China's African Money Tree

A China-funded agriculture experimental center in Ethiopia

(Beijing) – African countries may never feel a hard pull on “no strings attached” loans from China. That’s because for the past few decades, aid has been tethered to infrastructure projects, which experts say are only going to grow.

Since the first Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in 2000, China has offered hundreds of billions of yuan to African countries in the form of interest-free and preferential loans.