China in Africa: April 2025
Ruto in Beijing: From April 22 to 26, Kenyan President William Ruto traveled to Beijing for the third time since taking office in 2022, where he embarked on a five-day state visit aimed at deepening the strategic partnership between the two countries. Ruto expressed his country’s interest in learning from “China’s remarkable journey of transformation in governance, economic development, and global leadership,” and thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for tens of millions of dollars in support for health, education, and disaster relief, as well as for the planned construction of a new complex for Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the visit, an emphasis was placed on revitalizing large-scale infrastructure initiatives. The two governments reportedly agreed on implementing “strategic connectivity projects,” including extending the stalled Standard Gauge Railway between the Kenyan towns Naivasha and Malaba, dualizing the Nairobi-Nakuru-Mau Summit-Malaba Highway, creating the Kiambu-Northern Bypass and the Eldoret Bypass, and constructing the Nithi Bridge, all to “boost Kenya’s position as a regional logistics hub and enhance export competitiveness.” The projects will be financed by both parties, with 30 percent from the Kenyan government, 40 percent from a public-private partnership between Chinese and Kenyan banks, and the last 30 from a concessional Chinese loan.
During the Kenya-China Private Sector Roundtable and Business Forum, Ruto agreed on a $1 billion cooperation package with China that is expected to create twenty-eight thousand jobs across the country, focusing on accelerating key development projects under Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. Africanews reports that the agreements will channel approximately $950 million into priority sectors, including $320 million in manufacturing, $430 million in agriculture, and $230 million in tourism. Weighty deals made include a $150 million investment from construction-and-engineering firm China Wu Yi Co., Ltd.; a $400 million deal with Zonken Group (Biotech Co., Ltd. and Zonken Environmental Technology, Ltd.), which will conduct large-scale aloe cultivation, processing, and exporting from Baringo County, Kenya; and a $230 million deal made with Hunan Conference Exhibition Group. Ruto also inaugurated the Kenya Tea Trade Center in Fujian Province, indicating an interest in targeting China as a primary export destination, and signed a Framework Agreement on Economic Partnership for Shared Development, which aims to expand market access for Kenyan exports, such as avocado, coffee, macadamia, tea, and other agricultural products.
Ruto, Xi, Premier Li Qiang, and Chairman Zhao Leji of the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress held discussions on the importance of using platforms such as the Joint Committee on Trade, Investment, Economic, and Technical Cooperation and the China-Kenya Working Group to promote trade and investment; sustainable collaboration in agriculture, education, poverty reduction, food security, green development, and environmental protection; cooperation in critical emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the digital economy, and the development of smart cities, including through China’s Global AI Governance Initiative and Global Initiative on Data Security; and strengthening security coordination in defense, counterterrorism, joint training, and the fight against myriad proliferating crimes.
Chinese Economic Might in Nigeria: The Nigerian government started a new phase of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI), also referred to as the Siemens project, when a $328 million engineering, procurement, construction, and financing contract was signed between FGN Power Company, its special purpose vehicle, and China Machinery Engineering Corporation. The PPI is a strategic approach to solving Nigeria’s unreliable and inadequate supply of electricity. Mid-month, conglomerate China National Machinery Industry Co., Ltd. (SINOMACH) and Nigeria’s National Sugar Development Council signed a $1 billion memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a large-scale sugarcane cultivation and processing project. Per the MoU, SINOMACH will construct a sugarcane plantation and processing plant that initially produces one hundred thousand metric tons of sugar annually and eventually produces one million. SINOMACH signed another deal in Nigeria later in the month, that one with Chart & Capstone Integrated, Ltd. The financial and technical cooperation agreement provides that SINOMACH will develop a $2.5 billion steel production plant that operates across Nigeria’s Kogi and Delta states, enhancing the localization of steel production, supporting industrial expansion, and reducing reliance on imports.
Other Economic Deals on the Continent: During the Algerian-Chinese Business Forum on Investment, eight agreements were signed between Algerian and Chinese companies, largely pertaining to industrial and agricultural investment. Algeria’s national railway operator, the National Company of Railway Transport, and China’s Genertec China National Technical Import and Export Corporation, a subsidiary of CRRC Co., Ltd., will jointly establish an Algeria-based complex that specializes in the design, engineering, and manufacturing of railway transport equipment. Another agreement mandates that Chinese vehicle manufacturer Jetour will build a $105 million automotive plant with Algerian foundry company FONDAL, a subsidiary of the National Steel Company, to produce 270,000 vehicles over five years. Other agreements target the development of strategic crops in Algeria and the creation of manufacturing containers for transporting raw materials and finished products by land and sea. Halfway across the continent, the Kenyan government initiated its termination of a €1.3 billion highway expansion deal with a French-led consortium. The project, aiming to upgrade 140 kilometers of single-lane roadway into a multilane highway linking the Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Nakuru, will reportedly be reassigned to a Chinese firm, according to Reuters.
Sustainability Investment: Early in the month, the governors of thirty-six Nigerian states signed an MoU with China to boost renewable energy and end the energy crisis in Nigeria. According to Gombe State Governor and Northern Governors’ Forum Chairman Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya, the MoU signals a critical step in strengthening the institutional framework for Nigerian subnational energy governance through “fostering energy security, efficiency, and economic development” across the included states. Similarly, South Africa’s Nuclear Energy Corporation signed an MoU with China’s National Nuclear Corporation to explore closer cooperation in nuclear technology, including in the nuclear fuel cycle, small modular reactors, and other areas. In Algeria, electronics and telecommunications conglomerate Elec El Djazaïr is reportedly set to sign an agreement with Chinese solar manufacturer LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd., which will aim to produce a state-of-the-art industrial unit dedicated to manufacturing high-efficiency solar photovoltaic panels.
Chinese-Ghanaian Mining Prospects: In Ghana’s capital city, Accra, several leading Chinese mining companies established the Association of China-Ghana Mining (ACGM) to deepen cooperation between Chinese and Ghanaian mining enterprises, support investment, and promote technological synergy through responsible industry practices. The ACGM will be guided by five key functions: investment facilitation, technology transfer, compliance guidance, knowledge hub, capacity-building, and dispute mediation. Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Tong Defa remarked on the ability of the ACGM to better integrate Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises into the local market and enhance cooperation, in turn creating more jobs in host communities, increasing the value of minerals, and ensuring a balance between economic growth, ecological protection, and social equity for mutual prosperity. Ghana’s Minister for Lands and Natural Resources Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah echoed those sentiments, noting that through structured cooperation, “[China and Ghana] can unlock new opportunities while ensuring that mining activities align with Ghana’s broader development and sustainable goals.”
Chinese-Egyptian Military Drills: Mid-month, China and Egypt launched joint military drills between their air forces in Egypt’s airspace, termed Eagles of Civilization 2025. The eighteen-day drills mark the first joint military training between the Chinese and Egyptian militaries, according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense. On Facebook, an Egyptian armed-forces spokesperson outlined the drills in greater detail, saying that the drills are being conducted between “a number of multi-role fighter aircraft of various models . . . to unify combat concepts between the two sides through a series of theoretical and practical lectures,” and that the training also involves “joint aerial sorties, planning exercises, and simulated air combat management operations to exchange expertise and enhance the skills of the participating forces.” The training represents “a new starting point and significant milestone in military cooperation between the two countries,” according to the Chinese Air Force, and increases Egypt’s capacity to assert itself as a major regional player among the Arab nations and North Africa amid growing regional turbulence in Libya, Sudan, and the Gaza Strip.
African Pushback Against China: Signs of anti-Chinese sentiment were seen across several African countries, including in Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, and Nigeria. In Guinea-Bissau, several hundred women protesters attacked a Chinese-run zircon mining site in the country’s northwest, setting fire to equipment. One of the women cited as the driving motivation the authorities’ failure to respond to their complaints that the activity was damaging their farms and the local environment. Malawian police arrested two Chinese nationals for trespassing on the grounds of the Kangankunde Rare Earths Project, where they were conducting “unauthorized geological sampling” of one of the world’s largest undeveloped—and not Chinese-controlled—rare earth deposits. Nigeria’s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, announced in late April that a court ordered the seizure of 73 Lagos properties linked to Chinese nationals suspected of internet fraud and cyberterrorism, including 1,596 computers.
Giulio Bianco contributed to the research for this article.
