Over the past eight years, as competition for natural resources in Africa intensified, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has aggressively engaged Kenya. Like other countries, China views Kenya as an East African trade and logistics hub and a geographic gateway to landlocked neighbors that are rich with oil and minerals. To secure its foothold in the region, China has embarked on a highly successful campaign to engage with Kenyan leaders – an effort made all the more successful by the Jubilee Party’s willingness to learn from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Jubilee Party’s desire to secure funding for flagship infrastructure projects. As political and economic ties have strengthened, China has devoted resources to organizing the growing Chinese diaspora in Kenya via United Front work, intensified its effort to influence young Kenyans through Confucius Institutes, and increased its media footprint in Kenya in a bid to dictate the narrative of its presence in Africa. This report discusses these efforts in depth and assesses China’s success in influencing Kenyan perceptions.
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