Acclaimed China-Africa scholar, Lina Benabdalla, an assistant professor at Wake Forest University in the U.S., reflected on Twitter about how the upcoming FOCAC ministerial conference will be different than previous leadership summits. The following is a lightly edited transcript of her four-part thread on Twitter:

FOCAC 2012 (Beijing) was also held at the ministerial level. 2015 (in South Africa) was the first time FOCAC was both hosted in Africa and held at the summit level. 2018 (in China) was also held at the summit level (along with FOCAC 2006 which was simultaneously ministerial and summit).