Facilitator: Malia Du Mont, Bard College; World Affairs Council The COVID-19 crisis has put a massive strain on a growing positive economic and political relationship between China and the continent of Africa. As Chinese President Xi Jinping’s centerpiece “Belt and Road Initiative” continues to expand Chinese power, the response to the spread of COVID-19, as well as African country governments’ growing debt to China, has presented pushback. What are these growing issues and tensions?