Folashade Soule/ Edem E Selormey

IT’S been 20 years since the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation was first held. Another summit is planned for September 2021 in Dakar, Senegal. Meanwhile, Chinese and African officials are reviewing and reflecting on their two-decade relationship.

China’s growing engagement with Africa has had a positive, albeit uneven, effect on Africa’s economic growth, economic diversification, job creation and connectivity.

China-Africa relations are mostly organised via government-to-government interactions. But the perceptions and wellbeing of ordinary people also need to be better considered.

In 2016, the pan-African research institute Afrobarometer published its first study on what Africans think of their governments’ engagement with China.

The study found that 63% of citizens surveyed from 36 countries generally had positive feelings towards China’s assistance. Some things that stood out were China’s infrastructure development and investment projects in Africa. On the flip side, perceptions of the quality of Chinese products tarnished the country’s image.

In 2019/20, Afrobarometer conducted another wave of surveys. Data from 18 countries — gathered face-to-face from a randomly selected sample of people in the language of the respondent’s choice — was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey questions covered how Africans perceive Chinese loans, debt repayments, and Africa’s reliance on China for its development.

Preliminary findings show that the majority of Africans still prefer the US over China as a development model, that China’s influence is still largely considered as positive for Africa and that Africans who are aware of Chinese loans feel that their countries have borrowed too much.

This is important because — as both African and Chinese leaders reflect on their engagement — these findings should allow them to build a forwardlooking relationship that better reflects