China's foreign direct investments to Africa : A geoeconomic analysis

Sammanfattning

This research paper examines determinants of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in African countries, focusing on how natural resource endowments and geoeconomic contexts shape investment flows. The study aims to move beyond purely economic explanations of FDI by disaggregating resource types and embedding the country’s investment strategy in a geoeconomic context. Using panel data and a fixed-effects regression approach, the study finds that China’s FDI is not uniform across resource types: resources domestically deemed critical (e.g. oil for China) attract higher investment compared to resources like coal which the country is mostly self-sufficient on. The results further indicate that the presence of competing western investments interact significantly with natural resource considerations to influence China’s FDI strategy. While limitations in data availability constrain some aspects of the analysis, the findings underscore the importance of distinguishing between resource types and considering broader geoeconomic dynamics.