The link between China and Africa has clearly strengthened since the 2000s. A strategy of influence driven by economic and geopolitical interests, based on Xi Jinping's great expansion project of the "new silk roads" . Chinese appetite was aimed at African subsoils, full of oil and minerals, essential to run its factories. To take advantage of this El Dorado, it was necessary to build infrastructure (roads, bridges, railways, etc.) which African states are sorely lacking. The Chinese arrived with turnkey solutions, providing engineering, works and financing via large public institutions such as the Development Bank of China (CDB) or the Eximbank Import-Export Bank, in passing beating Western companies. .
"China was more inclined to lend to secure its supplies,"
confirms Cécile Valadier, of the French Development Agency (AFD).
Read also: Australia is no longer afraid to get angry with China
Between 2000 and 2019, the commitments
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