Eighteen years after the first ground-breaking Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC, 2000), launched to officialise and institutionalize China’s relations with Africa, Beijing hosted – on 2-4 September 2018 - 50+ African heads of state/government and international actors during the 7th event of the series. Throughout these past 18 years, the global status and role of China and individual African countries changed dramatically.
Every three years, the addition of new countries at FOCAC (this year it was Burkina Faso, The Gambia, and Sao Tome and Principe), the upgrading of existing relationships, and the announcements of new financing commitments that dwarf those of other donors highlight the exponential growth in China-Africa relations and the growing importance of China in the geopolitics of development. This is defined as the system and processes by which norms of and approaches to development aid are negotiated between states at the global level.