Exploring the overlooked diversity of Chinese investments in Africa in the pre-BRI era

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was officially launched in 2015. The expanding BRI-driven investments in Africa have been fiercely criticized particularly from the West, mainly for China's alleged self-interest in seeking and ensuring access to natural resources on site. The focus on the Chinese investments in Africa since BRI is, however, too narrow to evaluate Chinese firms' economic engagement in Africa. It is important to look back on Chinese investments in Africa in the pre-BRI era. Against this background this note fills a literature gap by providing an overview based on analyzing a comprehensive FDI project database provided by China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) for the period from 2004 to 2014. We find that Chinese investments were actually more diversified in the pre-BRI era – as to investing firms, host countries and targeted industries – than usually perceived by the public. Overlooking the diversity of Chinese investments in Africa may lead to a biased judgement that neglects the relevance of China's private investments and business engagement on site.