As geopolitical tensions grow around issues like critical minerals and debt, Chinese discourse about development is increasingly becoming more geopolitical. A recent article by Wang Miao, an assistant professor at Harbin Institute of Technology, shows how China and the United States’s engagement with Africa is contrasted in China.

The United States and China spend billions of dollars annually on development finance initiatives in Africa. In fact, the continent is consistently the largest recipient of loans, humanitarian assistance and other financing from the two major powers, making this yet another vector in the escalating Sino-U.S. rivalry.