China-Africa Economic Cooperation: Development Assistance and Economic Interests

There has been an increasing engagement between China and Africa in recent years as reflected by the level of aid, trade and investment flows. Building on the data available on China’s development assistance flows into Africa together with China’s FDI stocks as a ‘strategic interest variable’ gives an insight into the considerations given to the allocation of development financing. The findings based on project financing across a sample of twenty countries used as a proxy of China’s bilateral engagement turnover indicate a significant relationship with FDI