By Dinko Hanaan Dinko Being Chinese in Africa was the worst possible stigma for much of 2020. Africans vilified the Chinese, blaming them for the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, China was blaming Africans for the pandemic, too. Viral videos in March and April 2020 showed Chinese authorities forcibly evicting Africans from their homes in Guangzhou, China, for allegedly spreading COVID-19. These actions sparked an uproar on the continent. On social media, there were calls for deporting Chinese residents in Africa. The Twitter hashtag #DeportRacistChinese trended throughout the continent. Beijing sought to improve its pandemic-era image in Africa with “mask diplomacy,” an effort to supply the continent with vaccines, medical equipment and personnel — and it worked. As a doctoral student in geography who has written extensively about Africa, I recognise this “mask diplomacy” by China as part of its broader incursion into Africa that arose from the United States’ global retreat. China building Africa China’s rising economic influence in Africa has been in the works for two decades. In north Africa, China has spent US$11 billion since 2015 on the Trans-Maghreb highway —from the Western Sahara to Libya — that will connect 60 million of the region’s 100 million people. A section of the Maghreb highway in Algeria. The Algeria East-West Highway, a section of the Maghreb highway, built in part by a Chinese consortium. In east Africa, China built a network of roads and a rail line linking Ethiopia and Djibouti that has facilitated trade. In southern Africa, Namibia partnered with China and the African Development Bank in 2013 on a $300 billion port expansion. And Angola will be benefiting from a $4,5 billion Chinese-funded hydroelectric power plant. Similar infrastructure projects are in the works in west and central Africa. Some Western leaders have described Chinese financing mechanisms as debt traps, suggesting they saddle African countries with high debts while increasing China’s power in the region. But China’s willingness to fund Africa’s infrastructure has been viewed favorably by African leaders — especially as US trade with Africa has steadily declined for a decade. “They say China has lent too much to Africa,” Rwandan President Paul Kagame said in 2018, “but another perspective of the issue is that those criticising China on debt give too little, and Africa needs the funding to build capacity for development.” In 2002, US-Africa trade was nearly double China’s trade with the continent: $21 billion, compared to $12 billion. By 2008, US-Africa trade had surged to $100 billion. By 2019, however, it had dropped to $56 billion. Meanwhile, China-Africa trade rose from $102 billion to $192 billion within the same 11-year period. Today, no other single country comes close to matching China’s investments across Africa. The Trump administration ignored Africa as China exerted its influence. Trump never set foot on the continent as President — the first US President in 27 years to avoid Africa. China first in Africa Already