Specialists begin three-month frontline mission to contain outbreak across mining region dense with Beijing-backed mineral investments
It also stands in stark contrast with the approach taken by the United States, which has focused on barring travellers from the outbreak zone and building a divisive isolation facility in Kenya for its own personnel.
Some analysts have suggested China is filling a leadership void left by Washington’s inward-looking response.
China will work with the African Union Commission and the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) to strengthen outbreak containment capacities across affected countries, including Uganda.
“We feel for the [DR Congo] over the new outbreak of Ebola,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said last Monday, adding that Beijing would provide help to the best of its capability in light of Africa’s needs.
The outbreak has also crossed into neighbouring Uganda, which has recorded 15 cases and one death.
David Shinn, a China-Africa expert and professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, said China’s “most recent offer” to help control the disease in the DR Congo would “clearly be welcomed”.
Still, Shinn said it was unclear whether Beijing’s contribution would be as extensive as during its intervention in West Africa more than a decade ago.
During the 2014–2016 Ebola crisis in West Africa, China made a significant positive contribution to the international effort that eventually ended the spread of the disease, he added.
Over several decades, Beijing has regularly deployed medical staff to African countries during health crises.
The foreign ministry said during Monday’s briefing that China had deployed 45 medical teams – comprising more than 900 personnel – across 44 African countries to support local healthcare operations.
Shenglan Tang, co-director of the Global Health Research Centre at Duke Kunshan University in China, described Beijing’s latest emergency response in the DR Congo as a timely and constructive contribution to regional and global health security.
Infectious disease outbreaks were most effectively controlled at the source to mitigate wider regional and international risks, Tang said.
“Supporting African nations during health emergencies is therefore consistent with this broader engagement.”
Tang noted that Beijing had maintained long-standing cooperation with the continent in health matters through medical teams, hospital partnerships and capacity-building initiatives.
While Beijing focuses on immediate frontline deployments inside the DR Congo, Washington’s broader regional strategy has sparked criticism for prioritising Western security over local partnerships.
America has committed more than US$162 million to contain the DR Congo outbreak, funded emergency clinics and barred entry to those who travelled from the affected zone within the last 21 days, including lawful US permanent residents, also known as green card holders.
Lawrence Gostin, Distinguished University Professor and Founding O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Centre, noted that Beijing was filling the vacuum left by Washington’s reduction in global health assistance.
“It is long past due for China to step up and provide the assistance that it should have, given the country’s enormous resources,” he added.
Gostin voiced hope that Beijing would support the WHO, Africa CDC and the affected countries.
Tang called China’s current deployment to the DR Congo modest, involving a small expert team, yet in line with the early stage of an outbreak when targeted technical support for surveillance, laboratory diagnosis and infection control was most valuable.
“The fact that China is also supporting the African Union and Africa CDC suggests an increasing emphasis on strengthening regional response mechanisms,” Tang said.