Accra: Professor Lloyd G. Adu Amoah, an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Ghana, has emphasized the need for a critical reassessment of Africa’s engagement with China within the evolving international political economy. He raised concerns about the depth of Africa-China relations, characterizing the partnership as “heavy on form and very light on substance.”
According to Ghana News Agency, Prof Amoah made these remarks while delivering the first of the 2026 J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures organized by the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra. The lecture, themed “Africa-China Relations: Partnership, Peonage, Pawnage, and Possibilities?” explored the evolution of Africa-China ties and their implications for industrialization, foreign direct investment, and power relations.
Prof Amoah explained that the lecture aimed to “critically re-examine Africa-China entanglement in the light of imagining a new reality in the international political economy.” He outlined three phases of Africa-China relations, beginning with an ideologically driven phase from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, rooted in shared anti-imperialist sentiments. He cited the construction of the TAZARA Railway as a symbol of early solidarity and noted that Ghana established diplomatic relations with China on July 5, 1960, under Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s administration.
The second phase, spanning the 1980s to the late 20th century, saw ideological motivations give way to resource and power considerations, as China aimed to bolster its global standing. Prof Amoah identified the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000 as a significant development in formalizing continent-wide engagement.
He described the third phase, starting around 2011 when China became the world’s second-largest economy, as characterized by China’s “obsession with maintaining its newfound superpower status.” Despite decades of engagement, Prof Amoah noted that Africa’s aspiration for industrialization had not significantly progressed. He referenced research by African scholars, indicating that surges in commodity demand from China could lock African countries into traditional commodity export sectors, limiting manufacturing export opportunities.
Prof Amoah highlighted that only 11.5 percent of Africa’s workforce was employed in industry, a figure unchanged over three decades. He also pointed out that China’s foreign direct investment in Africa remained a small percentage of its global stock, concentrated mainly in resource-rich sectors like mining and construction.
He concluded by stating, “The so-called Africa-China partnership from the get-go seems to have proved a quiet, vapid one, heavy on form and very light on substance.” Prof Amoah urged Ghana, given its historical and intellectual leadership on the continent, to spearhead efforts in reconstructing Africa-China relations to prioritize genuine industrial transformation and balanced engagement.
The J.B. Danquah Memorial Lectures are organized annually by GAAS to honor Dr. Joseph Boakye Danquah, a scholar, lawyer, and prominent figure in Ghana’s independence movement. The lectures provide a platform for distinguished scholars and public intellectuals to address significant national and international issues.