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U.S.-Africa Summit Strengthened Relationship but Didn’t Revolutionize It

As the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit wraps up today, one is struck by a paradox: while several notable new deals were announced, the summit as a whole has been slightly underwhelming.  The United States seemed determined to combat two interrelated narratives. First, ...

Chinese State Media Strident on Summit

While the Chinese public seems disinterested in the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit, China’s state media is rolling out the invective.  The state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times published two highly negative articles dismissing the summit. In ...

African Media Largely Indifferent to Summit

The U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit has drawn very little media attention in Africa. The coverage that appeared was rehashed copy from international news agencies. Very few publications focused on how the outcomes will affect their home countries. This lack of domestic framing ...

Chinese Social Media Largely Ignores U.S.-Africa Summit

While the state media reaction in China to the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit has been predictably negative, Chinese social media has largely ignored the event completely.  China Global South Project China editor Han Zhen wrote: “Nowadays, most Chinese media outlets are very ...

Chinese Press: The U.S.-Africa Summit is All About China

The Chinese press and think tank coverage of the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit is echoing the geopolitics-focused response from the Foreign Ministry. China’s state-owned nationalist tabloid Global Times set the tone by arguing that the summit is a continuation of Trump-era “America First’ approach, saying that “whether the ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

2026: Africa-China Relations in a World Shaped by North-South Geopolitics

When talking about Africa–China relations, one is always moving along a sliding scale. There are myriad interactions with Chinese entities that concern only individual African countries, segueing into trends affecting the whole continent and sliding further into global dynamics shaping the developing world, of which Africa is the heart.

The Africa-China relationship is its own thing, but Africa’s fate can’t easily be separated from factors affecting the wider Global South, ...

Prominent Africa Scholar Shapes Beijing’s Summit Talking Points

Chinese experts play a key role in shaping Beijing’s messaging on the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit. Key among them is He Wenping, a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She is one of the most prominent Africa ...

Global Coverage Zeroes In On Weak U.S.-Africa Engagement

Global coverage of the U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit pointed out how little energy has been invested in the relationship in contrast to China's ongoing diplomatic outreach. Kate Fisher, a correspondent for Singapore's Channel New Asia, summed it up: “President Biden is yet ...

With China on the Minds of Many in DC, U.S.-Africa Summit Gets Underway

Under mounting pressure to rival China's engagement in Africa, the White House wants to make it very clear that the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit that begins on Tuesday will be very different than what it's done in the past. Traditionally, the U.S. has ...

China’s Party-run Media, Scholars Dismiss U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit

While U.S. officials have sought to downplay competition with China in Africa ahead of this week's leaders summit in Washington, D.C., Chinese scholars and Communist Party-run media, on the other hand, are eager to draw comparisons between how the two powers engage with the continent.

Contrasting U.S. and Chinese Diplomatic Styles on Full Display This Week

It's rare for the U.S. and China to host major regional summits less than a week apart. But with the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit set to get underway in Washington, D.C., just a few days after the China-Arab Summit concluded in Riyadh, ...

Media Frustrates White House Efforts to Avoid Making This Week’s Africa Summit About China

Senior African policy officials in the White House and State Department have been adamant that this week's African leaders summit is about Africa... not China. But the international news media doesn't appear to see it that way -- framing the story as the latest installment of the ...

Washington and Beijing have Very Different Takes On Next Week’s U.S.-Africa Summit

Preparations are ramping up for next week’s U.S.-Africa leaders’ summit. 13-15 December will see leaders from 49 countries, as well as numerous businesspeople, civil society envoys, and journalists descending on Washington DC to attend the first such event since the Obama era.
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