Not sure a lot of people will get the benefit of it since it's in the French but the following podcast has a good discussion about the Sino-African relationship. The guest is a former diplomat and economist Jean-Joseph Boillot and among the panel is Lionel Zinsou, former Prime Minister of Bénin :
Le Nouvel Esprit Public: La Chine Afrique (#48)
http://rss.art19.com/episodes/54ee3f7b-ebd7-4483-bb4e-f0c9544dc447.mp3It's fairly thorough for the duration and it veers off the customary alarmism surrounding the issue and highlight the sometimes forgotten African agency in those matters.
To try to summarize the bullet points :
- Chinese relations with Africa started with liberation wars. Very present in the Horn obviously but certainly not contained there (present in Maghreb, Mauritania, etc...).
- China moved beyond simply trading raw materials and fossil fuels and is flooding the continent with cars, bikes and smartphones which kick-started a mini revolution (ease of transportation, telecoms). Some smartphone are sold for a quarter of the European price. Some manufacturing also going on.
- Huge investments in infrastructure, buildings and the creation of special economic zones (notably in Ethiopia) though the results are not up to expectations. Some Chinese billionaires are patrons if the art.
- Chinese diplomacy is excellent with ambassadors fluent in local languages down to Swahili, Wolof... (A reminder that China is the biggest supplier in troops for the UN peacekeeping force). But a lot of frustration at some of the middling results, political resistances and African leaders not being that malleable despite the investments.
- Over 1m Chinese have emigrated to Africa (including up to taking dual citizenship) including traders and artisans. Create some tensions on the ground with increased competition for the indigenous blue collar class. Generally a lot of weariness : Chinese companies have a bad reputation as employers and will often bring a lot of the manpower from home, making the economic returns more meager, though it is evolving (it's starting to get too cost prohibitive to staff lower positions with expatriates).
- China is looking for a second military base, this one on the Atlantic coast. Word on the ground is that their Djibouti base has a manpower well in excess of the agreement (maybe 10k more).
- Unlike Europe or the US and despite how predatory the economic model may be, Africa commercial balance with China is positive.
- Arguably European corporations got a lot better and more professional under the pressure of Chinese competition. They're far from having been wiped out and the local governments want to have the choice to not get shackled.
- Though Chinese presence is not viewed with rose tinted glasses, European are not suddenly absolved of their baggage.
- As Trump was shitting the G7, Paul Kagamé was representing the African union in Shanghai and giving multiple speeches. Kagamé is popular in Africa for the effectiveness of the transformations he mandated in Rwanda.
- Zinsou is hopeful for the future of democracy in Africa and feels it is making great strides at the local level.
