China’s Approach To Development In Africa:a Case Of Kenya

China has a unique model for engaging Africa and has become a key player in trade, investment and development in many African countries. As part of the "Going out" strategy adopted by China in2000, Africa has increasingly become the focus of China in international cooperation and development. Africa has emerged as China’s important trade partner as well as the largest recipient of Chinese development assistance and Foreign Direct Investment. Kenya has also not been left behind and China’s presence is seen in the rise of Chinese trade and investments throughout the country. The phenomenal growth of China as a world economic power offers Kenya an opportunity to boost the country’s development. A wide range of development projects in Kenya are financed by China through loans and concessional assistance.Recognizing the unique opportunity China offers for Kenya’s development goals, this paper examined China’s approach to development in Africa with a focus on Kenya exploring the components of its approach which include, trade, investment and development assistance. Kenya has emerged as a large recipient of China’s development assistance since2000and an important destination for China’s direct investment as well as a trading partner. Thus Kenya receives billions of dollars worth of aid from China to develop industries, expand infrastructure and encourage trade. Noting that there are elements of China-Kenya relationship that are exploitative, this paper studied the contribution of China on Kenya’s development. With a scarcity of up to date data to examine China’s approach to development and the prospects for Kenya’s developmental goals, the paper used the limited existing literature, journals, newspaper and internet search to study the issue. Kenya views China as an important compliment to traditional development partners and the relationship between the two countries have intrinsic dimensions for Kenya’s development goals. As a result this paper studied the extent of China’s bilateral relations with Kenya as well as China’s contribution on the overall development of Kenya.