Shifting Sands of China-Africa Economic Ties: Examining the Impact of Economic Evolution and BRI on the Relationship between China and Africa

In the early 2000s, China’s engagement with Africa increased as China experienced double-digit economic growth and high demand for African resources such as oil, minerals, and timber to support its booming manufacturing sector. However, fast forward to the present day, China’s economy has matured and no longer heavily relies on African resources like it did two decades ago. With the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in place, China’s dependency on African resources has decreased significantly compared to the past.

Recently, a paper by Zainab Usman from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Professor Tang Xiaoyang from Tsinghua University in Beijing highlights five key economic trends that are reshaping the economic relationship between China and Africa. According to Usman, these changing economic dynamics will impact African countries in various ways.

Usman is a senior fellow and the inaugural director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., where she leads research on institutions, economic policy, energy policy, and emerging economies in Africa. She has previously worked at the World Bank and the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and has consulted for the Department of International Development (DfID).