Author: Lee Levkowitz, Marta McLellan Ross, J.R. Warner.

In May 2008, the Research Working Group of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission requested research on the political, economic, and security relationship between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and sub-Saharan Africa. Interest in this topic was sparked by the relatively wide media coverage and commentary on China’s activities in Africa and speculation about China’s “going out” strategy – a strategy articulated in 2002 by then-President Jiang Zemin that encouraged Chinese firms to “go out” of China and establish international operations. While a large amount of research has been conducted on Chinese investments in Africa, our research found a prevailing question that remained unanswered: Are investments in Africa by Chinese companies state directed and made for strategic purposes, or are they commercially oriented and profit driven? Consequently, what is the impact on the United States? In order to answer this question, Commission staff focused this study on China’s relations with Angola in part because of its recent emergence from three decades of civil war, putting it at a crucial point of development in its intricate bilateral relationship with China. During this examination of Sino-Angolan relations, analysts discovered a consortium of Chinese investors nominally located in Hong Kong. The research presented in this paper is not a comprehensive overview of China’s involvement in Africa or Angola; rather, it is an in-depth study of this group of investors. The group is a preponderant actor in Angola and wields tremendous influence over China’s economic and business relations with Angola. In addition, our research has found that the group has major investments in other African, Latin American, and Southeast Asian countries as well as in the United States. This paper’s detailed examination of the consortium attempts to place this group’s activities within the context of China’s overall “going out” strategy and to offer recommendations for areas of future research.