Ethiopia’s new US$12.5 billion mega-airport project has thrust the nation into the heart of a geopolitical tug of war between the United States and China. Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier, is developing the massive Bishoftu International Airport, located 40km (25 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa to serve as a primary hub for African trade and travel. The project has triggered intense competition between would-be contractors from around the world, but Chinese state-owned...

For decades, resource-rich African nations operated on a straightforward pit-to-ship model whereby foreign operators extracted raw ore, loaded it onto cargo ships and exported it abroad, leaving producer countries with little to show for it. Today, nations such as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique, Ghana and Guinea are dismantling that system – by banning exports of raw materials and enforcing local processing rules. These measures force international mining firms, including Chinese companies, to...