China’s territorial issues related to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea are becoming increasingly prominent topics of discussion when Chinese ambassadors engage with African governments and media.

While these so-called “core interests” have always been a part of the Chinese diplomatic dialogue in Africa, they seem to be generating more visibility lately as Beijing faces criticism for the internment of millions of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, the imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong, and more recently, U.S. challenges to China’s dominance in the contested South China Sea. The One China Policy related to Taiwan is also an increasingly popular theme.