In late 1963, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai embarked on a whirlwind tour of 10 African countries. It was a strategic time to visit: The Cold War was raging, and newly independent countries across the African continent found themselves forced to choose between two camps, East and West. Algeria, Egypt and later Libya all swung toward the communist bloc. Unlike its near neighbors, Tunisia, then under the rule of secular nationalist Habib Bourguiba, chose a pro-Western political stance.

Though Zhou’s visit to Tunis ultimately resulted in the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, tensions were high, with Bourguiba criticizing China’s handling of its territorial dispute with India and China's disapproval of the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. Bourguiba went on to sharply tell Zhou that “harboring ‘common goals’ is not enough because different approaches could also ‘create distance’ between people.”

China didn’t need to be told twice. For most of the 1970s, it focused its economic diplomacy on South Asia and Southeast Asia, before moving into sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. In the past decade, Chinese investments in the African continent have increased tenfold. In 2015, Chinese president Xi Jinping brought forth an unprecedented era in Sino-Africa relations, promising over $60 billion in investment projects across Africa.

Only after China's energy policies dictated the country's involvement in the Middle East did Chinese leaders begin to pay attention to North African countries. Chinese investment in North Africa is “part and parcel of its growing share of trade and investment worldwide,” a paper published by the London School of Economics said in 2012. Indeed, China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative is a modern reimagining of the ancient Silk Road. The ambitious project aims to be the world’s largest platform for economic cooperation — and North Africa is critical to the project.