China-Africa Security Interests and Cooperation

The Diplomat published on 12 December 2019 a commentary titled "China in Africa's Peace and Security Landscape" by Abdou Rahim Lema, Peking University.

The author argues that although discussions on China-Africa security engagement often focus more on Beijing's plans for Africa and less on Africa's plans for itself, the reality is that Sino-African security relations are more symbiotic and point to a politics of concidentally converging interets. At the same time, he acknowledges that China has some specific interests in this relationship: access to Africa's natural resources, access to Africa's growing market, and protection of China's economic investments and safety of its nationals in Africa.