Investments for Influence? China’s Growing Role in Africa

Since the mid-90s China has become Africa’s largest trading partner as well as its largest bilateral creditor through its Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) that funds infrastructure, mining, and energy development projects. Chinese FDI’s peaked in 2022 at $5 billion and these projects have helped to modernize many countries, but at what cost? BRI has helped make China a major power on the continent. It also led to numerous debt crises for recipients of Chinese investments. 

Join us for a conversation with Ambassador Jendayi Frazer, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Dr. Deborah Brautigam, the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Political Economy and Director of the China Africa Research Initiative at John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to look at the intensifying geopolitical and economic competition between the United States and China vying for influences and resources in the fast-growing economies across Africa. 

About our Speakers

Jendayi E. Frazer is an adjunct senior fellow for Africa studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She is also the president and chief executive officer of 50 Ventures, a private consulting and investment company that seeks to elevate Africa's global standing by investing in its governance, education, enterprise, and stability sectors.

From 2009 to 2014, Frazer was a distinguished professor at Carnegie Mellon University, where she was on the faculty of Heinz College’s School of Public Policy and Management. Her research focused on strengthening regional security cooperation and African economic and political integration. She was also the director of Carnegie Mellon's Center for International Policy and Innovation (CIPI), where she focused on utilizing technology and applying innovative solutions to core development and governance issues in Africa. She is the author of and contributor to several articles, journals, and books and was the co-editor of Preventing Electoral Violence in Africa (2011), which grew out of her work with CIPI.

Before her time at Carnegie Mellon University, Frazer served as the U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 2005 to 2009. She was special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council from 2001 to 2004 when she was sworn in as the first woman U.S. ambassador to South Africa. She previously served in government from 1998 to 1999 as a CFR international affairs fellow, first at the Pentagon as a political-military planner with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, working on West Africa during Nigeria’s transition to civilian rule, and then as director for African affairs at the National Security Council, working on Central and East Africa. Frazer was also an assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and assistant professor at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies.

She has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award bestowed by the secretary of state, in recognition of her public service. In 2010, she was given the distinction of Dame Grand Commander in the Humane Order of African Redemption by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. She was also honored with the 2008 Distinguished Leadership Award from Boston University's African Presidential Archives and Research Center.

Dr. Deborah Brautigam is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Political Economy and Director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

Her recent books include The Dragon’s Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (OUP, 2010) and Will Africa Feed China? (OUP, 2015). Before joining SAIS in 2012, she taught at Columbia University and American University. Dr. Bräutigam’s teaching and research focus on international development strategies, governance, and foreign aid.

She has twice won the Fulbright research award and is a recipient of fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and research grants from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the UK Centre for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR).

She has served as a consultant for Transparency International, the United Nations, the World Bank, DFID, GIZ, DANIDA, the African Development Bank, and USAID, and has provided commentary to the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Guardian, CNN, NPR, Al-Jazeera, VOA, CCTV, and MSNBC. Dr. Bräutigam has been a visiting scholar at the World Bank, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and advised more than a dozen governments on China-Africa relations. Her PhD is from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.

About our Moderator

Dr. Spencer Cohen is principal and founder of High Peak Strategy LLC, an economics and research consulting firm based in Seattle, Washington specializing in regional economic analysis, international trade research, and U.S.-China relations. High Peak Strategy LLC works with a diverse range of clients, including ports, economic development organizations, engineering firms, industry and trade associations, and local governments.

Spencer brings 14 years’ experience in consulting, policy, and economic research. He is a 2021-2023 Public Intellectuals Program fellow with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and affiliate professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Washington.

Spencer is a recognized expert on regional economic analysis, port economic impacts, U.S.-China trade and economic relations, China’s economy, industry clusters, and international trade. Dr. Cohen is a frequent public speaker on issues relating to U.S.-China relations, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, international trade, industry impact analysis, and regional economic trends. He has written opinion pieces in the South China Morning Post, The Daily Guardian (India), Puget Sound Business Journal, and Seattle Business Magazine. He has been a presenter on U.S.-China relations, trade policy, and the Belt and Road Initiative to various audiences, including the U.S. Heartland China Association and Washington State China Relations Council.

Dr. Cohen has a PhD in economic geography from the University of Washington, where his research examined land markets and local government finance in China. His research entailed intensive use of Chinese language government documents and reports, academic research, and news outlets. He has advanced fluency in Mandarin Chinese (spoken and reading). He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and actively involved with the Washington State China Relations Council.

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