China’s political influence in Africa

Solly Rakgomo | Tuesday January 27, 2026 08:17

While China’s political and economic engagement in Africa remains the backbone of Africa-China relations, diplomacy is the main foreign policy tool which Chinese officials use to exert influence across the continent. China’s multilateral diplomacy contributes to driving state-to-state engagement and growing party-to-party relations with the Chinese Communist Party’s interest in exerting influence on African governments and expanding its political governance and practices across the continent. The piece explores how multilateral diplomacy plays an important role in China’s political influence in Africa. It focuses on a number of aspects of Beijing’s multilateral diplomacy in Africa: the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the UN voting, party-to-party diplomacy, and health diplomacy.

The Forum on

China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), one of the first ‘Africa+1’ summit follows this trend. Through FOCAC, China seeks to promote a win-win partnership, south-south cooperation and solidarity, and strengthen political, economic and diplomatic ties. FOCAC plays an important role in growing political and economic relations between African countries and China. With its rhetoric of win-win cooperation, mutual respect, south-south cooperation, and solidarity, Beijing puts forward a mutual partnership and cooperation in its approach to engage with African countries. FOCAC 2006, organised in Beijing, saw the massive participation of African governments, which recognise China’s political and economic role and its impact on the continent. With action plans defined as roadmaps in each FOCAC meeting, the forum determines the current and future state of Africa-China relations. The FOCAC VIII action plan is more detailed and reflects the further maturation and deepening of Africa-China relations. China’s political leadership role in FOCAC is influential and effective in Africa-China relations and contributes to strengthening its foreign policy strategy. FOCAC ministerial conferences and meetings serve as platforms to set roadmaps for the future of Africa-China relations, and in the various areas of partnership and cooperation between African and Chinese governments. The changing global political, economic, and diplomatic landscape in the current and complex geopolitical context, with a multipolar world order, Africa’s traditional partners’ renewed interests in the continent, and emerging partners’ growing interests, shapes Africa-China relations.

China’s growing engagement in Africa drives competition and geopolitical rivalries between external traditional and emerging actors across the continent. Such a competition offers an opportunity to African governments to express and exert agency in both symbolic and substantial ways. Through the numerous ‘Africa+1 summits’ like FOCAC, African governments seek to diversify their partnership and strengthen political, economic, and diplomatic ties. In China’s quest for political influence on the continent through multilateral diplomacy, African governments must exert agency to engage with Chinese officials and other external actors. Such an approach contributes to negotiations which benefit their respective country, Africa, and their populations. It also enables them to engage in debates and discussions that concern the continent and its future, as well as negotiations which have impacts and implications for the global political economy.

UN voting

Political and diplomatic engagement is at the heart of Africa–China relations. Beijing’s need for support from African governments in international organisations shows the importance of Africa as a regional voting bloc of which Beijing is fully aware of. African countries can dominate and influence the voting outcomes of global issues in international affairs. African countries’ support through voting alignments enhances China’s domestic and international legitimacy. China’s aid flow and investments in Africa play an important role in guiding many African countries’ strategic partnership and position vis-à-vis Beijing in UN voting.

African countries’ support for China at the UN is expected to continue for a long time, as Beijing exerts political and diplomatic influence through economic investments across the continent. To justify their voting decisions on issues that involve China (i.e. human rights issues related to the situation of the Uyghur in Xinjiang, China’s national security law in Hong Kong, among others), many African governments focus on political rhetoric of south-south cooperation, solidarity as well as economic gains, and reciprocal support from Beijing at the UN. China’s pledge of economic and development aid to Africa appears to give Africa more international influence, to enhance its negotiating power in multilateral institutions and, ultimately, to help China. The rhetoric of South-South cooperation and solidarity reinforces political and diplomatic ties between African countries and China.

South–South cooperation

Through the so-called South–South cooperation framework, countries of the global South in general, and emerging economies in particular, have created a space for political and economic dialogue. Such a cooperation framework is somehow shaping and rebalancing the world political-economic order and is increasingly changing Africa’s position vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Beyond China’s interest in African votes at the United Nations, Beijing officials use South-South cooperation rhetoric to achieve China’s political and diplomatic goals. They claim that China’s growing presence in Africa is an example of South-South cooperation based on mutual benefit, win–win, and equal partnership among others. Such a rhetoric contributes to positioning China with a positive image among African political elites. China’s approach to reaching its economic objectives helps to leverage donor–recipient cooperation and leads to win–win development and self-reliant development, particularly amongst low-income developing states. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), with China and African countries on the one hand, and BRICS, with the emerging economies on the other, continue to foster a renewed debate on the importance of South–South cooperation and strengthen Africa’s place in global fora and in international affairs.

Health diplomacy

Health diplomacy has become a key topic in China-Africa cooperation, particularly since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic once more revealed the importance of global public health diplomacy in relation to Africa. There was a race to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) and masks, and to make vaccines available and accessible for developing countries left behind in the early phases of the pandemic. China, the United States, the European Union, Russia, and India competed for sales of their home-grown vaccines and donations to developing countries. Such a strategy, with its political, social, and economic implications, contributes to influencing public perception among African governments and populations. With the advent of COVID-19 vaccines, home-grown national vaccines, when distributed all over the world, can play an integral role in nation branding as a technique for projecting soft power and capitalising on new economic and geopolitical opportunities.