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In its recent approach to Africa, China could not be more different from the West. It has focused on trade and commercially justified investment, rather than aid grants and heavily subsidized loans. It has declined to tell African governments how they should run their countries, or to make its investments contingent on government reform. And it has moved quickly and decisively, especially in comparison to many Western aid establishments. Moyo’s attitude toward the boom in Chinese business in Africa is amply revealed by the name of a chapter in her book: “The Chinese Are Our Friends.” Perhaps what Africa needs, she notes, is a reliable commercial partner, not a high-minded scold. And perhaps Africa should take its lessons from a country that has recently pulled itself out of poverty, not countries that have been rich for generations.

“China’s interest in agricultural investment—in land—is a hot-button issue,” wrote Deborah Bräutigam, a professor at American University and a leading expert on China’s economic relations with Africa, in a recent paper. “For many, land is at the heart of a nation’s identity, and it is especially easy to raise emotions about outsiders when land is involved.”

“Recently, a very interesting Chinese delegation visited Brussels,” I was told by Jonathan Holslag, head of research for the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies. “And they asked to see all the old colonial maps of the Congo. These are the only maps that reflect reasonably accurate surveys of Congo’s underground, and they want to use them for development plans in Katanga and elsewhere. If you look at Chinese policy documents, it is very obvious that they are focused on opening up the heart of the continent. There is clearly a long-term strategy for doing this, and it seeks to break up the north-south flow of minerals, to build east-west lines that will allow them to bypass South Africa.”

n DRC the Chinese made very sure that they put in the contract that the copper concession had to be evaluated so they could be sure there was enough copper in there, and copper that could be mined at a cost-effective price. But the Nigerian deal was never very secure... we still don’t know the details about it, but everything fell apart. The Mambila Hydro project also fell apart. There was no financing, the oil concessions they were offered turned to be not of good quality. There were a lot of things that happened that stopped these kinds of deals from going forward, the biggest being that the president who had negotiated the deal,

The West looks at Africa as a place of war, disease, chaos and terrible things and a place to be pitied. The Chinese look at Africa as a place for consumers and business partners and it’s a very different picture.

When they went to Ghana, they said, You want electricity, you want to develop the Bui Dam. We can do it. And they said, How we be sure you pay us? Ghana said, We have cocoa and the Chinese started up and they started an escrow account and the cocoa gets exported and money's paid into the escrow account to guarantee the loan. Deals like this happened across the continent. Its' not altruism, it's not foreign aid: it's about business, but looking at Africa in a different way.

China's corporate practices became sensational news that guaranteed immediate research funding as scientific evidence was necessary to demonstrate the problems that could result from doing business with China. The West, which has always used civil society as a tool of democratisation, loudly proclaimed the need for civil society's involvement in order to monitor China's errant ways.

Recently China hosted a China-Africa Civil Society Dialogue which I attended in Beijing. According to the organisers, this workshop was held in the context of FOCAC. The theme they maintained was on increasing mutual understanding, promoting exchanges and cooperation through various strategies that include developing a platform of exchanges and cooperation for NGOs from China and Africa within FOCAC. Given China's stance of non-adherence to the West's approach of imposing aid conditionalities on African governments, one questions what approach will be applied to civil societies. This is critical as most civil societies in Africa have now become an extension of the particular donor's foreign policy objectives.

The fact is international donors have always viewed civil society as a key ingredient in the processes of democratisation. The United States's foreign policy, which is steeped deep in promoting democracy in all corners of the world, viewed civil societies as a tool that could hold governments to account, serving as a watchdog on governments and thereby promoting governance.

The lawyers have much work to do because while China has one legal system, the 53 nations which make up Africa each have their own systems. Most are based on either the British legal system, with elements of Roman/Dutch law, or the French legal system.     There is also a strong legacy of Portuguese influence in former colonies. China's civil law system is based on traditional customs and practices, with Soviet and German influence.

The lawyers have much work to do because while China has one legal system, the 53 nations which make up Africa each have their own systems. Most are based on either the British legal system, with elements of Roman/Dutch law, or the French legal system.     There is also a strong legacy of Portuguese influence in former colonies. China's civil law system is based on traditional customs and practices, with Soviet and German influence.

The lawyers have much work to do because while China has one legal system, the 53 nations which make up Africa each have their own systems. Most are based on either the British legal system, with elements of Roman/Dutch law, or the French legal system.     There is also a strong legacy of Portuguese influence in former colonies. China's civil law system is based on traditional customs and practices, with Soviet and German influence.

The US can’t be bothered to fund and provide the technology transfer needed to kick-start the economies of the continent (unless it’s oil). Rather, for reasons of cost, of its own fears for national security and its own poor economic state after the meltdown of global markets, it would have cheap and labour-intensive China do the job instead. And then wade in and take the pickings when markets improve.

The two sides will further strengthen exchanges between political parties and enhance experience sharing on governance.

The two sides reaffirmed that Africa should be fully represented in the arrangements related to the world economy. The African side stressed the urgent need to enlarge the G20 and other existing mechanisms for international economy. The Chinese side expressed its full understanding for this request and stressed that existing mechanisms for international economic order must be balanced to ensure the fair representation of Africa.

The two sides reiterated that developing countries should play a greater role in the United Nations, including its Security Council, and priority must be given to increasing the representation of developing countries, particularly African countries, in the Security Council.

What the Chinese are doing is purchasing natural resources from African countries in exchange for either cash or large constructions of infrastructure. Plain and simple. The Chinese do not care if our governments are democratically elected or whether those governments care for their people or whether they ask for fair value for their commodities. As an African, I have no problem with this.

First, African countries should come together to form OPEC-like groups for our natural resources.  This would ensure that we aren’t competing against each other in the market of our goods allowing us to obtain higher prices. Second, we need to take advantage of Chinese, European and American rivalries with each other and see if we can get better deals for our resources. It is clear that there is a demand for the rich mineral resources Africa has from the non-African countries; we must find ways to use this situation to our advantage and extract high prices for our goods.

Africa's largest oil producer, via the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), signed a $28.5 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), ranked as one of the world's largest construction companies.

Former NNPC head Shehu Ladan revealed that the CSCEC-led consortium would be operated by China holding 80 per cent of shares, until costs were recovered. Given the opacity of accounting, especially concerning mega-developments, this is likely to become a major fault-line replicating Nigeria's long history with supply and demand-side corruption.

‘Right now, Nigerians are not getting value for their oil anyway,’ said Brautigam. ‘If the government can agree to allow a Chinese company to build and manage these refineries for an extended period of time, they may finally be able to say good-bye to the days of long lines at petrol stations.’

China has long been renowned in Africa as the architect behind the continent’s ‘weapons of mass construction’. To date, this trademark is best symbolised by the 1,860 km Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TanZam), constructed from 1970-1975, at a cost of $500 million. The project, a vital inter-SADC vehicle financed via an interest-free loan, was finished ahead of schedule and served the critical purpose of diminishing Zambia's dependence on apartheid South Africa and Ian Smith's Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), crucially aiding in the isolation of the former.

Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer, via the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), signed a $28.5 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), ranked as one of the world's largest construction companies.

For Nigeria, importing 85 per cent or $10 billion worth of refined oil annually, the proposal for three greenfield refineries and a petroleum complex is the difference between freedom and dependence. Presently, of Nigeria's four refineries, including Warri (125,000 barrels per day); Kaduna (110,000 bpd); Port Harcourt, Rivers State (150,000 bpd); Port Harcourt, Alesa Elemi (120,000 bpd); only one is said to be operational.

China is changing strategy, both in terms of investment and partners, Krusiewicz said.“Ten years ago, when China started to invest abroad, it was in small developing countries, mainly in the construction industry. But now China is also growing and they are investing in services, which is a trend of the global economy,” she pointed out.The scholar said that China is looking for diversification in terms of supply. “China lacks energy [sources] for its growing economy,” she added.

Chinese companies also invested in Libya, which is currently experiencing political unrest. Some experts believe this should be a wake-up call for China to change its international investment strategy. In other words, they said Beijing should not just encourage companies to operate abroad, but also to go out with better risk management skills and awareness.

Krusiewicz believes that Libya should be a wake-up call for all countries, not only for China, to pay attention to the political situation of a possible investment destination. However, she does not foresee any changes.“Unfortunately, China has no big concerns regarding labour rights or the political environment,” the scholar said.