Author: Uwe Wissenbach.

China’s Africa policy has affected the EU’s relations with China and Africa. In response, the EU proposed trilateral cooperation to focus on synergies of the EU’s and China’s contribution to Africa’s development. This study conceptualises from an IR perspective this triangular relationship beyond well-known empirical or economic approaches to China’s Africa policy. It looks at what kind of actor China is in Africa, and whether China is in Africa because it is strong or weak and what the trilateral approach of the EU implies for Africa as a player in international relations.