Helper and threat

This chapter examines two dominant tropes in the discursive construction of the China-Africa relationship in order to unpack how they complicate the concept of the global south itself. Discourse about the relationship, while expansive, has repeatedly returned to two dominant themes: solidarity between Africa and China and the dominance of Africa by China. Each of these tropes is examined in turn before discussing their impact on the concept of the global south in the conclusion. Sino-African relations are a useful case study in the wider debate about the concept of the global south because it allows for the tracking of various contradictions of north-ness and south-ness as they play out in the relationship.