China Power

Boiling 54 Eggs: China’s Approach to Africa

Recent Features

China Power | Diplomacy | East Asia

Boiling 54 Eggs: China’s Approach to Africa

Viewing China’s relations with individual African states as a single unified policy is misleading both for China and for those watching from afar.

Boiling 54 Eggs: China’s Approach to Africa

Heads of state and government participating in the 2024 FOCAC Summit pose for a group photo in Beijing, China, Sep. 5, 2024.

Credit: Government Communication Information System, South Africa

A colloquial Chinese saying goes something like “boil one egg or boil 10 eggs – it takes the same amount of time.” Yet this wisdom is questionable when one considers that peeling 10 eggs adds a whole different dynamic to the process. 

During the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in September 2024, the Chinese government hosted 51 African nations. While the event was presented as a story of success in China’s relations with the whole continent, this idea of homogeneity disregards the notion that bilateral relations have been unpacked individually, through time, using different levers on different levels. Viewing China’s relations with individual African states as a unified policy direction is misleading both for China and for those watching from afar.

[...]
Dreaming of a career in the Asia-Pacific?
Try The Diplomat's jobs board.
Find your Asia-Pacific job