Belt and Road in Africa

Growing U.S. engagement with Africa, epitomized by the Lobito Corridor, is deemed a counterbalance to China’s influence. However, China’s engagement with African countries cannot be overturned so easily.

There has been much talk of a perceived slowdown in BRI lending, but African leaders are still looking to China to advance development goals.

Top-level representation dropped to a new low, based largely on a lack of interest from European states.

The big event is happening October 17and 18. The question now is: who will show up?

The Zambian president’s visit to China moved the relationship beyond debt and reset to a focus on growth.

What are China’s interests in the Central African state, and vice versa?

Africa and the Middle East provide conducive conditions for China and Russia to advance their shared and separate agendas.  

Each country must exercise agency to fully capture the benefits of the BRI. So far, Nigeria hasn’t.

If African countries like Tanzania have any say in the matter, rumors of the BRI’s death are greatly exaggerated.

China’s infrastructure projects abroad often suffer from misinterpretations of the local political climate.

African countries have the agency to use relations with China to their own advantage. Whether African leaders will use their power to benefit their people is another question.

Beijing’s outreach to Africa is largely driven by the desire for support on the international stage from the continent’s 54 countries.