Many African countries now look to China as a source of infrastructural growth, commercial investment, cheap credit, even inspiration. China has investments in 48 of 53 African countries, and has set up a $5 billion China-Africa development fund, while trade between China and Africa reached $56 billion in 2006. For African governments it seems that opportunities for real development have opened up, with China treating them as equal partners. As Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor says: ‘We count on China to encourage investments and joint ventures to facilitate the transfer of technology to Ghana… We do not want to feel that our big friends want to keep we, the smaller ones, down’.

But how much faith should African countries put in China? Western commentators warn of Chinese exploitation and mutter about imperialist exploitation. Western development banks worry about a return to high debt burdens and threaten to cut off funds to countries that take on Chinese loans. NGOs fear unregulated investment will undermine the ‘gains’ of aid and debt relief with good governance strings. Bob Geldof has warned that if the West doesn’t live up to its G8 promises, ‘China will be all over Africa and they will embrace any government’.  G8 ministers openly rapped the knuckles of China and Africa for agreeing $230 billion in loans, saying it ran counter to ‘responsible lending practices’. 

For China, trade with Africa means access to natural resources such as copper, bauxite and oil - unrestricted by the West’s growing environmental regulations - that can help fuel its rapid industrialisation. But as China’s resource-hungry economy grows, will it saddle African governments with unsustainable debt? If the Chinese economy slows, will Africa’s continuing dependence on primary commodity exports leave it vulnerable once more? Is China embarking on a modern day Scramble for Africa, or is its investment a lifeline? Are Western concerns genuine or jealous?