The South China Morning Post published on 4 July 2026 an article titled "China's Influence on African Ports Extends to Software, Automation and AI: Study" by Jevans Nyabiage.
The article discusses those aspects of African port construction and operations where China has gained influence in the past twenty years or more. They include related infrastructure projects and all kinds of software and information technology.
The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 10 June 2026 a paper titled "Beyond Ports: China Embeds Itself in Africa's Maritime Networks" by Paul Nantulya.
China is Africa's largest trade partner, major financer and builder of African ports, and has embedded itself in other aspects of the continent's maritime networks.
China's growing role in training, governance, and data systems could entrench long-term influence over Africa's institutions, potentially normalizing Chinese standards and creating structural dependencies on Chinese-built physical and digital infrastructure. This can limit Africa's domestic competition, divert scarce revenue, introduce data and security concerns, and reduce policy flexibility and bargaining power.
Space News published on 22 June 2026 a commentary titled "America Is About to Cede Africa's Space Industry to China, and Nobody's Talking About It" by Philip Dackiw.
As China advances its own space program, there is still an opportunity for US companies to forge space-based partnerships in Africa, which is looking at significant space-focused technological expansion. If the US does not seize this opportunity, China will.
China-Africa Security Radar posted on 15 September 2025 an article titled "China in Africa's Space Age."
African countries are looking for practical applications of space technology. China is increasingly meeting African needs but comes with two concerns: unsustainable debt and control over information.
The South China Morning Post published on 3 August 2025 an article titled "Beijing Builds Influence with Help for African Space Sector" by Jevans Nyabiage.
China funded and built a satellite data receiving ground station on the outskirts of Namibia's capital of Windhoek. Together with other stations, it could provide China with continuous telemetry, tracking and command capabilities for its expanding space missions.
China has bilateral agreements with over a dozen African countries for space technology, training, and infrastructure. African countries are increasingly partnering with China in space technology.
The Diplomat published on 20 May 2025 an analysis titled "What a China-Egypt Military Training Reveals About the PLA's Air Combat Readiness" by Ying Yu Lin, Tamkang University in Taipei.
The recently completed "Eagles of Civilization" air force exercise between China and Egypt demonstrated improved integration capabilities of the PLA Air Force (PLAAF). It was also an opportunity for the PLAAF to showcase to potential international buyers its newest aircraft such as the KJ-500 early warning aircraft and the J-10C fighter jet.
Article 19, a UK-based international organization with 9 regional offices devoted to freedom of expression, posted on 18 April 2024 a report titled "The Digital Silk Road: China and the Rise of Digital Repression in the Indo-Pacific."
The report examines China's digital infrastructure and governance influence in Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand. While the study does not deal with Africa, it offers lessons for China's digital engagement with the continent.
The report argues that assessing China's partnerships and what they mean for rising repression is vital to understanding China's ambitions to rewire the world and rewrite the rules that govern the digital space. By expanding its authoritarian model, China aims to ultimately supplant the tenets of internet freedom and rights-based principles of global digital governance.
The South China Morning Post published on 21 November 2023 an article titled "How China Ties Space Projects in Africa with Climate and Security Priorities" by Jevans Nyabiage.
While a number of countries collaborate with Africa on satellite launches and space cooperation, China does so in a manner that coordinates them with its foreign policy.
The US Institute of Peace published in September 2023 a special report titled "China's Space Collaboration with Africa: Implications and Recommendations for the United States" by Julie Michelle Klinger and Temidayo Isaiah Oniosun.
China is increasingly offering space science and space cooperation as an incentive for African states to form closer ties to Beijing. The actors involved include government agencies, private and quasi-private companies, and academic institutions in both China and African partner states. China has provided financing and training, built satellites and ground stations, and cooperated on satellite navigation and climate monitoring. Most of China's engagement has been in Nigeria, Algeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan
The South China Morning Post published on 3 July 2023 an article titled "Egypt Gets China-funded Satellites in Step towards Space Industry Ambitions" by Jevans Nyabiage.
China has provided the Egyptian Space Agency with a $74 million grant to assemble, integrate, and test satellites and $68 million for the test center. Egypt is the first African country to receive this kind of assistance from China.
The Diplomat published on 17 November 2022 a commentary titled "China's Tech Outreach in the Middle East and North Africa" by Dale Aluf, Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership.
The profit motive is not the only driver of China's digital engagement with North Africa and the Middle East. Geostrategy is also part of the agenda. Through the Digital Silk Road, China seeks to connect its civilian and military assets along the Belt and Road Initiative. As nations in the region become more reliant on Chinese technology systems, Beijing is increasing its leverage and influence.
In an important speech in London on 11 October 2022 before the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, Sir Jeremy Fleming, Director of Government Communications Headquarters (the UK's intelligence, cyber, and security agency) warned that China is working hard to exploit information covertly in countries big and small.
China is deliberately and patiently trying to gain strategic advantage by shaping the world's technology ecosystems. Technology has become not just an area for opportunity, for competition and for collaboration, it's become a battleground for control, values and influence.
Fleming argued that "we must conclude that Beijing is using all of the levers to challenge the international post-war consensus on economics and technology. And that it intends to rewrite the rules of international security, both close to home and further afield, in ways frankly that none of us have ever faced before." The Communist Party of China is using "its resources to implement draconian national security laws, a surveillance culture, and an increasingly aggressive military." Fleming added that "in a future crisis, Beijing could exploit information covertly. One only needs to look at how China has already sought to do just this, leveraging its influence over many smaller nations in votes over technology, ethics and foreign policy."
Fleming concluded that "this isn't a call to exclude or marginalize China -- even if we could. It's a call for a China to recognize that it's to its advantage to play responsibly inside the global system. If it does so it can help to co-create the rules of tomorrow. But if it chooses not to. To play a disruptive role in international security, technology and markets, then that will come at a cost too."
The East Asia Forum published on 20 September 2022 an article titled "China's Technology Is a Mixed Blessing for MENA States" by Passant Mamdouh Ridwan, Fudan University.
While Chinese telecommunication technology is contributing to the economies of countries in North Africa and the Middle East, it may dominate the digital market and affect the ability of local companies to compete. Chinese influence may also lead to greater internet censorship.
The South China Morning Post published on 8 September 2022 an article titled "China Aims to Lift Africa's Space Ambitions in Drive to Beat US Domination" by Jevans Nyabiage.
China is ramping up its efforts in Africa to expand sales and cooperation in the area of space and satellite launching. So far, France has won $2.6 billion of Africa's $4.5 billion spending on satellite projects, but China is second at $872 million.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies published on 19 October 2021 a study titled "Mapping China's Digital Silk Road" by Jonathan E. Hillman.
This is an analysis of China's global digital diplomacy. Countries in Africa comprise a key part of the outreach effort.
