Author: Michael Chege.

Few subjects in contemporary international relations cause as much excitement and controversy as the current rise of economic initiatives by the Peoples Republic of China in Africa. Speaking from the sidelines of the November 2006 China-Africa Summit, Wenran Jiang, a political scientist from the University of Alberta, commented that no major power had accomplished what China, a developing country with big-power ambitions, had done that month: to bring 48 out of 53 African heads of state to Beijing for a conclave on aid, trade, and economic cooperation. “I don’t see any parallel in history. The U.S. never did this nor did Russia...symbolically, this is a very, very big event.” 1 Economic deals emanating from the Beijing forum between the 48 African countries and China amounted to $1.9 billion. Writing in Africa’s leading periodical, New African , the Nigerian columnist Femi Akomolafe claimed to be joyous about the increased presence of China in Afri- ca. 2 On the other hand, Human Rights Watch in New York deplored the absence of human rights violations (in Sudan and Zimbabwe especially) from the summit’s agenda. Antoine Halff for his National Interest article picked a catalogue of African denunciations of Chinese neocolonialism, polluting industries, cheap goods, and “mercantilism.” 3 Writing for South Africa’s influential Busi - ness Day , columnist Alan Beattie also warned that “the money China is pouring in, despite protes- tations of good intent, does have potentially malign consequences for the economies and politics of the continent,” citing adverse environmental factors and the risk of unsustainable public debt.