Africans in China and its influence for China-Africa relations

Recent years, steadily growing China’s influence on Africa. Africa is often called “China’s second continent”, which is associated with an enhanced Chinese presence on the African continent. However, the question of the presence of Africans in China and the influence on the development of Chinese-African relations, which will be the subject of this article, remains little studied. This topic is of particular interest because of the initiative of the PRC President Xi Jinping to create the Center for Innovative Cooperation between China and Africa to promote innovation among youth and entrepreneurship, voiced during the China-Africa Cooperation Forum (FOCAC) held in Beijing in early September 2018. In this article, the author will highlight the important historical events of the development of the Chinese-African dialogue, consider the main cities with a high percentage of the African population, identify the reasons for the presence of Africans in China and the impact on the development of cooperation between the parties.