Daniel Large publishes article in the journal African Affairs on the 2021 Dakar Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

A newly published article in the journal African Affairs by DPP Associate Professor Daniel Large examines the 8th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (or FOCAC) and its significance in evolving China-Africa relations.

The event was held in Dakar on 29–30 November 2021, and saw the Chinese government, 53 African countries and the African Union Commission meet under the theme ‘Deepen China-Africa Partnership and Promote Sustainable Development to Build a China-Africa Community with a Shared Future in the New Era’. FOCAC has been staged every 3 years since 2000 and is usually a prominent event in China–Africa relations. Interest in the 2021 Dakar FOCAC, however was more muted than previously. This reflected its ministerial level, the challenges of convening such a meeting during the Covid-19 pandemic and the comparatively less eye-catching nature of its results. One widespread view was thus that this FOCAC meant less money and more caution in Beijing’s Africa relations.

This article argues, however, that beyond such simplistic interpretations, and despite a more modest agenda for the next 3 years of China-Africa relations in comparison to previous FOCAC summits, the 2021 Dakar FOCAC further confirmed the full breadth and growing depth of China–Africa relations and how notable aspects of these are being recalibrated for the longer term, whether through economic measures like revised finance and enhancing trade or in terms of political links. For an event standardly associated with Chinese financial largesse and economic targets, the Dakar FOCAC also demonstrated how important politics has become to China’s relations with Africa and the significance of the continent in Beijing’s foreign policy and global ambitions under President Xi Jinping.