Dr Lauren Johnston is a Consultant Senior Researcher in the Foreign Policy Programme of The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA. She holds a PhD in Economics from Peking University and has expertise in and is widely published on the economics and political economy of China-Africa relations, the Belt and Road Initiative and how population ageing impacts China’s economy. Dr Johnston is concurrently an Associate Professor at the China Studies Centre, University of Sydney. She previously worked at the University of Melbourne, Beijing Foreign Studies University, the World Bank, and as an ODI Fellow in the Ministry of Development and Economic Planning of Sierra Leone.