The American Enterprise Institute published in November 2026 a study titled "China in Sub-Saharan Africa: Some Facts About Investing and Building" by Ian Jones and Derek Scissors.
This is an important study that concludes China's engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa has pivoted from building infrastructure in populous countries to buying assets in mineral-rich ones, with state-owned enterprises undertaking most of the activity in both cases.
Metals account for 75 percent of investment in 2023-2025 compared to 49 percent in 2005-2025. State investors predominate, and in 2023-2025, Chinese investment was focused in the DRC, Zambia, Guinea, and Botswana. Copper attracts the most money.
