Author: Ursula J. Van Beek.

This article evaluates China's role in Africa. Its objective is to determine the possible benefits and drawbacks for the continent of China's engagement, and to establish whether there might be wider global implications. The focus of inquiry in the African context falls on the specifics of the ways in which China does business on the continent. This is contrasted with the West, whose engagement with Africa has been vastly different both historically and in business practice. The aim is to assess which of the two approaches might hold more promise for Africa's development. In the wider context, of particular interest are the origins and the essence of the multilateral component of the current Chinese foreign policy, which holds the potential to effect a change in the global balance of power, especially in the context of the Great Recession. The discussion is set within a historical context.