China’s relationship with Africa is usually viewed through the relatively narrow lens of infrastructure, construction, energy, and mining. However, Sino-African relations have the potential to be multifaceted. Higher education is one sector that would benefit significantly from greater cross-fertilisation between China and Africa.

For Africa, it seems that it is possible to decouple socio-political and economic conditions when following FDI around the continent. Governments can, in order to attract FDI, use policies and incentives to compensate for systemic problems they may be either unwilling or unable to address.

Rather than see that fall in investments as a threat to Africa's development as it first appears, research and conversations with businesses in China and Africa reveal that the recent decline in Chinese investments could actually completely transform the economic relationship for the better. Xi's statement and this new plan, announced at the second annual Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, could actually be the first signs of this change.