Communist Party of China and Xinhua News Agency Host Forum in Kenya

 Kenya's The Star published on 9 December 2025 an article titled "Experts Share Insights on Advancing China-Africa Modernization at Hong Ting Forum in Kenya."

The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Xinhua News Agency hosted in Nairobi on 4 December the Hong Ting Forum to discuss innovative ways of advancing China-Africa modernization.  It brought together government officials, think tank representatives, and media practitioners.  One of the African participants said the China-Africa relationship is being redefined to focus more on software, including skills and technology transfer, cultural exchanges, and green development.

Comment:  On April 2, 2025, Xinhua News Agency but not the CPC hosted the Hong Ting Forum in Nairobi.  It is not clear why these sessions took place so close together.   

China Courts African Media and Think Tanks at Forum in South Africa

 Kenya's The Star published on 17 November 2025 an article titled "China-Africa Partnership Conference Highlights Cooperation toward Shared Global Governance."

South Africa hosted on 13-14 November the Global South Media and Think Tank Forum China-Africa Partnership Conference.  China's Xinhua News Agency, the African Union, and South Africa's Independent Media organized the event attended by more than 200 representatives from 160 media outlets, think tanks, and government organizations.  The primary theme was shaping global governance.  

Comment:  The Forum is another example of China's focus on soft power in Africa and especially support for African media and think tanks.  The Forum provides China an opportunity to promote its governance model in Africa and build a "China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era."  

China also promoted its four global initiatives dealing with development, security, civilization, and governance.  China International Television Corporation and the state policy bank China Africa Development Fund have a 20 percent stake in South Africa's Independent Media, one of the sponsors of the Forum.  

China's Think Tank Diplomacy in Africa

 India's Observer Research Foundation published on 9 July 2025 an analysis titled "China's Think Tank Diplomacy in Africa" by Samir Bhattacharya.

China launched the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum (CATTF) in 2011, convening delegates from 27 African countries.  CATTF serves as a permanent platform for dialogue and exchange between Chinese and African think tanks.  

Xi Jinping has significantly expanded this initiative.  Most of its activities are carefully orchestrated by China's state apparatus.  Beijing's goal is to project China's world view, governance model, and developmental practices.  

Chinese Central Communist Party School Delegation Visits Nigeria

 The Nigerian Tribune posted on 26 June 2025 an article titled "Nigeria, China Partner to Advance Cooperation on Public Sector Reform."

A delegation from the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China (CPC) visited Nigeria to facilitate an exchange of ideas and best practices in public sector reform.  The head of the Central Party School delegation described the structure and mandate of the school and its critical role in shaping governance and public administration in China.

Comment:  This is yet another example of the CPC reaching out to African countries to strengthen party-to-party ties.  

More African Engagement Needed in FOCAC

 The Africa Center for Strategic Studies published on 20 August 2024 a commentary titled "FOCAC 2024: Elevating African Interests Beyond the Africa-China Summit" by Paul Nantulya.

The Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is still shaped largely by a donor-recipient dynamic, where African countries mostly take a back seat while China initiates much of the agenda.  African countries have little coherent strategy for China while Beijing is clear about its objectives.  FOCAC is viewed as serving primarily Chinese interests.  African engagement needs to be more proactive.  

A Common African Approach to China

 South Africa's Institute for Security Studies published in February 2024 a study titled "Developing a Common African Approach to China in a Divided World" by Mandira Bagwandeen, Stellenbosch University.

In developing a common approach, the African Union can lead on political, social, environmental, and security issues and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on trade and economic development.  A coordination and research unit consisting of the AU Commission and AfCFTA Secretariat representatives could lead deliberations.  An African network of advisory groups should be established to provide strategic foresight and analysis to guide a common African approach towards China.

Comment: In comparing Chinese and American interaction with Africa, the author has largely bought into Beijing's win-win propaganda while she remains highly critical of Washington's engagement with the continent.

China's Increasing Focus on Food Security in Africa

 Agricultural & Food Policy published in October 2023 an article titled "China's 'Hunan Model' for Realising China-Africa Food Security" by Lauren A. Johnston.  

The paper explores the role of the Chinese province of Hunan in Xi Jinping's most recent plan to modernize African agriculture.  Food security has become an increasingly important part of the China-Africa relationship.  

A Provincial China Model for Africa

 The South African Institute of International Affairs published in July 2023 a paper titled "The Hunan Model: China's Zone for the China-Africa Future" by Lauren Johnston.  

The paper finds that an emerging Hunan model, named after the central south Chinese province in China, builds upon its comparative strengths in agriculture, construction machinery, and mining and metallurgy, as well as its recent role in poverty eradication.  It may offer a model for advancing China-Africa economic ties.  The paper offers conclusions on how African countries can make the most of the model for their own development.

China-Africa Think Tank Forum

 Modern Diplomacy published on 30 January 2023 a commentary titled "The New Role of Formal and Informal Academic Diplomacy for the China-Africa Forum" by Nadia Helmy, Beni Suef University in Egypt.  

The author describes the increasing role that Chinese think tanks are playing in academic diplomacy in Africa.

China-Africa Knowledge Networks

 The Social Science Research Council published in December 2022 a major study titled "Africa-China Knowledge Networks: State of the Field" by Annalisa Bolin, Tatiana Carayannis, Lucas Niewenhuis, and Gino Vlavonou.  

The study looks at work done on the following research themes: geo-economics, peace and security, migration, health and environment, and media, the internet and technology.  A lengthy appendix provides information on China-Africa research centers in Africa, China, and the rest of the world.  

Africa in China's Strategic Thinking

 The National Bureau of Asian Research published in June 2012 a report titled "A New Great Game? Situating Africa in China's Strategic Thinking" by Nadege Rolland.

The author concludes that Chinese strategists seem to envisage Africa as an essential piece in an escalating geostrategic contest for global influence between China and the U.S.-led West.  Beijing's emerging strategy aims at making the continent fit into a new subsystem comprising much of the global South that China aspires to dominate.  China aims to persuade African countries to adopt aspects of its political and economic system and is preparing to export its model to Africa and perhaps to other parts of the developing world as well.  

New Africa-China Center in Ghana

 Based in Accra, Ghana, the Afro-Sino Centre of International Relations launched this month.  Its purpose is to assess China-Africa relations from an African perspective, moving away from the current trend of being scrutinized predominantly by Western scholars.  

2015 Global Think Tank Report

The University of Pennsylvania released on 29 January 2016 its "2015 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report" by James G. McGann.  It ranks top think tanks in the world, top think tanks by region, top think tanks by area of research, and top think tanks by special achievement.

African countries with the largest number of think tanks are South Africa (86), Kenya (53), Nigeria (48), Ghana (37), and Egypt (35).  The top ranked think tanks in Sub-Saharan Africa are:
1.  Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA)
2.  IMANI Center for Policy and Education (Ghana)
3.  Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) (Senegal)
4.  Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA)
5.  African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD) (South Africa)

In the Middle East and North Africa, only the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies (ACPSS) in Egypt makes the top 10, although it comes in second.  Four think tanks in Egypt and two in Morocco make the next ten best. 

China, Africa and Think Tanks

Brookings published on 1 October 2015 a commentary titled "China-Africa Think Tanks Forum: China Broadens Soft Power Campaigns in Africa" by Yun Sun, nonresident fellow at the Africa Growth Initiative. 

The author comments on the Fourth China-Africa Think Tanks Forum that was held in South Africa in September 2015.  She commented that the forum is aimed at shaping African elites' perceptions and understanding of China through direct bilateral communication without the filter of Western values. 

China-Africa Think Tanks Forum

The China-Africa Think Tank Forum (CATTF) has published the results of its 2nd meeting that took place in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, on 12-13 October 2012.

Although the 191 page document contains a fair amount of fluff, beginning on page 49 it contains the summaries of 50 presentations by African, Chinese and European scholars.  The papers cover an enormous variety of topics.  They are heavy on security issues.  The Horn of Africa (especially Sudan and Ethiopia), North Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia are well represented in the papers.

   

African Research on China and Chinese Research on Africa

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) published earlier this year a useful guide to organizations in Africa doing research on China and those in China doing research on Africa. SSRC is an independent, nonprofit, international organization based in New York. The authors of the report, Tatiana Carayannis and Nathaniel Olin, are with the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum, a program of the SSRC.

The analysis describes the following African institutions engaged in China studies: African Economic Research Consortium, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, the South African Institute of International Affairs at the University of Witwatersrand.

It discusses the following Chinese institutions engaged in Africa studies: Development Research Center of the State Council, China Institute for Contemporary International Relations, China Institute of International Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, International Poverty Reduction Center in China, School of International Relations and Political Science at Tongji University and the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.

The study also includes a very short list of Western institutions engaged in China-Africa research programs and Confucius Institutes in Africa.

To access the document, click here.