This paper examines the structural transformation in the trade relation between Ecowas member countries and China, using the flying geese model. We used data set on exports and imports as published by the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN-COMTRADE) for the period 1998-2010. We conferred the study to three-digit of the standard international trade classification (SITC) Revision 2 and we focus on 173 groups of products SITC. The results of our investigation revealed Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Benin to be the first Ecowas countries to join the flying geese model led by China. Afterward, countries such as Senegal, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Togo followed the geese model. China, being a transitioning economy, has helped too in leading the structural transformation in natural-resource intensive products in West African countries. However, the process of the structural transformation in Ecowas countries as led by China was found to have been slow. The trade pattern was predominantly that of inter-industry trade.