China-Africa relationship is growing

the $6m grant to Uganda's Naguru hospital is bearing fruit; a Chinese contractor building a national defence college in Zimbabwe has had to deny overworking Zimbabwean workers; the Zambia China Mulungushi Textiles company, which ceased operations in 2007, is being recapitalised, creating job opportunities for local people in Kabwe; and a Chinese delegation of high-government officials and businesspeople visited Rwanda to explore investment opportunities.

There is an opinion that China's only interest in Africa is to extract its natural resources, the industrial sector is apparently the main target of China's investments in the Mozambican economy, according to an analysis by Mozambique's Institute for Social and Economic Studies, including the Henan Haode Mozambique Industrial Park, which is establishing a textile and clothing industry in Marracuene district worth $26.5m.

Chinese aid to Africa is going to come with all sorts of strings attached. There will be problems, but no more or less than with the more traditional donors; just different, on account of different attitudes and modalities.

Western governments should grow out of the easy name-calling by recognising their own very mixed record, and relying on more balanced analyses of the pros and cons of China's growing engagement in international development.

Sources:
guardian.co.uk