The deepening strategic competition between the United States of America (hereafter, the U.S.) and China is also taking place in Africa, with the two countries carrying out active development cooperation diplomacy. Not only did high-level visitation by the two countries increase in recent years, but both the U.S. and China have announced strategic documents specifically targeting the region. On one hand, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa in August 2022 and hosted the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022. On the other hand, President Xi Jinping announced the Global Development Initiative (hereafter, GDI), a global initiative that also covers Africa, in September 2021. In comparison to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), GDI is more centered around development finance similar to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)’s Official Development Assistance (ODA). China also hosted the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (hereafter, FOCAC) in November 2021 and adopted the Dakar Action Plan as well as the Dakar Declaration as the outcome document.

Africa is a key partner region for both the U.S. and China in terms of development cooperation. With Africa being the largest foreign aid recipient region, both countries have highlighted the provision of development cooperation elements such as grant aid, humanitarian assistance, and technical assistance in their strategies toward the continent. Thus, development cooperation will be vital to both countries in implementing their respective strategies in the region.