The initiatives of the China in Africa have long been under scrutiny by Beijing's rivals in the West, who are losing political influence on the continent. Critics - notably the USA - are quick to portray this partnership as primarily beneficial to China, to the detriment of African countries. However, experts say that things are far from simple.
Many also accuse Western countries of predatory behaviour on the continent, pointing to their colonial legacies and the fact that lenders such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are accused of exploiting African nations through loans. Many also argue that Beijing's investments have helped Africa modernize and created thousands of jobs.
"This narrative [of China exploiting Africa] makes sense to [Western countries] because of their declining influence in Africa," said Jana de Kluvier, a researcher specializing in China-Africa relations at the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS). "But it obscures much of the nuance in the very multifaceted relationship."
A love story of urbanization
For more than a decade, China has been Africa's biggest trading partner. It is also the continent's biggest creditor, injecting over $170 billion in loans and credits into almost 54 nations. For China, the benefits lie in the diplomatic influence it is sure to command at the United Nations, and with which it can counter its US-led Western rivals, said de Kluvier.
Beijing's mega-investments in infrastructure in Africa are also an integral part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The ambitious project, launched in 2013, aims to connect China to the rest of Asia, Africa and Europe via a network of ports, railways and roads. China has also invested in power generation and telecommunications.
Many African cities can now boast new railroads, bridges and highways financed or built by China. This has facilitated movement and connectivity in many countries, enabling governments to move away from colonial-era railroads that had mostly become obsolete and non-functional. The massive construction work required also offered employment opportunities.
In Kenya, the Nairobi-Mombasa railway linked the two major cities for the first time in 2017, halving the 10-hour journey time by road. Over 25,000 Kenyans were employed to complete it. The Nigeria has secured deepwater ports in Lagos and Gabon's Port Gentil, Ethiopia has secured the Hawassa garment manufacturing industrial park - the list goes on.
Although China as a country is not comparable to Africa as a continent, both entities share a common history of needing to develop rapidly and reduce poverty levels, Hong Kong-based urban economist Astrid RN Haas told Al Jazeera.
China's urbanization trajectory has been the fastest in the world, lifting 800 million people out of poverty in 40 years. African countries are urbanizing even faster, and the African Union wants all major cities to be connected by rail by 2063.
"The way China harnessed productivity was through connectivity, linking inland regions to major cities," said Haas, who is Austrian-Ugandan. "So, for African countries, China is really the one to look to as an example."
China's investment offers are attractive to African countries because they often materialize more quickly than Western promises. They are also not perceived through an "aid prism" and are not weighed down by fiscal conditions or even "sermons", as is often the case with loans from Western institutions, writes Cobus van Staden, a South African researcher with the China Global South Project.
Western countries have reduced their funding for certain countries due to issues such as elections or LGBTQ legislation. Beijing, on the other hand, has positioned itself as an "equal", a Global South country also sidelined by the imperial West, notes van Staden.
White elephants
Trade between China and Africa is heavily in Beijing's favor. African imports from China amounted to $173 billion in 2023, but combined exports to the Asian country reached $109 billion, according to the US-based Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Although China is Africa's biggest trading partner, for China, the continent accounts for just 4.7 % of its global trade, he noted.
That said, experts say that there are aspects of the China-Africa relationship that benefit Beijing more when it comes to negotiating agreements.
On the one hand, African countries negotiate on a bilateral basis, one by one, and not as a coherent front, weakening their ability to negotiate collectively, and even leading them to compete with each other for Chinese investment.
De Kluiver of ISS said that often, "there is very little transparency about many of these investments", making it difficult to determine whether China is delivering on its promises, or whether new commitments are being added to old ones.
Then there are the white elephant projects. Some constructions require millions of dollars, but don't generate enough returns to repay the loans that financed them, making them unproductive.
An example might be Uganda, where Chinese loans have partly contributed to the construction of the Kampala-Entebbe highway, which terminates at Entebbe international airport. The toll highway is often deserted, as Kampala residents consider it too expensive.
When these loans cannot be repaid, African countries are faced with "debt diplomacy" with China, where they have to exchange natural resources such as mines or ports, or allow Beijing to maintain troops on their soil.
Kenya has been accused of pawning off its port of Mombasa after failing to repay Chinese loans for the Nairobi-Mombasa railroad - something Nairobi has denied.
However, Haas, the economist, said that even these projects are a symptom of rapid development, similar to what China experienced in the 1990s and 2000s, when it rushed to build modern infrastructure at lightning speed.
"It's an ex post facto assessment... You can always say there are white elephants in China, or even in Europe or the US," she said. "That's what happens when you develop infrastructure quickly - but I think if you look over the long term, most of these projects have paid off."
Autonomy for African countries
Meanwhile, many Chinese projects, such as EACOP, are supported by private Chinese banks and other financial institutions.
This has reinforced calls from Ugandan protesters for these banks, such as Bank of China and Bank of Communications, to withdraw their financial support for controversial projects. BankTrack, a global coalition of NGOs tracking project finance, has estimated that $11 billion has been injected by these banks into controversial projects in Africa and elsewhere.
On the other hand, it could also show that African countries are not Beijing's puppets, nor are they content simply to receive Chinese aid without exercising their own power. Sometimes, they can even resist Beijing's attempts to set up new projects in their countries.
"In many cases, Africa has a level of autonomy that China's critics overlook," said van Staden. "African countries don't receive funds from China and don't stop there. Often, these countries have a huge impact on the direction these projects take."
In 2021, Nigeria suspended Chinese plans to build a huge e-commerce marketplace, which would have attracted Chinese suppliers of lower-quality products to Africa's most populous country.
However, the relationship has made progress in some areas. Zimbabwe has introduced a "return on contract" policy for its cooperation with China, meaning that each project must demonstrate that it will benefit both parties. Since the announcement of this policy, analysts believe that the country has taken a more autonomous stance on its loans.
With Al Jazeera
