In 2024, the China in the World (CITW) Network brought its annual summit to the African region for the very first time. Held from November 23 to 25 in Johannesburg, South Africa, the summit gathered more than 150 participants. This milestone event marked not only a geographic expansion, but also a symbolic act of transcontinental solidarity, reflecting the global civic community’s steadfast commitment to resisting authoritarian expansion.

Hosting the CITW annual summit in Africa for the first time also shaped the agenda to emphasize African perspectives and on-the-ground experience. Many sessions focused on China’s economic activities, digital infrastructure, media narratives, and governance challenges in African countries, offering rich insights and reflections. At the same time, the CITW Network’s signature global lens remained central to the program design, with participants from the Americas, Asia, and Europe contributing cross-regional comparisons and strategic exchange. The summit thus balanced local depth with global breadth, showcasing CITW’s unique strength as a truly transcontinental network.

We extend our sincere gratitude to all those who overcame visa restrictions, resource limitations, and long travel distances to join us in person. Your presence made this historic convening possible and helped establish it as a meaningful milestone in the global conversation, collaboration, and reflection on the PRC’s influence.

We have compiled and uploaded recordings of selected sessions with the speaker's approval. We warmly invite you and your colleagues to visit our YouTube channel, revisit key moments, and share these valuable insights to continue amplifying their impact. Cheers!

China Index 2024 Panel: The Regional Results of Africa

The China Index 2024 Africa panel unveiled regional findings highlighting the breadth and depth of PRC influence across African countries. The panel brought together researchers who assessed influence vectors in over a dozen African countries, measuring PRC’s engagement across domains such as media, economy, foreign policy, technology, military, and academia.

Key findings revealed increased PRC influence in countries like Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia. In Nigeria, PRC-linked military cooperation, surveillance infrastructure, and the presence of a PRC overseas police station have been documented. Nigerian media also shows signs of alignment with pro-PRC narratives, including participation in PRC-sponsored trainings, partnerships with PRC media outlets, and occasional emotive coverage portraying bilateral ties positively. Kenya’s media sector features extensive PRC involvement, with major broadcasters, content partnerships, and regular journalist exchanges. Meanwhile, military cooperation with the PRC has expanded, including equipment provision, training programs, and participation in joint security forums.

Senegal’s ties with the PRC were upgraded to a ‘strategic partnership’ in 2018, with expanded telecom and infrastructure agreements (notably involving Huawei and smart city projects). The relationship is regularly described in official statements as close and mutually beneficial, and media cooperation is significant, particularly via content-sharing agreements with PRC state outlets. Ethiopia, meanwhile, saw deepening ties in infrastructure (e.g., Huawei’s 5G involvement) and military arms supply during the Tigray conflict. South Africa, under Chinese diplomatic pressure, downgraded Taiwan’s informal embassy and signed cooperation agreements across multiple sectors.

The second half of the panel spotlighted countries like Ghana, Tanzania, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia. Researchers observed a rise in PRC-led training for diplomats, civil servants, and journalists, which represents a long-term influence strategy. PRC development assistance, digital infrastructure investment, and military partnerships were common across these states. Zambia, once pro-PRC, now exhibits skepticism under new leadership, although debt entanglement persists.

A recurring concern raised by panelists was the lack of scrutiny and awareness among African political elites, who often accept the PRC’s “anti-colonial” framing uncritically. Panelists also noted a shift toward PRC’s model of “decolonial communication,” with increasing ideological and media alignment. While direct election interference was minimal, panelists warned of growing influence over public institutions and political norms, calling for stronger local oversight and media resilience.

BRICS Panel: Shifting Power Dynamics: Navigating the Rise of BRICS and Its Impact on Global Governance

The BRICS Panel brought together scholars and analysts from Russia, India, South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, and beyond to unpack the coalition’s evolving role in global governance. While BRICS, now expanded to nine members at the time of the forum in late November 2024 (and ten as of June 2025), represents nearly half of the world’s population and a growing share of global GDP and trade, the panel emphasized that the bloc’s internal divergences limit its coherence as a transformative force.

Panelists agreed that BRICS presents an attractive platform for emerging economies to counterbalance Western-led institutions, but motivations for membership vary widely. Russia sees BRICS as a geopolitical shield amid sanctions, promoting digital sovereignty and alternative financial systems like BRICS Pay. The PRC and Russia also drive narratives around de-dollarization and non-Western governance models, often amplifying state control and censorship.

India, in contrast, uses BRICS pragmatically, leveraging it to expand economic markets while distancing itself from the bloc’s anti-West rhetoric and avoiding support for the PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative. India’s participation aims to showcase a third path in global leadership beyond the US-PRC rivalry.

From a media lens, South Africa’s experience illustrated the PRC and Russia’s growing influence through state media partnerships, digital infrastructure investments, and disinformation laundering via local outlets. However, scholars questioned the actual effectiveness of this influence, citing rising public skepticism and fragmented media systems within BRICS countries.

Panelists from Malaysia and Indonesia highlighted how domestic political dynamics, such as economic needs, elections, and identity as non-aligned states, drive their pursuit of BRICS membership. They cautioned that joining BRICS does not equate to ideological alignment, and the bloc remains a “loose” coalition with minimal obligations.

In conclusion, BRICS is less a unified alliance than a multipolar platform where member states pursue diverse, sometimes conflicting, national interests. Its ability to reshape global governance depends on whether it can evolve from a pragmatic forum into a cohesive policy actor.

Effects on the Environment by the Chinese Presence and Economic Activities in Africa

Presenter: Mary Mukoma

In recent years, trade and economic cooperation between China and Africa have been increasing. Africa has abundant resources, a large population and potential markets while China has accumulated rich experience and mature technologies in the fields of industry, agriculture and infrastructure construction, leaving a negative environmental footprint in Africa.

‘Dams are development’ or the perils of imagined futures? Examining the impacts of Chinese-backed dams in Africa

**Virtual Presentation
Presenter: Abdou Rahim Lema

Lema aims to present the results of his research on how the imagined futures of Chinese-backed dam projects in Africa that never came to fruition serve as a logic of continuity and accumulation of grievances that intensify community conflicts in Sudan and Ghana.

Africa-Americas Forum on China-Debrief

**Virtual Presentation
Presenter: Leland Lazarus & Paul Nantulya

The FIU Gordon Institute convened a roundtable as a follow-up to the second annual Africa-Americas Forum on China. The forum brought together African, Latin American, and Caribbean experts to share best practices on how to address the PRC’s growing malign influence in their respective regions.

Dataphyte Foreign Influence Index (DFII): Balance and Benignity of Influence Metrics

Presenter: Oluseyi Olufemi

The DFII focuses on the balance and benignity of the influence of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on countries, beginning with Nigeria. Benignity measures how beneficial or injurious the five’s influence is to other countries’ sovereignty, stability, democratic norms, and civil liberties. Existing indexes focus only on the influence of China and the US. To bridge this gap, Dataphyte created a foreign influence index that estimates balance and determines benignity. Preliminary results show China has a significant economic and cultural influence on Nigeria. China and the UK are prominent in diplomatic engagements. France leads in security activities. The UK exerts the most balanced set of influences, followed by the USA. China and Russia have the least balanced influences. China and Russia have less benign influences, while the UK, USA, and France were more benign influences on the country’s sovereignty and stability.

China-Indonesia Provincial Index: Understanding Chinese Influence in Indonesian Provinces

Presenter: Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat

The China-Indonesia Provincial Index offers a detailed assessment of Chinese influence across Indonesian provinces, using Doublethink Lab’s ChinaIndex framework. The study evaluates indicators spanning academia, media, foreign policy, economy, local politics, society, law enforcement, and technology. Key findings reveal that Java Island, notably Jakarta, Central Java, and West Java, exhibits substantial Chinese engagement. North Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, and North Maluku show moderate influence. Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara present varied levels of engagement. Jakarta and Yogyakarta lead in academic collaborations. West Nusa Tenggara and Jakarta show significant media influence. Central Java scores 100% in economic engagement. Local political influence is notable in Central Java and Yogyakarta. Societal and technological impacts are prominent in West Nusa Tenggara and Jakarta.

Chinese Malign Influence and Corrosion of Democracy: An Assessment of Chinese Interference in Tanzania

Presenter: Nicodemus Minde

The research Chinese Malign Influence and Corrosion of Democracy: An Assessment of Chinese Interference in Tanzania offers a detailed analysis of China’s growing influence in Tanzania and its possible effects on democratic values and governance.

One GNU, One China: How South Africa’s Opposition Supports Pro-China Narratives

Presenter: Chris Roper

One GNU, One China: a case study of how South Africa’s official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has been co-opted into a show of support for the PRC’s One China narrative, through a series of skewed media reports in local media, as well as PRC state media. The DA has taken up ministerial positions in a new Government of National Unity (GNU), most notably with its leader becoming Minister of Agriculture. As a result, a party that has been critical of China is now being used to bolster pro-China narratives.

#ChinaMustExplain: A Twitter Analysis of Stigmatisation of Africans in China

Presenter: Emeka Umejei

This study examines African political actors’ framing of the #ChinaMustExplain campaign on X. The findings identified three categories of African political actors: political appointees, opposition politicians, and elected political office holders, whose messaging was in three variants. The campaign went viral on social media, gained global attention, and filtered into the world of geopolitics and diplomacy. It attracted a lot of criticism against the Chinese for treating Africans with scorn despite the continent’s support for China. The incident generated tension in the ‘upstairs’ dimension, described as government-to-government engagements in China-Africa relations. This study examines the implications of a ruptured ‘upstairs’ dimension for China-Africa relations.

Disappearing Narratives: Analyzing the Decline of Chinese Media Coverage in Zambian Mainstream Media

Presenter: Greg Gondwe

This study investigates the decline in Chinese media coverage in Zambia following the 2017 ZNBC-TopStar partnership. The partnership involved a digital upgrade funded by a £212 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China and transferred 60% of ZNBC’s operations to TopStar for 25 years. A study revealed a peak in positive coverage between 2017 and 2018. By 2022, a significant decline in Chinese-related stories in mainstream media emerged. In contrast, social media has continued to report on Chinese engagements with Zambians, often highlighting human rights issues. The study combines content analysis of traditional media with social media analysis to understand shifts in narrative focus and the implications for Zambia’s media landscape.

China Narratives And Influences in Nigeria Print And Online Newspaper Industry Since May 29, 2023

Presenter: Armsfree Ajanaku

Nigeria’s print and online newspaper industry is described as a marketplace of ideas, allowing different domestic and foreign interests to project their influence. This lightning talk focuses on the different strands of narratives in the Nigerian print and online newspaper space. The objective is to understand the different kinds of narratives and how they contribute to the projection of Chinese influence within the Nigerian media space. The lightning talk will objectively analyze the implications of the different kinds of narratives about China for local, regional and global issues in the context of development or human rights discourses. The focus is on the period since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu became Nigeria’s President in May 2023. Key questions include how China influence and other narratives in the Nigerian media have shaped bilateral relations, the pressure points of those issues and the under-reported matters not reflected in the Nigerian newspaper and online spaces.

Closing Keynote | CITW 2024 Summit

Presenter: Cynthia Afi Dzudzor

The closing ceremony began with a keynote speech by Cynthia Dzudzor, Senior Programmes Officer at Parliamentary Network Africa. Drawing from her experience promoting transparency and accountability across African parliaments, Dzudzor shared valuable lessons on fostering open governance and empowering parliamentary institutions. She also highlighted PNAfrica’s innovative tools, such as the Open Parliament Index, and discussed future opportunities for strengthening democratic values across the continent.

Further reading

• CITW 2023 in Taipei: Uniting to Counter Evolving PRC Threats
• CITW 2022 Open Sessions Introduction