This article explores the salient of anti-Chinese sentiments in Africa and how it has been utilised or materialised as a populist strategy in election campaigns. The contention herein is that anti-Chinese populism has emerged from the rising anti-Chinese sentiments and is utilised primarily as a rhetorical strategy to gain electoral support. In particular, political actors mostly seeking power are inclined to identify and declamatorily rehashed the salient issues driving the anti-Chinese sentiments in political platforms to attract attention and to gain the support of the electorate’s concern about same issues. This dimension of populism hinges not on ideational leanings, but nothing more than an opportunist strategy of exploiting wedge issues for electoral gains. The implications of such an emerging phenomenon cannot be underestimated. Not only is it a hindrance to the budding Africa–China relations but also decadent for China’s global status and its ambitious foreign policy.

本文探讨了非洲反华情绪的显着性以及如何将其作为民粹主义策略用于选举活动。本文的论点是反华民粹主义已经从反华情绪的上升中出现，并且主要被用作获得选举支持的修辞策略。特别是，多数寻求政权的政治行为者倾向于找出并在政治上重新驱散在政治平台上推动反华情绪的突出问题，以引起关注并获得选民对同一问题的关注。民粹主义的这个维度不依赖于观念上的倾向，而无非是利用楔子问题谋取选举利益的机会主义策略。这种新出现的现象的影响不可低估。