Today, Angola, which, along with Nigeria, ranks first in Africa in oil production and exports and fifth in the world in diamond production, is playing a key role in promoting China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative in the region.

China in Angola

Chinese aid to Angola, according to current Industry and Commerce Minister Rui Minges, played a defining role in the initial phase of rebuilding the country’s civil war-ravaged infrastructure. Since then, under the so-called ‘Angolan model’ – oil in exchange for loans – Chinese companies have built and reconstructed 2,800 kilometres of railways, 20,000 kilometres of roads, over 100,000 residential and other buildings, over 100 schools and over 50 hospitals.

The current state of China-Angola relations

Today, Angola, which, along with Nigeria, is Africa’s number one oil producer and exporter and the world’s fifth largest diamond producer, plays a key role in promoting China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative in the region, according to Germany’s Die Welt.

Angola’s largest trading partners are China and India. In 2022, the PRC accounted for 42.7 per cent – $21.9 billion – of Angola’s exports and 16 per cent – $2.8 billion – of its imports, while US exports to Angola in 2023 were $595 million and imports were $1.2 billion. China’s main imports from Angola are crude oil – 54 per cent of its total production.

The visit of Angolan President João Lourenço to Beijing in March this year, according to numerous media outlets, took place against the backdrop of intensifying competition between the US and China in the Southern African region, caused by Washington’s promotion of the Lobito Corridor project and Luanda’s subsequent pivot towards the US and the West in general.

At the same time, the Washington Post claims that as part of diversifying its foreign economic ties,........

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