![Xi Jinping with African flags Xi Jinping with African flags](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Xi-Jinping-with-flags-1000x405-1.jpg)
(Photo: ISS.)
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies has undertaken a series of analyses tracking China in Africa.
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Spotlight
China Escalates Its Political Party Training in Africa
China promotes its dominant party model in Africa through a suite of training programs for party and government officials even though this model is antithetical to Africans’ preference for multiparty democracy.
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Spotlight
China’s Strategy to Shape Africa’s Media Space
China’s ruling party is leveraging its funding of African media outlets, content sharing, and training of African journalists to advance Chinese narratives, policies, and norms on the continent.
![](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/China_Latin_Am_3x2-scaled.jpg)
Spotlight
Lessons from China’s Forum Diplomacy in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean
African, Latin American, and Caribbean countries can enhance the benefits of their engagements with China by expanding coordination and lessons sharing to ensure that citizens’ interests are prioritized.
![The Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School in Kibaha, Tanzania](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Nyerere-Leadership-School-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
China’s First Political School in Africa
The Nyerere Leadership School, supported by China’s Central Party School, provides ideological training to cadres from African liberation parties that have governed uninterrupted since independence.
![Xi Jinping inspects a military honor guard in Pretoria, South Africa.](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/China-PME-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
China’s “Military Political Work” and Professional Military Education in Africa
China envisages professional military education in Africa as an opportunity to promote China’s governance model while deepening ties to Africa’s ruling political parties.
![China's United Front](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/China-United-Front-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
China’s United Front Strategy in Africa
China’s United Front work co-opts well-placed individuals and organizations to cultivate support for and defend China’s goals and interests while isolating China’s opponents in Africa.
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Spotlight
Africa’s Interests in Strengthening the United Nations System
African countries have played an overlooked role shaping the UN international system, remain committed to preserving and improving it, and oppose efforts to destabilize, dismantle, or overturn it.
![Zanzibar's anti-riot police officers stand gaurd by a group of men sitting on the ground during an operation after the opposition called for protests in Stone Town, on October 29, 2020 as tensions rise while the results of the general election are being announced.](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Anti-riot-police-in-Zanzibar-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
China’s Policing Models Make Inroads in Africa
China’s expanded police engagements in Africa could have potentially far-reaching consequences for African security governance.
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China’s Influence on African Media
China media expert Bob Wekesa reflects on the Chinese Communist Party’s model of total state control of information and its export to Africa.
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Spotlight
Africa’s Role in China’s Multilateralism Strategy
China’s efforts to reshape existing global institutions and norms rely on the support of African governments, though this can often be at odds with African citizen interests.
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Spotlight
China’s Deepening Ties to Africa in Xi Jinping’s Third Term
Embarking on his third term in power, Xi Jinping is firmly in control of China’s foreign policy, which is expected to accentuate the enlistment of African support for reshaping global institutions and validating China’s governance norms.
![China’s Diplomacy in the Horn— Conflict Mediation as Power Politics](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/China-mediation-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
China’s Diplomacy in the Horn—Conflict Mediation as Power Politics
China’s support for ruling parties undermines its ability to be an impartial arbiter of conflict resolution in the Horn of Africa and highlights China’s use of mediation to pursue its geostrategic interests.
![The Japan–Africa Forum—Fostering Stability through Peace and Security](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/TICAD7_900x600.jpg)
Spotlight
TICAD’s bottom-up, multisectoral, and co-partnership approach is welcome in Africa and offers a model for the value of long-term partnerships to strengthen development, peace, and security.
![Considerations for a Prospective New Chinese Naval Base in Africa](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/China-Basing-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
Considerations for a Prospective New Chinese Naval Base in Africa
China's reported plans to add another naval base in Africa raise questions about China's increasingly militarized strategy and may stoke fears of compromised sovereignty amid a new "scramble" for Africa.
![Guānxì: Power, Networking, and Influence in China-Africa Relations](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Xi-and-Kagame-dinner-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
Guānxì: Power, Networking, and Influence in China-Africa Relations
China-Africa relations thrive on interpersonal ties of mutual dependence, obligations, and reciprocity that African elites tend to skew to their benefit at the expense of the public interest.
![The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at 21: Where to Next?](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/China-Rwanda-meeting-at-FOCAC-2018-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at 21: Where to Next?
African countries can negotiate a more equitable role in FOCAC, but this requires a more strategically focused approach, better coordination, and greater accountability to their citizens.
![Chinese Security Firms Spread along the African Belt and Road](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Karuma-Hydropower-project-900x600-1.jpg)
Spotlight
Chinese Security Firms Spread along the African Belt and Road
The deployment of Chinese security firms in Africa is expanding without a strong regulatory framework. This poses heightened risks to African citizens and raises fundamental questions over responsibility for security in Africa.
![Refaçonner l’autonomie de l’Afrique dans ses relations avec la Chine](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Bui-dam-in-Ghana-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
Reshaping African Agency in China-Africa Relations
The power imbalance between China and Africa poses a challenge for negotiating equitable investment deals. The interests of African citizens can be strengthened through agreements that are transparent, involve experts, and facilitate public engagement.
![The Spread of Surveillance Technology in Africa Stirs Security Concerns](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Surveillance-Tech-3x2-1.jpg)
Spotlight
The Spread of Surveillance Technology in Africa Stirs Security Concerns
The spread of surveillance technology in Africa without adequate checks and balances is reshaping the governance landscape while potentially enabling another tool of repression.
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Spotlight
China Promotes Its Party-Army Model in Africa
China’s party-army model, whereby the army is subordinate to a single ruling party, is antithetical to the multiparty democratic systems with an apolitical military accountable to elected leaders adopted by most African countries.
![Yun Sun discussing China's One Belt One Road](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Yun-Sun-screen-capture-900x600.png)
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“China Also Has to Win”: A Discussion with Yun Sun on One Belt, One Road in Africa
In an interview with the Africa Center, China expert Yun Sun offers a look at Beijing's engagement with Africa and African governments' evolving expectations of their relationship.
![Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Addis-Ababa-Djibouti-Railway-in-Holhol-600x400.jpg)
Spotlight
Implications for Africa from China’s One Belt One Road Strategy
China's Belt and Road Initiative forges intertwining economic, political, and security ties between Africa and China, advancing Beijing’s geopolitical interests.
![Taking Stock of China's Hard Power in Africa](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Taking-Stock-of-Chinas-Hard-Power-in-Africa-900x600.jpg)
Spotlight
Chinese Hard Power Supports Its Growing Strategic Interests in Africa
China’s growing military engagement in Africa is aimed at advancing Beijing’s economic and strategic interests, in particular its Belt and Road Initiative.
![Grand Strategy and China’s Soft Power Push in Africa](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/China-Africa-600x400.jpg)
Spotlight
Grand Strategy and China’s Soft Power Push in Africa
China is doubling down on its soft power initiatives in Africa as part of China's Grand Strategy to tap emerging markets, shape global governance norms, and expand its influence.
![Xi Jinping at Forum on China-Africa Cooperation](https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Xi-Jinping-at-Forum-on-China-Africa-Cooperation-900x600.jpg)
Spotlight
Pursuing the China Dream through Africa: Five Elements of China’s Africa Strategy
China’s expanding involvement in Africa is an integral piece in President Xi Jinping’s grand strategy to restore the country to its perceived rightful place of global prominence.