Is China's Relationship with Africa Mutually Beneficial or Neo-colonialism?

Deng Xiaoping opened China to globalisation in 1978 (BBC, 2010) to encourage investment and trade and since then China has become a major economic superpower, challenging the global hegemony of the USA. China’s influence is constantly expanding; its position as the workshop of the world (Franceschini, 2014) has outpaced the Western superpower’s ability to compete, as Asian powers produce items more efficiently and cost-effectively. As of 2025, China remains the second largest economy by GDP with a GDP growth rate of 4.8%, higher than the USA's 2.02% (Statistics time, 2025). China has the potential to dethrone the United States’ position as the leading economic power, which evidently concerns Washington. This was seen in 2020, when the top US intelligence official John Ratcliffe backed President Trump’s harsh stance on China. Through economic tariffs, China was labelled the biggest threat to democracy and freedom worldwide since the Second World War and was said to be bent on global domination (Guardian, 2020). But to what extent is this true? 

It is certainly true that China has global influence. As mentioned, China is a manufacturing powerhouse producing 20% of manufacturing exports in 2021 (Baldwin, 2024), but China’s influence is not limited to its economic power. China was a founding member of the United Nations on the 26^th of June 1945 (United Nations, 2019), which was founded on the basis of maintaining international peace and security, giving humanitarian assistance to those in need, protecting human rights, and upholding international law (United Nations, 2025). China is one of the five permanent members alongside France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which allows them to veto decisions to defend their national interests or to uphold a tenet of their foreign policy (Security Council report, 2024). This allows them to have a major influence on collective global decision making. In addition, China has been accused of leveraging economic debts incurred for critical infrastructure projects in return for political alliances with China, major examples being seen in the continent of Africa. 

China is the world’s largest investor in Africa in terms of total capital. They invested more than $72 billion in the continent from 2014 to 2018 (Emke, 2024), according to the Brookings Institute and have primarily invested in critical infrastructure such as roads and railways via the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The  BRI aims to develop two new trade routes connecting China with the rest of the world and is an effort to develop an expanded, interdependent market for China. Thus, growing China’s economic and political power, and creating the right conditions for China to build a high technology economy (Jie and Wallace, 2022). Since its launch in 2013, 53 African nations have participated in the project receiving $21.7 billion in investments in ports, railways and renewable energy projects (Kluiver, 2024). But what does China want in return? 

Some argue that China exploits these nations by assisting in large infrastructure projects that simply cannot be afforded by the host nation. For example, Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, which was funded by BRI, has led to the country being $14 billion in debt to China, which is half of Ethiopia’s $28 billion in foreign debt (Tarrosy, 2024). Similarly, Kenya struggles to pay off its debts from the standard gauge railway, totalling $6.3 billion as of March 2023 (Kell, 2023). Critics point out that China's BRI adopts a debt trap strategy where nations are forced to comply with China’s foreign policy agenda out of fear of financial ruin. For example, in Serbia China's BRI has seemingly coerced the Serbian government to align publicly with Beijing and endorse the One-China principle and reciprocal Chinese support for Serbia regarding Kosovo (BFPE, 2025).

Chinese sympathisers are quick to point out Western hypocrisy, noting that 3 of the 5 permanent members of the UN Security Council are Western allies, as well as the West's history of colonialism and exploitation on the continent (CCS COMMENTARY, 2014). In addition, many Africans support China’s involvement in the development of their countries as their quality of life is improved, whereas Western institutions (e.g. World Bank, IMF) fail to provide loans for such projects due to risk. This leaves them with no choice but to resort to Chinese funding (McKinsey, 2025). 

Ultimately, whether China’s relationship with Africa is exploitative depends on perspective and remains controversial. What is certain is that China’s expanding global influence continues to unsettle the West. 

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