Over the past decade, China has substantially increased its security engagements across Africa – from peacekeeping and naval patrols to military training and strategic infrastructure – reflecting a broader shift in Chinese foreign policy from limited involvement to more assertive engagement. As Chinese investments and citizens spread across Africa, threats from armed groups such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab, and various insurgencies have highlighted the risks to Chinese workers and projects. Moreover, piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Guinea has endangered vital trade routes, thus becoming a concern for China – Africa’s largest trading partner. So far, China has expanded bilateral ties, maintaining defense attaché offices in over 20 African states, and supplying arms through state-owned companies. Joint exercises, naval visits, and counter-terrorism training have equally deepened cooperation between China and several countries on the continent. Although Beijing claims to uphold the non-interference principle, its activities reveal a more flexible approach when its citizens and interests are at risk. In short, China’s Africa policy has evolved from principled distance to cautious activism, laying the groundwork for its current security strategies.

By the mid-2000s, China began contributing to UN peacekeeping in Africa, gradually becoming a leading security actor on the continent. Today, it deploys more peacekeepers to Africa than any other permanent UN Security Council member, and is the second-largest financial contributor after the United States (U.S.). Over 2,200 Chinese personnel now serve in missions from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to South Sudan, undertaking tasks ranging from engineering to force protection, while China also provides funding and equipment to African Union (AU) operations, pledging support for the African Standby Force. This peacekeeping engagement, framed as empowering “African solutions to African problems,” bolsters China’s image as a responsible great power and provides the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with valuable operational experience in relatively low-risk environments. Beyond........

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