From The Guardian:
Some believe China’s rise is good for Africa: China will need resources; Africa has the resources; therefore China will invest in Africa and Africa will benefit, as has China.
This view is naive because, even though Chinese leaders proclaim Afro-Chinese solidarity, at heart the Chinese interest is mercantilist.
China is driven by the same needs and compulsions that brought the Belgians to Congo, the British and the Dutch to South Africa, the Germans to Tanzania, the French to parts of the Sahara, and the Portuguese to Angola and Mozambique. The west had it once; now it is China’s turn. [Full text]
