Diaspora Diplomacy and the Geopolitics of Standards: Chinese Tech Entrepreneurs in Kenya

The growing body of scholarship on Global China has called for a closer examination of the eventful moments when Chinese capital, enterprises, and models expand beyond national borders. Recent studies on the geopolitics of standards highlight China’s increasing participation in international standardization bodies, reflecting a strategic shift by the Party-state. This phenomenon can be understood as part of what STS scholars describe as the "middle of the event"—the active construction of technical zones for global markets and "trans-territorial production" spaces, where existing standards are challenged and redefined.

In this eventful moment, this paper draws attention to a surge in Chinese tech professionals venturing abroad to establish their own businesses. These professionals, through their everyday negotiations and mediations, may serve as informal agents of diaspora diplomacy. We adopt a "low-flying" approach to observe the bodily practices of Chinese tech entrepreneurs as they intervene in the global geopolitics of standards in Kenya. These interventions are not merely peripheral; they often disrupt and transform production chains through practices of imaginary new geographies construction and resultant spatial reconfiguration. For example, through their entrepreneurial activities, products originally "made in China" are rebranded as "made in Kenya."

Our analysis of three cases—Golden Lion in battery production, Transsion in mobile phones, and Konnect in broadband services—allows us to explore these entrepreneurs' roles as liminal actors operating between domestic and foreign spheres. The heterogeneity of this tech diaspora complicates the simplistic portrayal of China’s global economic expansion as driven solely by statist actions. Instead, these actors navigate and shape a complex terrain, reflecting the broader dynamics of authoritarian capitalism, where the Chinese state’s reach is mediated by market forces and informal practices in foreign contexts.