Twenty years ago China had an “Africa policy” but effectively lacked any meaningful engagement strategies at the national level. Now, the situation is very different and a generation of Chinese diplomats, many of whom have served multiple tours on the continent, have been instrumental in formulating country-specific foreign policies, especially in major countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Nigeria.

But China expertise in many African foreign ministries still remains somewhat sparse, which is surprising given that it’s been more than a decade that China has taken on an outsized role in many of these countries’ foreign policies.