Na de Chinees-Japanse oorlog van 1895 begonnen de Westerse machten op een agressievere wijze het semikoloniale Qing-keizerrijk binnen te dringen. Deze inter-imperiale concurrentie stond de samenwerking en de continue uitwisseling van imperiale praktijken zeker niet in de weg en de mogendheden vonden elkaar onder meer in het opleggen van een gezamenlijk discours van moderniteit. Onder meer als lippendienst aan die "beschavingsstandaard" stelden de leiders van zulke semikoloniale staten Westerse diplomatieke raadgevers aan. Ook de Chinese regering deed een beroep op deze “experts”.

In 1936, the Australian War Memorial acquired two stone lions that once guarded the Menin Gate entrance to the Belgian town of Ypres. The Memorial’s director, John Treloar, felt the Memorial had scored a “great scoop” because of their “historical value”. However, when the lions arrived in Canberra, it was apparent the damage they sustained during the war meant they would need to undergo some form of restoration. Unfortunately, little progress was made in this endeavour for several decades and the lions did not end up going on permanent display until 1991.

This article addresses the relations between Belgium and Zaire during the time of Mobutu Sese Seko’s rule of Congo/Zaire between 1965 and 1997. Several authors have focussed on the importance of the Cold War, or the existence of Zaire’s dependency relationship with Belgium. This study, however, argues that the Cold War was not the singular decisive factor. Through his foreign policy, Mobutu approached his African neighbours, Eastern European countries, China and North Korea, in order to actively shape his own policy whereby he sometimes acted against the interests of his Western allies.