Trade, investments… The growing influence of China and Russia in Algeria

One of the objectives of Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Algeria is also to push back the influence of Beijing and Moscow in the country. Commercial exchanges, investments in oil and major infrastructure, defense agreements… If the Chinese and the Russians are long-standing allies of Algiers, the war in Ukraine has accelerated their rapprochement even more. Emblematic illustration: the abstention of Algeria during the vote of the UN resolution at the beginning of the war.

Algiers wants to join the Brics

Algiers did not condemn the Russian invasion, just like 15 other African countries. On the contrary, military agreements have even been signed. Next November, 160 Russian and Algerian soldiers will participate for the first time together in an exercise to track down jihadists in the desert.

If these ties are tightening, it is because Algiers hopes that Moscow will help it to join the Brics group, which includes Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa and China.

40,000 Chinese work in Algeria

Beijing, which is also a very strategic ally since 40,000 Chinese work in Algeria. It is the largest foreign community in the country and the second largest on the African continent. The Chinese have supplanted the French, Germans and Americans in almost all major infrastructure projects launched in the early 2000s.

Beijing is also interested in Algerian oil and is investing in the south-east of the country where 95 million barrels of crude should come out over the next 25 years. This proximity is also political. Earlier this month, the Algerian ambassador to Beijing criticized Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, stating without hesitation that Taiwan was an integral part of Chinese territory.