The China Monitor - The Centre for Chinese Studies

The China MonitorJanuary 2009EditorialA new body of research is being written on China’s engagement and growingpresence in Africa, but so little is known of the presence and role of Africansliving in China. The Centre for Chinese Studies seeks to tackle this subject ingreater depth in the coming months.Booming trade between China and Africa is also being driven by African tradersresident in China who have set up businesses in China’s major manufacturingand procurements centres – in particular in the cities of Guangzhou and Yiwu.China’s expanding exports to Africa are often assumed to be driven by tiedpurchasing of Chinese equipment by way of government-to-governmentinvestment deals or through the growing Chinese diaspora network in Africa.This is clearly not entirely the case.Most Africans in China are from either West Africa or the Maghreb region. TheChinese government’s training programs for African civil servants are alsoboosting the numbers – the African community in China may now even amountto a quarter of a million. These are indeed sizeable and even surprisingnumbers. African private entrepreneurs are perhaps playing a greater role inChina-Africa commerce than previously known. China-Africa relations are notsolely the domain of politicians after all!Dr Martyn J. DaviesExecutive Director, Centre for Chinese Studies© Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Stellenbosch; All Rights Reserved3