Bongani Ndlovu
Saxon Zvina
Africa is not short of developmental ambition. What it lacks is sufficient infrastructure, industrial capacity, energy, technology and capital to translate ambition into sustained economic transformation. The strategic question, therefore, is not whether Africa needs international partners, but what kind of partners it ought to choose.
The year 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Africa, making this question worthy of renewed reflection. Onyango Konyango, an expert on Kenya‑China relations, observes that Africa’s enormous needs in transport, electricity, digital technology, manufacturing and human‑capital development cannot be met by domestic resources alone. Africa therefore needs partners capable of supplying capital, technology, market access and expertise while respecting Africa’s own development priorities.
This is where China’s model of engagement offers an important alternative perspective.
Development Cooperation Free From Political Subordination
China’s approach is rooted in sovereign equality, mutual benefit and non‑interference in domestic affairs. Its widely cited “Five Nos” include: no interference in African countries’ choice of development paths suited to national conditions; no interference in internal affairs; no imposition of its own will; no political strings attached to assistance; and no pursuit of political self‑interest through investment and financing.
These principles carry substantial weight for African states, which experienced decades of colonial rule and have long struggled to exercise full policy autonomy.
China has remained Africa’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years. In 2025, China‑Africa trade reached USD 348.1 billion, an annual rise of 17.7 percent and roughly 32 times the volume recorded in 2000.
Chinese outbound investment in Africa has also moved well beyond traditional resource extraction. By the end of 2024, China’s stock of direct investment in Africa exceeded USD 43.8 billion. Chinese enterprises are increasingly active across manufacturing, agriculture, infrastructure, digital technology and renewable‑energy sectors.
Significance lies not merely in capital volumes. What matters most is whether investment builds lasting productive capacity located on African soil.
Infrastructure as a Foundation for Economic Sovereignty
Africa cannot industrialise without roads, railways, ports, electricity and telecommunications. Chinese‑led contractors have become major contributors to closing critical infrastructure gaps.
For instance, the Mombasa‑Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway has drastically cut transit times between Kenya’s coastal port and inland destinations. The Addis Ababa‑Djibouti Railway connects land‑locked Ethiopia to global maritime routes via an electrified cross‑border line, and illustrates opportunities for technology transfer and the building‑up of African operational capacity.
The deeper insight is that infrastructure is far more than concrete and steel. It links producers to markets, lowers transport costs, facilitates regional integration and lays physical groundwork for industrialisation.
When Guinea features a Chinese‑constructed hydropower facility on its currency, or when Chinese‑built water projects expand clean‑water access, these initiatives transcend purely commercial transactions. They become building‑blocks of continental development.
From Raw‑Material Exports Toward Local Industrial Value Chains
One of the most consequential policy developments is China’s implementation of zero‑tariff treatment for eligible goods from African countries with established diplomatic relations.
This policy opens opportunities for African agricultural and manufactured goods to compete more favourably within one of the world’s largest consumer markets. Kenyan avocados, Ethiopian coffee, South‑African citrus and Ghanaian cocoa represent products with meaningful export potential.
Yet Africa should not remain confined to commodity exports.
The genuine strategic objective is to leverage improved market access to build local‑processing plants, factories, logistics networks and complete value‑chains within Africa. The aim is not only to sell larger volumes of cocoa, lithium, copper or farm produce, but also to process and manufacture locally and capture a larger share of commodity‑related value.
In this way, Chinese investment and technology can complement African resource endowments rather than operating as extractive arrangements. Realising such outcomes still depends heavily on domestic African planning, regulation and implementation capacity.
Digital and AI Cooperation: The Next Development Frontier
Similar logic applies to artificial‑intelligence and digital‑technology collaboration.
Africa hosts one of the world’s youngest populations and some of the fastest‑expanding digital markets. China, for its part, has accumulated extensive practical experience in digital infrastructure, telecommunications, artificial intelligence and industrial‑sector applications.
Co‑operation on AI creates openings to narrow — rather than widen — the global technology divide.
Multilateral international‑cooperation frameworks on AI with Chinese participation, alongside training and capacity‑building programmes for developing‑country stakeholders, can help African nations avoid becoming permanent passive consumers of externally‑designed technologies.
The core goal should be indigenous technological capacity: African engineers developing locally‑tailored applications responding to African challenges, in partnership with global‑technology collaborators. Large‑scale cross‑border digital projects also commonly raise shared concerns including environmental impact, labour standards and community consultation, which require careful governance by all participating sides.
Re‑examining the “Debt‑Trap” Narrative
Widely repeated claims portraying China as the primary source of Africa’s debt crisis deserve careful factual scrutiny.
International debt datasets show that commercial bonds and multilateral creditors account for the largest share of Africa’s external‑debt stock, while Chinese bilateral lending makes up a comparatively smaller portion. African‑debt difficulties therefore cannot be simplistically reduced to a so‑called “Chinese debt trap”.
When individual nations encounter fiscal stress, Chinese authorities have generally pursued negotiated restructuring solutions instead of automatic seizure of strategic national assets.
Even more important than identifying which party extends credit is understanding what borrowed capital actually finances.
Debt directed toward productive infrastructure, energy assets, manufacturing and trade‑enabling capacity can support future growth. Debt that funds consumption without expanding productive potential carries higher risk.
Africa’s Strategic Choices
African nations ought not to be forced into a binary choice between East and West. Equally, no African state should surrender its sovereign decision‑making authority to any external power.
At the same time, Africa holds every right to select international partnerships guided principally by its own national interests.
The continent needs partners that respect sovereignty, support locally‑defined development priorities, enable skills and technology transfer, broaden market access and help build domestic productive capacity.
China’s growing footprint across Africa does not mean every Chinese‑supported project is flawless. Nor does it mean African governments should abandon rigorous scrutiny, negotiation or accountability mechanisms. Bilateral relationships ought to be judged against real‑world development outcomes instead of ideological stereotypes.
The central practical question for each African country is straightforward: does this partnership enhance, or diminish, national agency in shaping its own future?
Strategic autonomy for the Global South amounts to more than rhetorical political declarations. It requires tangible foundations: roads, railways, electricity networks, factories, digital infrastructure, skilled human capital, technology and reliable market access.
Where China and other nations upholding sovereign‑equality principles can help supply these foundations without demanding political subordination, deeper cooperation represents not merely a geopolitical preference, but a rational development strategy.
Africa has always remained open to the wider world. What it urgently requires now are partnerships that empower Africans to build Africa — not arrangements that lock the continent into enduring dependency.
About the Author:
Saxon Zvina is Principal Consultant at Skyworld Consultancy Services. As an independent analyst and commentator, he contributes opinion pieces to multiple media platforms.
Email: [email protected] & X: saxonzvina2
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