In Focus | Africa, France
Beijing's dynamism leaves the Quai d'Orsay floundering
In the run-up to the next China-Africa summit, which is due to take place in Beijing in September, the French foreign office has been issuing a flurry of briefings on Africa's disaffection with French cooperation initiatives and its growing preference for loans from Beijing. This shift is already well under way in the business sphere and is leaving Paris out in the cold.
Despite Emmanuel Macron's call for greater Franco-Chinese cooperation in Africa during his trip to China in January, joint activities between the two countries
