China in Africa: Devil or Angel?

Pambazuka News published on 19 February 2014 a commentary titled "China in Africa: Devil or Angel?" by Luo Jianbo, director of the Center for African Studies, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and  Zhang Xiaomin, associate professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.  They conclude that China is an "angel" in Africa. 

China's Policy towards Africa: Chinese View

Two Chinese academics collaborated in a brief overview of China's policy towards Africa in the summer 2012 edition of The Newsletter. While it provides the standard account from a Chinese perspective of the China-Africa relationship, it concludes with a frank discussion of the challenges.

The authors are Zhang Qingmin, a professor at Peking University, and Song Wei, a PhD candidate at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.

Click here to read the article.

Assessment of China-Africa Ties

The Africa Research Institute, an independent, non-partisan think tank based in London, published in October 2012 a four page assessment of China-Africa relations.

The principal conclusions are:

--China's engagement in Africa is a product of globalization, not colonization.
--Chinese finance to Africa is multifaceted and aid is a modest proportion.
--The so-called "win-win" relationship is misleading.
--China's policy of political non-interference is ambiguous and evolving.
--There is a marked imbalance of power, but the onus is on African policymakers to take maximum advantage of Chinese engagement.

Click here to read the assessment.