Tools: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Power Africa, Prosper Africa, International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), AFRICOM, military security cooperation.
• Features: High aid volume (long-standing as Africa’s largest aid donor), but emphasizes “democratic thresholds” and military presence. In recent years, priorities have shifted to critical minerals, supply chain security, and countering China and Russia. Under Trump, “America First” in economics was further stressed.
• Advantages: Large funding scale and high technological content; strong commercial and sustainable project viability due to deep involvement of multinational corporations and financial markets.
• Disadvantages: Harsh political conditions, misaligned with Africa’s “Look East” aspirations; strong militarization, facing frequent “anti-base” protests in the Sahel and Red Sea regions.

Russia: The “Security-Resources-Wagner” Model

• Core Tools: Private military and security contracts, arms-for-minerals deals, nuclear and energy projects (e.g., Rossatom).
• Features: Framed around an “anti-Western” narrative, rapidly providing hard security (mercenaries, counterterrorism training) and energy infrastructure, avoiding democratic reform issues.
• Advantages: Fills the vacuum left by Western withdrawal in post-coup states (e.g., Mali, Central African Republic, Sudan); cost-effective arms sales with fast delivery.
• Disadvantages: Small economic footprint, few non-energy projects; heavy reliance on mercenaries and grey-market transactions, raising concerns about “sovereignty outsourcing” among the AU; limited spillover effects on livelihoods and poverty reduction.

China’s Development-Oriented Africa Policy Model

Compared to the traditional approaches of the EU, US, and Russia in Africa (or the Middle East), China’s Africa policy exhibits a distinct pattern of “four differences and two shortcomings”:

• Different cooperation logic (prioritizing development, poverty reduction, and infrastructure);
• Different intervention methods (non-interference + South-South cooperation);
• Different conditionality (project-resource-market linkages rather than values-based linkage);
• Different narratives (“common modernization” and decoupling from colonial legacies);

The Differences between China’s Africa policy and those of the European Union, the United States, and Russia

1. Cooperation Logic: “Development, Poverty Reduction, and Infrastructure” First. China prioritizes Africa’s most pressing needs—”three connections and one reduction” (roads, electricity, internet, and poverty alleviation)—placing infrastructure, industrial parks, and technology transfer at the core. This contrasts with the EU’s “good governance first”, the US’s “security first”, and Russia’s “hard security first” approaches.
2. Intervention Methods: Non-Interference + South-South Cooperation. China adheres to non-interference in internal affairs, attaching no political conditions to aid, loans, or investments, granting African nations greater “policy space” diplomatically—a stark contrast to the “conditional aid” of the West.
3. Conditionality: Project-Resource-Market Linkages Rather Than Values-Based Linkage. China often employs the “resource-backed financing” or “Engineering, Procurement, and Construction plus Financing (EPC+F)” models, using future export revenues or concessionary rights as repayment sources to alleviate immediate fiscal pressures on recipient countries. The West, in contrast, typically demands structural reforms or enhanced fiscal transparency.
4. Narratives: “Common Modernization” and Decoupling from Colonial Legacies. China emphasizes its lack of colonial history in Africa, leveraging shared memories of anti-colonialism and national liberation to strengthen political trust. The “New-Era All-Weather Community with a Shared Future” narrative counters Western accusations of a “debt trap”, while the “Global South” discourse challenges the “Global North”-dominated world order.

Advantages

1. Historical and Political Trust: No colonial baggage; high starting point of political mutual trust due to early support for African independence.
2. Continuity and Strong Execution Capability.China’s policy toward Africa has demonstrated both continuity across successive governments and strong execution. Each administration has attached great importance to Africa and formulated coherent, consistent policies. At the same time, the Chinese government is highly efficient and results-driven, emphasizing the principle that “promises made must be kept, and actions taken must yield results” in implementing its Africa policy.

3.High Alignment with Development Experience: China’s “stepwise” experience from low-income to upper-middle-income status within 40 years offers “replicable modules” (e.g., industrialization, special zones, digital payments), whereas the West’s post-industrialization path has weaker relevance.

4.Integrated Capital-Engineering-Equipment Capabilities: Faster project implementation (average 1/3 shorter cycle than Western counterparts).

5. Ultra-Large-Scale Market: 100% zero tariffs for 53 African countries provide a 1.4 billion-population single market unmatched by the EU or US.

Conclusion

Overall, China’s Africa policy centers on large-scale, institutionalized, and non-politically conditional cooperation, driven by an “infrastructure-trade-investment-agriculture-poverty reduction” tripartite pathway. This approach not only addresses Africa’s most urgent development needs but also leverages China’s integrated strengths in capital, engineering, market access, and development experience, offering a distinctive, complementary alternative to the Western traditional aid system.

China’s policy—anchored in “non-interference + infrastructure + large market”—forms a development-oriented cooperation paradigm fundamentally different from those of the EU, US, and Russia. In the short term, it has helped Africa overcome “three connections” bottlenecks, create jobs, and expand exports, earning “speed dividends” and political trust.

In comparison with the African policies of the European Union, the United States, and Russia，China’s Africa policy enjoys three major advantages—political, moral, and developmental.However, to sustain its competitive edge in the medium to long term, China must address its four shortcomings (transparency, corporate social responsibility, multilateral governance, and security tools). Otherwise, the West’s “high standards + narrative warfare” and Russia’s “hard security rapid response” could gradually erode China’s comparative advantages.

 

*  Dr. Tang Zhichao, Senior Research Fellow, Director of Politics Studies Branch, China-Africa Institute, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Research interests include politics and international relations in Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

 

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