Mounting overaccumulation of capital and material has compelled the Chinese government to seek solutions overseas. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with its transregional infrastructure projects connecting Eurasia and Africa, is the hallmark venture in this effort. Chinese road, railway, port and energy projects, implemented under the BRI banner, have become widespread in Africa. This article traces drivers of the BRI in the post-reform evolution of the Chinese economy and conceptualises the BRI as a multi-vector "spatial fix" aimed at addressing chronic overaccumulation. Focusing on Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, the paper documents how loan financing related to BRI projects reveals contradictions that arise from China's spatial fix in Africa. Concerns about a looming debt crisis on the continent and the questionable economic sustainability of some BRI projects have become more pressing amidst the COVID-19-induced economic contraction. Hopes for Africa's economic transformation based on increasing connectivity under the BRI are unlikely to materialise. RÉSUMÉ La suraccumulation croissante de capitaux et de matérial a contraint le gouvernement chinois à chercher des solutions à l'étranger. L'initiative « la Ceinture et la Route » (BRI), avec ses projets d'infrastructures transrégionales connectant l'Eurasie et l'Afrique, est la marque de fabrique de cette stratégie. Les projets routiers, ferroviaires, portuaires et énergétiques chinois, mis en oeuvre dans le cadre de la BRI, se sont répandus en Afrique. Cet article retrace les moteurs de la BRI dans l'évolution post-réforme de l'économie chinoise et conceptualise la BRI comme un « correctif spatial » multi-vecteur visant à remédier à la suraccumulation chronique. En se concentrant sur le Kenya, Djibouti et l'Éthiopie, l'article documente comment le financement des prêts liés aux projets de la BRI révèle les contradictions qui émergent du « correctif spatial » de la Chine en Afrique. Les inquiétudes concernant une crise de la dette imminente sur le continent et la viabilité économique douteuse de certains projets de la BRI sont devenues plus pressantes dans le contexte de la contraction économique entraînée par la COVID-19. Il est peu probable que les espoirs de transformation économique de l'Afrique basés sur une connectivité accrue dans le cadre de la BRI se matérialisent.

This article scrutinises the surge in Chinese-sponsored road development in Zambia with the help of David Harvey's theory of spatio-temporal fixes. China's 'moving out' of surplus capital has been facilitated by an extensive disbursement of loans and export credits by state-owned banks for Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa. Transcending Harvey's analytical 'imperio-centrism', the article shows that the actualisation of the Chinese infrastructural fix has been contingent upon Zambia's ambitious, debt-financed infrastructure development agenda. This article further documents how particularities of Chinese loan financing have fostered 'not so public' procurement processes and accelerated Zambia's rapid debt accumulation. As rising debt has imposed structural constraints, the recent shift in the financial governance of road development towards private project finance is analysed with reference to the Lusaka-Ndola dual carriageway. The renaissance of public-private partnerships and the gradual privatisation of Zambian roads signify new rounds of accumulation by dispossession. The Chinese infrastructural fix is thus shown to be entering its next stage.

With China's rise to become Africa's largest bilateral creditor, much research has focused on providing empirical insights into Chinese finance in Africa, which has helped to refute claims regarding China's supposed 'debt trap diplomacy'. This debate in turn problematises the function of debt and related power differentials in late capitalism and calls into question development paradigms and policies, notably the meanwhile hegemonic infrastructure-led development regime, that have sustained Africa's financial dependency into the 2020s. As the International Monetary Fund is yet again shuttling to Addis Ababa, Lusaka, Nairobi and other African capitals to resurrect fiscal discipline and to ensure debtor compliance for the postpandemic 'payback period', it is argued that (i) periodic cycles of debt financing, debt distress and structural adjustment are a systemic feature of the malintegration of Africa into the global capitalist economy, and (ii) critical research on the social costs and economic beneficiaries of renewed rounds of austerity and privatisation in Africa's current debt cycle is needed.