Doing Development Differently: Reorienting Sino-African Trade and Investment Relations After the Pandemic

Abstract

This article explores the evolutive nature of Sino-African relations and questions how Chinese interventions may influence Africa’s development stories in a post-Covid world. We examine whether the crisis could serve as a catalyst for reorienting the strategic partnership between China and Africa away from debt diplomacy towards genuine partnership or a breaking apart of the long-standing relationship. This article presents three narratives to illustrate how the future direction of Sino-African relations may change and how this might enable Africa to ‘do development differently’.

Keywords: Sino-African relations; trade; investment; development; pandemic; COVID-19

JEL Classification: K33, O1, O55, O19, P33