Author: Deborah Brautigam, Adama Gaye.

China’s trade in Africa reached some $50 billion in 2006, boosting growth rates on the continent and spurring much-needed infrastructure improvements. Many African countries view Chinese investment as an opportunity and welcome Beijing’s “strictly business” policy of noninterference in domestic affairs. But China has come under fire from the international community for its refusal to pressure Sudan on the crisis in Darfur, and there is growing tension within some African countries over China’s business practices.