Understanding African views of China: analyses of student attitudes and elite media reportage in Kenya

Figures & data

Table 1. Data sets from articles in The Daily Nation, 2017 and 2019, showing number, in words, of articles and sentences as well as percentages.

Year	2017	2019
Articles with BRI and China (in words) [%]	15,532 [100%]	26,954 [100%]
Sentences with BRI (in words) [%]	781 [5.0%]	2,027 [7.5%]
Sentences with China (in words) [%]	3,973 [25.6%]	7,213 [26.8%]

Table 2. Sentiment analysis of sentences containing the words “China” and/or “BRI” from articles in The Daily Nation, 2017 and 2019.

Year	2017	2019
All the sentences	0.184	0.085
Sentences with “BRI”	0.252	0.199
Sentences with “China”	0.222	0.123

Table 3. Jaccard similarity index results of “BRI” as keyword from articles in The Daily Nation, 2017.

Order	Word	Jaccard Index
1	opportunity	0.135
2	Africa	0.122
3	development	0.094
4	Xi_Jinping	0.093
5	cooperation	0.089
6	network	0.086
7	China	0.073
8	SGR	0.069
9	report	0.065
10	Agenda	0.063
11	railway	0.062
12	Vision	0.061
13	country	0.060
14	Eastern	0.059
15	success	0.059
16	strategy	0.057
17	Europe	0.056
18	role	0.056
19	infrastructure	0.055
20	benefit	0.054

Table 4. Jaccard similarity index results of “BRI” as keyword from articles in The Daily Nation, 2019.

Order	Word	Jaccard Index
1	development	0.161
2	country	0.120
3	infrastructure	0.108
4	Africa	0.087
5	China	0.085
6	connectivity	0.084
7	strategy	0.084
8	project	0.082
9	Kenya	0.075
10	Xi_Jinping	0.073
11	order	0.069
12	trade	0.067
13	benefit	0.063
14	loan	0.061
15	SGR	0.061
16	investment	0.059
17	port	0.058
18	cooperation	0.058
19	world	0.052
20	Beijing	0.052

Table 5. Jaccard similarity index results of “China” as keyword from articles in The Daily Nation, 2017.

Order	Word	Jaccard Index
1	Kenya	0.192
2	country	0.103
3	Africa	0.101
4	President	0.100
5	infrastructure	0.075
6	BRI	0.073
7	Road	0.070
8	world	0.064
9	Belt_and_Road_Forum	0.059
10	Beijing	0.059
11	people	0.056
12	report	0.053
13	cooperation	0.050
14	trade	0.049
15	government	0.044
16	SGR	0.044
17	partner	0.043
18	Xi_Jinping	0.041
19	International	0.041
20	Kenyan	0.040

Table 6. Jaccard similarity index results of “China” as keyword from articles in The Daily Nation, 2019.

Order	Word	Jaccard Index
1	Kenya	0.132
2	Africa	0.125
3	world	0.112
4	country	0.101
5	BRI	0.085
6	development	0.076
7	President	0.071
8	trade	0.069
9	year	0.060
10	Beijing	0.059
11	loan	0.057
12	history	0.048
13	order	0.047
14	investment	0.041
15	debt	0.036
16	infrastructure	0.036
17	phase	0.035
18	strategy	0.033
19	agreement	0.032
20	security	0.031

Figure 1. Answer results to survey question 1: I have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of China compared to 5 years ago.

Figure 2. Answer results to survey question 2: Please tell me if you have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of Chinese trade in Kenya.

Figure 3. Answer results to survey question 3: Please tell me if you have a very favourable, somewhat favourable, somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable opinion of Chinese projects in Kenya such as the standard gauge railway (SGR).

Figure 4. Answer results to survey question 4: Is Kenya China's friend?

Figure 5. Answer results to survey question 5: Is China is a good economic partner for Kenya?

Figure 6. Answer results to survey question 8: Which of the following concerns you most in terms of Kenya-China relations?

Figure 7. Answer results to survey question 7: Have you communicated or interacted with Chinese in Kenya?

Figure 8. Answer results to survey question 6: Is China a good security partner (defence, counterterrorism) for Kenya?

Figure 9. Answer results to survey question 9: Who benefits most from China's relations with Kenya?