China Retains Lead in Race for Influence Over Africa’s Youth, Survey Shows
China remains the major foreign power with the biggest positive influence on Africa’s youth, a new survey shows, indicating the limitations of a drive by the US to bolster its standing on the continent.
Eighty-two per cent of young Africans consider Beijing’s influence on the continent as positive, while 79% regard Washington’s standing in a similar vein, the survey conducted for the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and released Tuesday showed.
While both countries gained from the previous iteration of the poll in 2022, the findings highlight the obstacles the US and some of its allies face in trying to reengage the continent after years of neglect.
The affordability of Chinese products and infrastructure investment are “the primary drivers of positive perceptions,” wrote the researchers, who interviewed 5,604 people between 18 and 24 years old across 16 African nations in January and February. “The provision of loans and economic support” was the reason most often cited by youths for their positive view of the US, they said.
After leaving China to build its influence in Africa for two decades, western powers are now trying to rebuild relations with a continent that has some of the world’s biggest deposits of minerals critical to the energy transition, a young and growing consumer market and 54 votes at the United Nations.
The US has financially backed the restoration of a rail link between the copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Angolan port of Lobito, and its Africa Growth and Opportunity Act provides duty-free access to the American market for several countries. Still, China has built infrastructure ranging from power plants to dams and roads across a range of African countries.
The European Union was less favorably viewed than the US, with just 73% of respondents considering it a positive influence. That was ahead of France, but behind the UK.
While Russia, which has also boosted its focus on Africa, ranks well behind China and the US, the survey showed that it was rapidly building influence in South Africa and Malawi. Still, the proportion of those viewing Russia negatively, a result of its war in Ukraine, has risen to 30% from 23% in 2022.
