In this conversation, Dr Emmanuel Matambo unpacks how Africa–China relations really work beyond the headlines. We dive into debates on 'debt-trap diplomacy', technology, governance, and the cultural impact of China across Africa.

Emmanuel Matambo

Dr Matambo is the Research Director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies (CACS) at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. His primary research interest has been in Africa's growing relationship with China. His ideological orientation and theoretical framework has been constructivism, but with a bias towards people-to-people relations between African citizens and their Chinese counterparts. 

Using constructivism, Matambo's argument has been that this strand of analysing Africa-China relations is, ironically, more realistic that the more dominant analytical tool of realism. While highlighting the importance of multiple and layered ideas, identities and interests as key determinants of Africa-China relations, he eschews the convenient idealism so blithely peddled by the African and Chinese elite, especially those who form part of the incumbent stratum. His conclusions thus exude a guarded approach to analysing Africa-China relations, with a keen eye on the identities, interests and behaviours that take place at the level of increasingly salient people-to-people relations.

He holds a PhD in political science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). In 2018, five months after graduating, UKZN retained him as postdoctoral research fellow. In 2019, Matambo was a fellow of the Africa Program at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, in the United States of America. In 2020 he was chosen as a fellow of the Atlantic Council's Millennium Leadership Program.

In 2026, he will be an Iso Lomso fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) conducting research titled Zambia's Shifting perceptions of China, the Chinese and Zambia-China Relations: From the State to the Subnational.

Content

00:00 – Introduction

01:55 – Pragmatism vs. “Debt-Trap Diplomacy”: How African Elites and Western Narratives Differ

07:29 – Africa’s Image in Chinese Media

10:17 – Trade Imbalances, Industrialisation, and Value Addition in Africa–China Relations

15:06 – Negotiating with China: Is African Directness an Advantage?

18:51 – Technology Transfer, the Energy Crisis, and China’s Role in Africa

24:54 – Western vs. Chinese Technology: Does the Source Matter for Africa?

29:07 – Non-Interference vs. Conditional Aid: Implications for Governance in Fragile States

34:20 – China’s Geopolitical Influence on the African Union

36:37 – The Calibre of Chinese Diplomats and Officials in Africa

39:14 – Confucius Institutes and Their Impact in Africa

43:05 – Is There a South African Equivalent of the Confucius Institute in China?

46:16 – Chinese Cultural and Media Outreach: Shaping African Youth Perceptions

49:07 – Labour Rights and Chinese Companies in Africa: Current Trends and Improvements

51:05 – The African Diaspora, China Research, and New Avenues of Cooperation

53:55 – Research Priorities of the Centre for Africa-China Studies, University of Johannesburg

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