Breaking diplomatic isolation: the origin of the People’s Republic of China’s assistance to Africa

ABSTRACT Following the Bandung Conference held in 1955, China and Africa strengthened their contacts, and the provision of assistance to Africa gradually became an important part of China’s diplomacy. In light of its uncompromising support for African national liberation movements, China’s assistance programs to Africa targeted promoting African countries’ independence and self-reliance, including a variety of forms of assistance to support African countries in various fields such as agricultural cultivation, primary industrial development, and medical and health care. After China’s Reform and Opening Up in 1978, its assistance to Africa adjusted accordingly in terms of its guiding ideology and implementation methods. Assistance to Africa encouraged China-Africa cooperation to become deeper, China’s policy itself was given higher expectations, and its history deserves study.