[WEBCAST] What Is China Doing in Africa?

Africa has become the fastest-urbanizing region of the world. Rural migrants move into cities at a higher rate than in China and India. This ongoing transition represents challenges, but also opportunities for infrastructure investments. China has responded to the call for investments in Africa like no other country. Since the end of the 1990s, the intensity and volume of financial and economic dimensions, pertaining the relationship between China and various African countries, has led to critical debates. Questions arise whether China’s major investments are a good alternative to Western aid. Additionally, the current COVID-19 crisis is probing Chinese-African relations as the virus may have lasting implications.

How do the Chinese government and Communist Party perceive their engagement? Why has China been driving the continent’s infrastructure initiatives? What countries are in their focus? How has China’s presence in Africa changed over the last decades? To what extend does the coronavirus outbreak impact current relations? And how do African counterparts, e.g. the African Union and public sectors, deal with China?

These questions and more will be addressed in our webcast with Eric Olander, Co-Founder and Managing Editor of the China Africa Project – a project that explores every aspect of China’s engagement with Africa.

This webcast is for Asia Society members only. If you’re not a member, you can join on our website, or watch the livestream or recording on Facebook.

If you are not member at the Swiss Center, please register at least 24 hours before the beginning of the webcast, so they can approve your membership with the Asia Society Centers around the world. If you register at a later point, please send them confirmation of membership to [email protected] Society Centerss. Also, you can watch the livestream on Facebook.