New African Research on China-Africa Engagement and Impacts on Peace & Security

This event took place on April 4th, 2025 and was hosted online via Zoom webinar.

China is now an important peace and security actor on the African continent; for example, it is the largest contributor of UN Peacekeeping troops among the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council and has played an active role in conflict mediation in several countries to date. However, Chinese actors have also been accused of exacerbating conflicts and undermining human security in many parts of the continent. Research and analysis on these interactions is often dominated by non-African voices. To help fill this gap, the panelists participated in a year-long program to help build capacity for African early-career scholars to identify and research cutting edge themes in Chinese engagements with impacts on peace and security. The five presenters on this panel will present their new research based in Cameroon, Kenya, Somaliland, and Zimbabwe.

This event was co-sponsored by the Africa-China Initiative and the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.

Featuring

Welcome Remarks:

Yoon Jung Park, Program Director, Africa-China Initiative

Participants:

Philip Kaudo, PhD candidate in Public Policy and PT Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Nairobi (Kenya); “Private Security Companies in Kenya: A Comparative Case Study Analysis of Chinese, Local, and Western Private Security Actors”

Bianca EPEDE MESUMBE, PhD, Growth and Investment Officer, Women in Entrepreneurship and Technology (WETECH) based in Yaounde, Cameroon; “Government Policy on Mining and Security in Central Africa: The Case of Chinese Companies Established in Eastern Cameroon”

Moustafa Ahmad, Independent researcher and writer and Sacad Muhumed, Researcher, and Master’s student at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies; “Shared Isolation, Strategic Collaboration: Unpacking Somaliland-Taiwan Relations”

Prolific Mataruse, Wigwe University, Nigeria; “The Geopolitics of Chinese Coal and Lithium Investments in Zimbabwe”

Discussant:

Idris Akinbajo, Managing Editor, Premium Times