ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that sub-Saharan constructions of the PRC beyond identifying China as a friend or threat serve to participate in African debates about appropriate policy responses to China’s rise in Africa and globally. It argues that domestic constructions of China are not merely some academic debates of no wider consequence. Rather, they participate in creating social reality in which China is either a threat or an opportunity. As such, they render certain policies as necessary while dismissing others as harmful, calling for action. Thus, the question of agency stands at the centre of African constructions of China as the issue brings to the forefront the question of what to do with China as African observers define it. Whereas African leaders derive their sense of agency in the China relationship from Africa’s emplacement in international politics, African civil society considers agency in the context of its capacity to affect activities of Chinese entities. On occasions, they successfully prompt their leaders to side with their assessments of Chinese activities in the region. Thus, domestic discursive contests over African agency in the Sino-African relationship demarcate the boundaries of African appropriate action in the China relationship.
