From the AP, via the Houston Chronicle:
China’s growth has sparked a global race with the West for markets and industrial resources. Africa has become a frontier of opportunity for the world’s most populous country and its fastest growing economy. That has meant opportunity, aid and even key diplomatic support _ China is a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member _ to some governments shunned by the West. But questions have been raised about the benefits, and the West has been increasingly suspicious of China’s interest and influence in Africa.
China says its efforts on the world’s poorest continent bring “mutual benefit and common prosperity” to itself and African countries.