How a ‘military vacuum’ in West and Central Africa opened new markets for China

Alessandro Arduino, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank in London, said China was recasting its role as “an increasingly consequential security actor”. “Nowhere is this shift more visible than in the Sahel, where the erosion of France’s military presence has unsettled long-standing security arrangements and opened space for new external players,” Arduino said. He noted that SIPRI data showed China leading the small arms market since 2023-2024. Rather than using boots on the ground, China had a lower-profile strategy built on arms transfers, training and institutional ties, according to Arduino. He said China’s main competitor in the region was Turkey, given that Russia was focused on Ukraine and US systems were either too costly or unavailable. “Competitive pricing and permissive financing have made Chinese equipment especially attractive to cash-strapped governments,” Arduino said.