The Friends of Europe published on 25 October 2016 a commentary titled "NATO and China in Africa" by Brooke Smith-Windsor, NATO Defense College, and Alexander Moens, Simon Fraser University.
The authors conclude that global strategic competition between Western and Chinese values does not preclude NATO and China working towards the same objectives. There are situations in Africa where NATO and China may gain strategic and tactical benefits: strategic in the sense of finding common objectives and mutually reinforcing efforts that include dialogue, and tactical in the sense of working alongside and learning from each other.