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This article discusses Sino-African relations within the framework of comparative analysis of foreign policies. It offers a constructivist analysis of the diplomatic strategies of Niger and Burkina Faso in their relations with the PRC and Taïwan since the sixties. Drawing inspiration from an eclectic approach combining, on the one hand, agents and structures and, on the other, domestic and systemic factors, it explains the fluctuating strategies of diplomatic recognition of the two States with regard to the two "China" by the social construction of the national interest. The results corroborate the postulates of constructivism on the weight of ideas and contexts in the making of the national interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]